Created for MTV in 1990, the sharply observed, pop-conscious Ben Stiller Show - featuring its star's lacerating impersonations of Bono, Tom Cruise, and Eddie Munster, among others - subsequently moved to Fox TV and copped an Emmy for writing.
Right when I started getting solid was when I was offered a lot of writing work. And when The Ben Stiller Show was picked up, I realized there was no way for me to do stand-up three or four nights a week and run this television show with Ben. So that was the moment when I had to make a choice.
Ben Stiller isn't funny - honest. Ben Stiller is very funny, and smart, and cute, too, in a neurotic, New York kind of way.
I have some calls out to Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Eddie Murphy. I said, 'I won't star in any blockbuster films if you stay out of animated films.' They just won't call me back.
'Tower Heist?' That is a movie that it's hard not to name-drop, but, it's a crew of five, and it's Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, me, Matthew Broderick, and Casey Affleck. And we're like, on a heist.
Jennifer to Beth: Ech. I don't like Tom Cruise. Beth to Jennifer: Me neither. But I usually like Tom Cruise movies. Jennifer to Beth: Me too... Huh, maybe I do like Tom Cruise. But I hate feeling pressured to find him attractive. I don't. Beth to Jennifer: Nobody does. It's a lie perpetuated by the American media. Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts. Jennifer to Beth: Men don't like Julia Roberts? Beth to Jennifer: Nope. Her teeth scare them. Jennifer to Beth: Good to know.
I love Tom Cruise. I've been a Tom Cruise fan for a long time.
I don't think I could do what Woody Allen or Clint Eastwood or Ben Stiller do, where they direct a movie and they star in it. I would just be like, 'Oh, I don't even want to look at my face.'
I've made a career of being a contrarian. If I'm going to work with Tom Cruise, it's my instinct to be like, 'Well, I'm going to do the anti-Tom Cruise movie.'
Audiences in every medium are becoming far more savvy. No one goes to watch a Tom Cruise movie any more just because it's starring Tom Cruise.
To trust other people to keep you safe, it's very difficult ... But when Tom Cruise is there, you just expect that he'll save you. I was like, "Tom. You're Tom Cruise. It's your job to save the day. And the day is me. You need to save it. If I panic, I expect you to be down there."
I think it's quite tough for people like Tom Cruise where you can never really get away from being Tom Cruise in something. You're so familiar to people and people know so much about your life.
Audiences in every medium are becoming far more savvy. No one goes to watch a Tom Cruise movie any more just because it's starring Tom Cruise. No one gives a toss. Concept is what makes actors raise their game. Everyone's on merit now.
There are a lot of good shows that don't get picked up. Like that Ben Stiller pilot, Heat Vision And Jack? That would have been a great show, but somehow it slipped by.
My parents are my role models. I also love Halle Berry, Robert DeNiro, Eddie Murphy, Angela Bassett, Tom Cruise and Jennifer Lopez. When I see their work, I get engulfed in it. They really capture me.
My ma is from County Clare, so she's a Munster fan, so she keeps sending me Munster jerseys all the time, trying to convert me to Munster.
Trump was a Fox News viewer before he was a Fox News star. He learned a lot about the Republican party's base by watching the network and calling into the morning show 'Fox & Friends' while still starring on NBC's 'Celebrity Apprentice.'