The Ben Stiller Show (1992-1993, 1995)

Starring: Ben Stiller, Andy Dick, Janeane Garofalo, and Bob Odenkirk
Grade: B-

In terms of one-season, cancelled-too-early, sketch comedy shows centered around one star and involving Bob Odenkirk, I prefer The Ben Stiller Show to The Dana Carvey Show with ease.

Well, that was a mouthful, but you get the point.

I watched both sketch comedy shows back-to-back, and I can confidently say that The Ben Stiller Show is better in almost every category. It’s not perfect either, but it’s a lot better than Carvey’s attempt. In a lot of ways, Ben Stiller is the “counterculture” comedy Carvey’s program wanted to be. It’s more cohesive, structured, and it’s flat-out funnier. The only thing I can say that Carvey’s show did better was that their cast was better at impressions. Plus, I like the immediate transition to the next sketch to cram as much chaos in as possible. Stiller’s interludes in-between sketches were my only major gripe about the show.

Whether they have a cold open sketch or not, the show has a similar format for each episode. Ben Stiller, playing a fictionalized version of himself, opens the show talking to the audience either with a cast member or a special guest, and they have playful banter to transition us to the next sketch. Most of the time in these little segues, Stiller tries to avoid embarrassing himself and tries to look cool, but the exact opposite occurs due to the guest not wanting to be there or Stiller making himself look like a dweeb. Though it’s not necessarily funny, it’s light-hearted and brings an inviting tone to the show to set us up for each wildly different sketch, or “film” as Stiller calls it. With that being said, it’s a bit of a timewaster.

The show is very 1990s. It fits the edgy, cool comedy Fox was trying to produce during the time period, and the show specializes in lampooning pop culture of the 90s and 80s. Keep that in mind because new viewers may not understand all the references of the show and subsequently, the genius of some of the writing. Things like the “sexy” commercials that make no sense, the dandruff shampoo commercial where the “friend” character talks close and makes annoying jokes, “The Grungies”, and “Melrose Heights 9021024026” are all great parodies if you’re aware of the references. The show’s cast consists of a young Stiller where he showcases his early talents of range, comedic sensibilities, and character work. This show is a lot of fun for movie fans too because you can see the inspiration for a lot of film roles he would eventually play in the future. Though his “Tony Bobbins” is an obvious parody of self-help guru Tony Robbins, you can see elements of White Goodman from Dodgeball. His role in the outlandish “The Legend of T.J. O’Pootertoot” is basically the nursing home guy he plays in Happy Gilmore (only turned up a couple of notches), and the “Do it” guy has a memorable return in Starsky & Hutch. There’s also a lot of things you can see that inspired the craziness of Zoolander, especially in Stiller’s (on-purpose) over-the-top acting in some parodies.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing either, as all of the sketches involving these characters were some of the best in the show. I just think it’s a fun thing for us Stiller fans to notice.

Side note, Stiller’s “Tito Gallegos, the Pig Latin Lover” was easily the most impressive thing he did in this lone season. Not only was it funny, but to sing and talk in Pig Latin that smoothly was honestly amazing. This may be the first (and last) time you’ll ever hear one half of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” sang in Pig Latin. This alone may be worth the viewing even if you don’t like the rest of the show. Additionally, the “Michael Pheret Talent Agency” wasn’t crazy funny, but it showcased Stiller’s exceptional talent to spew rapid fire nonsense, which is always a plus for me.

Also in the cast are 90s counterculture comedians Janeane Garofalo, Bob Odenkirk, and a young Andy Dick. As I mentioned in The Dana Carvey Show review, one big positive of Stiller’s show was how well Garofalo’s treatment was compared to the talented Heather Morgan. Here, Garofalo shows how incredible her range is in a multitude of vastly different characters. How Saturday Night Live fumbled the bag on her ability perplexes me to this day. There, she would be regulated to background roles with meaningless parts. In The Ben Stiller Show, she’s the most important part of the cast not named Stiller, bringing with her that 90s vibe, youthful energy, and carefree attitude the show seemed to represent. Bob Odenkirk fresh off writing for every major comedic program under the sun wanted the chance to perform and write. In this show, we see why he’s held in high regard within comedy circles years before the famous Mr. Show with Bob and David came to HBO. As a matter of fact, David Cross was a part of the writing team for Stiller and this is where they met. You can see the sprinkle of both comedic minds in a lot of these wacky and eccentric sketches. Odenkirk’s Charles Manson-related sketches in particular were some of my favorites.

Before Andy Dick became unhireable, he actually showed a lot of talent as well. Though Dennis Miller dismisses him as “Martin Short stretched out on a rack for two and half, three hours” in the episode “With Dennis Miller“, Dick becomes the glue to the show. He has this weird energy that’s welcomed in the environment the show cultivates. For a while, I was actually fooled into thinking he’s a normal guy.

Speaking of the “With Dennis Miller” episode, I couldn’t help but notice something. Not only did he jokingly insult Stiller by saying he left SNL because he “found out there’s no “I” in team” when he wanted to do his short films and was turned down (though they let Andy Samberg do it all the time years later), he roasted Andy Dick and Odenkirk too. He called the latter a “faceless scribe” (because he used to write for SNL) who’s finally on TV but can’t get girls. On top of all of this, Miller even tells Stiller ahead of time to basically not look down on himself when the show is cancelled. I guess it fits the self-deprecating humor of the “real” segments involving Stiller “out of character”, especially like when Odenkirk tells Stiller they film the show on the part of the lot unofficially nicknamed “The Morgue” because of the number of shows that failed there (including The Dennis Miller Show). However, it felt pretty disrespectful in retrospect considering the show only lasted a few more episodes anyway.

A major highlight of The Ben Stiller Show is its production value. Whether it be a fake movie trailer (“Cape Munster”, “A Few Good Scouts”), a parody of a sitcom (“Skank”), or any outrageous idea they may have, the attention to detail is always impeccable. This goes for the costuming, to the sets, and to the look of each sketch. A lot was done to make each segment look as legitimate in its presentation as possible. I never heard of any rumors of the budget being too high either, so if these guys managed to make these sketches happen at a relatively low price, that’s all the more impressive. One cool thing about this show is everyone’s commitment to the bit as well. As I said before, they aren’t necessarily the greatest at impressions, with the exception of Stiller’s Tom Cruise which is actually hilarious. However, everyone’s commitment to doing their impression or their character as best they can actually works more often than not. The pomp and circumstance and stylistically funny sketches parodying Bono’s ridiculousness, or “Legends of Springsteen” only work because of how all-in Stiller is. For a short time, he embodies the role and makes it work even if may not sound exactly like the person. For instance, there’s one sketch where he does Al Pacino auditioning for Beethoven and can’t do the voice at all. I was still laughing though because of he nailed everything else from the gaze to the walk, to the mannerisms, to the massive overreaction to the situation. It shows you different ways a sketch comedy performer can still succeed with the tools they have.

From an acting standpoint, you can really learn a lot here.

The best episodes through and through were “With Sarah Jessica Parker” and “A Few Good Scouts“. They were probably the most consistent episodes out of all of them. With that being said, even with some of the better episodes in the show or in general, there’s at least one or two sketches that absolutely bombs (“Vanilla Heat”) or goes on way too long (“The Grungies”). This is what drags the final grade down a bit. Unfortunately, this is the game you play when you’re trying to make a sketch comedy show.

This sort of thing is just bound to happen.

For this section, I’ll just point out some of my favorite sketches from the show that are worth checking out like “Tom Cruise: Dress Casual” which is Stiller at his Tom Cruise impression best, the hysterical Oliver Stone theme park in “Oliver Stoneland” (the Jim Morrison stuff had me dying), and the laugh-out-loud funny “Tonight Show Host Auditions“. This is where we get Stiller as William Shatner, Odenkirk as Steven Seagal, and Janeane Garofolo’s sidesplitting Sinead O’Connor. Additionally, there’s “Die Hard 12”, KFSB Pledge-A-Thon interrupting a showing of Henry the Wicked, the slow burn of “Of Buildings and Women; un film de Bob Odenkirk”, American Profiles: Hilltech Industries and preserving the hillbilly lifestyle, and the aforementioned “The Legend of T.J. O’Pootertoot”. All the COPS parodies in different time periods were fantastic, and the “B-Minus Time Traveler” was flat-out genius. It’s easily the most relatable sketch I’ve seen in years. Also, seeing Stiller lose his mind as “Mr. Marcus”, the guy talking to a group of grade school children about how drugs are bad, was about as classic Ben Stiller as it gets. Stuff like that makes me wonder how the ratings were so low.

There are some other sketches that border on the good-to-great, and a lot more that were close but went on much longer than the joke allowed for.

Though it’s far from perfect, The Ben Stiller Show was the underrated gem I was looking for. Headed up by Stiller and Judd Apatow, this talented crew had something to prove to the comedy world. Even in its lone season, you can see the major potential of everyone involved. Anyone with a brain can see how funny some of these sketches are, showing how much of a missed opportunity this program was. The fact they won an Emmy for writing after the show was cancelled was irony at its finest. I can’t help but think how this show needed more time to prove its worth because even with one season, the vision was there. With a second or third season, they could’ve been a mainstay on Fox. Sadly, it’ll be one of those shows that has to be satisfied with a cult following and nothing more. I suppose it all worked out for the best because everyone involved moved on to bigger and better things, but The Ben Stiller Show, especially in retrospect, shows how sometimes, a network should really take a chance on certain programs and give them a little extra time to build a following.

Considering where everyone ended up going in their careers, I bet you Fox regrets the early cancellation of The Ben Stiller Show every day. It was a major missed opportunity for the comedy and television worlds.