1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 3 00:00:15,307 --> 00:00:18,435 And now, the comedy of Stiller and Meara. 4 00:00:24,399 --> 00:00:25,526 Thank you. 5 00:00:25,609 --> 00:00:29,321 Ladies and gentlemen, we live in a very unpredictable age. 6 00:00:29,404 --> 00:00:31,031 Anything could happen. 7 00:00:31,114 --> 00:00:34,034 Jerry and I, we'd like to show you what might happen 8 00:00:34,117 --> 00:00:37,996 when the last two people left in the world meet for the first time. 9 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:39,623 - Hi! - Hello! 10 00:00:39,706 --> 00:00:42,751 - Boy, am I glad to see you! - Am I glad to see you! 11 00:00:42,835 --> 00:00:44,086 Boy, that was something. 12 00:00:44,169 --> 00:00:46,463 Yeah, I've been looking all over. There's nobody. 13 00:00:46,547 --> 00:00:48,757 - I thought there was just me. - Me too. 14 00:00:48,841 --> 00:00:51,134 - Boy, are we lucky! - You're not kidding. 15 00:00:51,218 --> 00:00:53,345 - I never expected it. - Yeah! 16 00:00:53,428 --> 00:00:56,265 Well, my horoscope said, "Don't make any plans." 17 00:00:57,349 --> 00:00:58,976 Did you see what happened to Sixth Avenue? 18 00:00:59,059 --> 00:01:01,520 Yeah, and they just finished repaving it. 19 00:01:03,856 --> 00:01:05,607 Well, I guess it's up to us. 20 00:01:08,777 --> 00:01:11,405 I said, I guess it's up to us now. 21 00:01:11,488 --> 00:01:13,031 What do you mean? 22 00:01:14,032 --> 00:01:16,577 Well, I guess the pressure is really on us now. 23 00:01:17,661 --> 00:01:19,705 You know, to get things started again. 24 00:01:19,788 --> 00:01:21,999 Oh, yeah! You're right. We got a lot to do. 25 00:01:22,082 --> 00:01:26,044 I mean, we gotta rebuild, clean up, plant vegetables. 26 00:01:27,171 --> 00:01:28,547 Yeah. That too. 27 00:01:29,506 --> 00:01:31,800 But I was thinking, you being the last woman 28 00:01:31,884 --> 00:01:32,926 and me being the last man, 29 00:01:33,010 --> 00:01:35,762 we've got something even more important to do than… 30 00:01:35,846 --> 00:01:37,139 that. 31 00:01:37,222 --> 00:01:38,807 We gotta make things. 32 00:01:39,850 --> 00:01:41,435 You know, little things. 33 00:01:41,518 --> 00:01:45,314 - You mean arts and crafts? - No, no, no. I was thinking of… 34 00:01:45,397 --> 00:01:47,900 Of people. We gotta make little people. 35 00:01:47,983 --> 00:01:51,028 What was it like growing up in that kind of showbiz family? 36 00:01:51,111 --> 00:01:53,280 Your dad and mom, what were they like? 37 00:01:53,363 --> 00:01:56,783 We absolutely, here on this show, adore your mother and father. 38 00:01:56,867 --> 00:01:59,244 - The great Stiller and Meara. - Stiller and Meara. 39 00:01:59,328 --> 00:02:00,913 Parents of this young boy. 40 00:02:02,164 --> 00:02:05,459 Oh, Anne and Jerry! Stiller and Meara. You're their little boy. 41 00:02:05,542 --> 00:02:07,920 Your father is the funniest character on Seinfeld, 42 00:02:08,002 --> 00:02:10,214 - hands down. - I, well… I agree. 43 00:02:10,297 --> 00:02:12,966 Gives a pow on the top of his head. It's a scream. 44 00:02:13,050 --> 00:02:14,927 Are you gonna ever bring your parents in? 45 00:02:15,010 --> 00:02:17,554 - Oh, well… into what? Into like-- - Anything. 46 00:02:17,638 --> 00:02:20,891 Tell me what your parents gave you as an entertainer? 47 00:02:20,974 --> 00:02:23,101 - Hello, how are you? - Hi. 48 00:02:23,185 --> 00:02:25,354 - Hi. - Are you… Are you doing… 49 00:02:25,437 --> 00:02:28,273 - I knew this was gonna happen. - That's why I mic'd you. Yeah. 50 00:02:28,357 --> 00:02:30,067 - Is this cinéma-vérité? - Yes. 51 00:02:30,150 --> 00:02:31,235 Amy and Benjy. 52 00:02:32,444 --> 00:02:33,904 - I got almost-- - Hi! 53 00:02:35,906 --> 00:02:37,533 Oh, my. 54 00:02:37,616 --> 00:02:40,494 Gee, look who got daddy's curly hair? 55 00:02:40,577 --> 00:02:42,496 That's right, and hers is natural. 56 00:02:42,579 --> 00:02:44,790 - You laugh at Mommy and Daddy? - Yeah. 57 00:02:44,873 --> 00:02:46,416 You think they're funny? 58 00:02:46,500 --> 00:02:49,461 This is like-- This is Anne and Jerry. I love this picture. 59 00:02:49,545 --> 00:02:50,838 Do they rehearse at home? 60 00:02:50,921 --> 00:02:52,297 So many great pictures. 61 00:02:52,381 --> 00:02:53,966 Do they try them out on you kids? 62 00:02:54,049 --> 00:02:57,803 How dare you exploit my children. You just wanna pry into my private life. 63 00:02:57,886 --> 00:03:00,389 No, I just wondered if you ever did bits… 64 00:03:00,764 --> 00:03:03,308 Do you have any ideas about getting into the business? 65 00:03:03,392 --> 00:03:04,518 Are either of you musical? 66 00:03:04,601 --> 00:03:07,396 Or do you do funny things like your mom and dad? 67 00:03:08,272 --> 00:03:09,314 Amy? 68 00:03:13,694 --> 00:03:17,489 Well, I mean, the opening is just kinda walking into the apartment and… 69 00:03:18,615 --> 00:03:20,450 - Yeah. - But there's no real context for it. 70 00:03:20,534 --> 00:03:23,287 And I'm just thinking, what, the opening of the movie could be… 71 00:03:25,038 --> 00:03:28,125 Maybe, since we're selling the apartment, it's us going through everything. 72 00:03:28,208 --> 00:03:29,209 Or… 73 00:03:29,877 --> 00:03:32,171 Maybe the idea of this question. Maybe you see the opening, 74 00:03:32,254 --> 00:03:35,299 and then it's, like, us here. And then… 75 00:03:36,133 --> 00:03:38,594 the question, like, "Why are you even making the movie?" 76 00:03:39,428 --> 00:03:41,180 Yeah, like what's… 77 00:03:41,263 --> 00:03:42,264 - Me asking you? - Yeah. 78 00:03:42,347 --> 00:03:43,307 Okay. 79 00:03:43,390 --> 00:03:45,184 - Yeah. - Yeah. 80 00:03:45,601 --> 00:03:48,437 Are we… We're on camera, so shall I do it now? 81 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:49,646 Sure. 82 00:03:49,730 --> 00:03:50,731 Bla-bla-bla… 83 00:03:51,940 --> 00:03:52,774 So, Ben… 84 00:03:56,987 --> 00:03:58,155 Quiet please. 85 00:03:59,698 --> 00:04:03,744 Five, four, three, two… 86 00:04:06,288 --> 00:04:08,373 If it's about us, 87 00:04:09,208 --> 00:04:10,792 Stiller and Meara. 88 00:04:10,876 --> 00:04:12,961 How two people who have… 89 00:04:13,629 --> 00:04:15,214 It's not just that they work together, 90 00:04:15,297 --> 00:04:18,509 but we wanna show what happens that when they do work together 91 00:04:18,591 --> 00:04:20,052 they turn off on one another. 92 00:04:20,135 --> 00:04:22,304 - Just get out. Get out! - Get out? 93 00:04:22,387 --> 00:04:23,722 - Get out? - Yes. 94 00:04:23,805 --> 00:04:26,517 Of course. Why didn't I think of it before? You want me to get out… 95 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:29,603 I think it can go in any direction at that point. It can go either-- 96 00:04:29,686 --> 00:04:32,814 I think we have to stick with Anne and Jerry, Jerry and Anne. 97 00:04:32,898 --> 00:04:34,733 They're not superstars. 98 00:04:34,816 --> 00:04:38,237 They're just performers who are known to the public through the tube. 99 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:40,948 And they're married and they have the kids, 100 00:04:41,031 --> 00:04:44,826 and they try to do their best with both worlds. 101 00:04:50,457 --> 00:04:53,252 When my dad died in 2020, 102 00:04:54,586 --> 00:04:56,547 my mom had been gone for about five years. 103 00:04:58,340 --> 00:05:01,760 And my career had been going along for a long time, 104 00:05:01,844 --> 00:05:05,806 but things actually weren't great in my personal life. 105 00:05:09,601 --> 00:05:15,357 I just felt out of balance and unhappy, and kind of disconnected… 106 00:05:18,485 --> 00:05:20,237 from my family, 107 00:05:22,114 --> 00:05:26,577 from my kids, and just, kind of, a little bit lost. 108 00:05:29,413 --> 00:05:31,081 Wow, that's actually really nice. 109 00:05:32,291 --> 00:05:33,292 No, don't film me. 110 00:05:33,375 --> 00:05:38,046 And I started to think about my parents, and… 111 00:05:38,964 --> 00:05:42,384 all the stress and tension I remember seeing as a kid. 112 00:05:42,467 --> 00:05:45,470 And the pressure when they were working together. 113 00:05:46,513 --> 00:05:49,892 And how they stayed together through it. 114 00:05:51,518 --> 00:05:53,061 We will stay together. 115 00:05:53,145 --> 00:05:54,897 - I think you're… - I know that now. 116 00:05:54,980 --> 00:05:58,150 There was a time I didn't know it, but I know it now. 117 00:05:58,609 --> 00:06:03,405 I think I wanted to somehow understand how they did it. 118 00:06:05,866 --> 00:06:06,783 Oh, wow. 119 00:06:07,868 --> 00:06:10,078 - It's all cassettes. - Yeah. 120 00:06:10,162 --> 00:06:12,706 - Jerry, as you know, taped everything. - Wow. 121 00:06:12,789 --> 00:06:15,000 I mean, this is all of the truth of our lives. 122 00:06:15,083 --> 00:06:16,043 That's incredible. 123 00:06:21,715 --> 00:06:23,258 Over the years you mean? 124 00:06:25,469 --> 00:06:29,556 This is insane. "Amy and Benjy talk." "Benjy and Amy talk." 125 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:33,352 Let me ask you something, Benjy. What do you like to do the most with Amy? 126 00:06:33,435 --> 00:06:35,312 Can't believe he taped everything. 127 00:06:35,395 --> 00:06:37,481 Play Happy Face. 128 00:06:37,564 --> 00:06:40,526 - What is Happy Face, Benjy? - A game. 129 00:06:40,609 --> 00:06:43,695 He always had to record, you know, whether it was personal… 130 00:06:43,779 --> 00:06:46,281 But it drove me crazy at the time, for sure. 131 00:06:46,657 --> 00:06:48,325 I think it drove Anne crazy, too. 132 00:06:48,408 --> 00:06:51,036 "You're making these tapes, Jerry, that nobody's ever gonna hear. 133 00:06:51,119 --> 00:06:53,705 They're just gonna pile up when you die," she would say. 134 00:06:55,832 --> 00:06:58,502 Well, she wasn't wrong. 135 00:07:08,303 --> 00:07:10,180 Where exactly do you live in New York? 136 00:07:10,264 --> 00:07:12,432 We live on Riverside Drive, Mike. 137 00:07:12,808 --> 00:07:13,892 - And… - Yes. 138 00:07:13,976 --> 00:07:15,853 We have three minutes of home movies. 139 00:07:15,936 --> 00:07:17,229 Do you know how to do this, honey? 140 00:07:17,312 --> 00:07:20,023 It's on norm, I gotta throw it on to low. Do you put the lights out first? 141 00:07:20,107 --> 00:07:22,317 - Or do we show-- - Don't worry about the lights. 142 00:07:22,401 --> 00:07:25,320 I knew we were gonna have to sell the apartment that we grew up in, 143 00:07:25,404 --> 00:07:27,781 and my first instinct was to film it. 144 00:07:29,449 --> 00:07:31,368 I don't know if that's weird or not. 145 00:07:32,077 --> 00:07:34,037 It's just what my dad always did. 146 00:07:34,413 --> 00:07:38,834 You know, I'm studying films now. That is I learn about how films are made. 147 00:07:38,917 --> 00:07:41,753 And that includes editing, it includes the taking of the pictures, 148 00:07:41,837 --> 00:07:44,381 the making of the pictures, how to put it together. Like, just-- 149 00:07:44,464 --> 00:07:46,341 That's a bird on the table. A pigeon. 150 00:07:46,425 --> 00:07:47,885 Real home movies, folks. 151 00:07:47,968 --> 00:07:50,971 We're not trying to show you anything you wouldn't see in your own home. 152 00:07:51,054 --> 00:07:52,764 Oh, it broke again. It broke again. Hold it. 153 00:07:52,848 --> 00:07:57,853 I have always felt like your family is an anomaly 154 00:07:57,936 --> 00:08:01,064 because everything is documented. 155 00:08:01,732 --> 00:08:03,609 I didn't want no pictures. No pictures. 156 00:08:03,692 --> 00:08:04,651 No pictures. 157 00:08:04,735 --> 00:08:07,487 There was something in him that didn't wanna let go of anything. 158 00:08:08,113 --> 00:08:10,115 I think Jerry has a need 159 00:08:10,199 --> 00:08:13,952 to keep his name going. And for some reason he thinks 160 00:08:14,036 --> 00:08:16,788 that when we check out and pass over, 161 00:08:16,872 --> 00:08:20,334 that the Smithsonian Institute is gonna want his memorabilia. 162 00:08:20,417 --> 00:08:22,878 Once we know what you guys wanna keep, 163 00:08:22,961 --> 00:08:24,796 - the pictures, the clothes… - Yeah. 164 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:26,548 …we know what we can give 165 00:08:26,632 --> 00:08:29,676 to the national comedy center, for the collection. 166 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:32,136 I mean, it's insane what he kept. 167 00:08:32,221 --> 00:08:38,059 The form for the 63rd Street Y family day membership. 168 00:08:38,644 --> 00:08:41,270 A scuba diving mask. 169 00:08:41,355 --> 00:08:42,313 I'm like… 170 00:08:48,654 --> 00:08:51,573 Ah, man. 171 00:08:51,657 --> 00:08:55,118 He even saved this article about how a sure summer hit missed. 172 00:08:55,202 --> 00:08:57,704 "Reviewers found the film disconcertingly unfunny." 173 00:08:58,705 --> 00:08:59,665 Ouch. 174 00:09:02,417 --> 00:09:04,419 This is interesting. So there's… 175 00:09:05,546 --> 00:09:07,923 From the Windermere Hotel in Binghamton, New York 176 00:09:08,006 --> 00:09:09,925 to Miss Anne Meara, 177 00:09:10,342 --> 00:09:11,885 11 Cornelia Street. 178 00:09:11,969 --> 00:09:13,887 "Tuesday. Dearest Annesie, 179 00:09:13,971 --> 00:09:15,889 It's awfully tough to start this letter. 180 00:09:15,973 --> 00:09:20,727 I'm sitting on the steps of the porch looking at Charles Island, 181 00:09:20,811 --> 00:09:23,313 and it's hazy and I miss you so much, sweetheart. 182 00:09:24,565 --> 00:09:26,567 There, I said something." 183 00:09:28,902 --> 00:09:33,073 We met in 1953, and in September '53 we got married. 184 00:09:35,117 --> 00:09:38,495 I said, "You can't sleep over any more unless you marry me." 185 00:09:39,329 --> 00:09:42,749 And he did because he liked sleeping over, I guess. 186 00:09:45,627 --> 00:09:49,173 "To Kid Meara, I miss you, my baby. Miss you, miss you, miss you. 187 00:09:49,256 --> 00:09:51,133 Oh, how I love you." 188 00:09:51,216 --> 00:09:52,926 "Honey, you must forgive my not calling you. 189 00:09:53,010 --> 00:09:55,053 I know you probably waited around for hours. 190 00:09:55,137 --> 00:09:58,348 I'm just dying to touch you, feel you, my sweetheart." 191 00:09:58,432 --> 00:10:00,517 "Anne, I just read over what I've written up to now. 192 00:10:00,601 --> 00:10:03,812 It seems that if you just roll through it, you could never get what I really meant. 193 00:10:03,896 --> 00:10:07,524 So, sweetheart I'm gonna tell you exactly how to read the beginning of this letter: 194 00:10:07,608 --> 00:10:10,235 After morning phone call, Tuesday. Jokingly." 195 00:10:10,319 --> 00:10:13,030 "To Kid Meara. With emotion. I miss you. Possessively. 196 00:10:13,113 --> 00:10:16,074 My baby. Miss you, miss you. Emphasize esses. 197 00:10:16,158 --> 00:10:19,369 Miss you." It's, like, a whole thing. 198 00:10:19,453 --> 00:10:20,621 It's so crazy. 199 00:10:20,996 --> 00:10:22,915 Kind of amazing. I never knew these… 200 00:10:22,998 --> 00:10:25,459 I know, and I love the, "Honey, honey." 201 00:10:25,542 --> 00:10:28,670 We were just two people who were trying to make it in the theater. 202 00:10:28,754 --> 00:10:31,215 And we kind of fell into each other's lives, 203 00:10:31,298 --> 00:10:34,092 because nobody else believed in us. 204 00:10:34,718 --> 00:10:36,386 "Jerry, you wonderful nut. 205 00:10:36,470 --> 00:10:39,389 You didn't have to explain the first part of your letter to me. 206 00:10:39,473 --> 00:10:40,849 Believe me, I got it. 207 00:10:40,933 --> 00:10:43,143 But, my sweetheart, I'm glad you did explain it 208 00:10:43,227 --> 00:10:45,646 because the stage directions were great." 209 00:10:45,729 --> 00:10:48,148 "Jerry, you said you were dying to touch me. 210 00:10:48,232 --> 00:10:49,399 To feel me. 211 00:10:49,483 --> 00:10:54,154 Well, my own dear man, I am dying to be touched. To be felt. 212 00:10:54,238 --> 00:10:56,990 To be… 'blank' by you." 213 00:10:59,159 --> 00:11:00,077 That's pretty good. 214 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:01,620 Let me see… Wait, let me look at that. 215 00:11:03,497 --> 00:11:04,498 Oh. 216 00:11:07,584 --> 00:11:10,254 Our marriage was fragmented. We didn't see each other. 217 00:11:10,337 --> 00:11:12,589 We didn't know who we were. We'd spend money on the telephone. 218 00:11:12,673 --> 00:11:15,050 "I love you so much, my darling. Jerry." 219 00:11:15,133 --> 00:11:16,844 "I miss you so much. Anne." 220 00:11:16,927 --> 00:11:18,136 Wow. 221 00:11:18,220 --> 00:11:23,559 It forced us to really bring ourselves to do something together. 222 00:11:23,976 --> 00:11:25,435 That's great. 223 00:11:29,147 --> 00:11:31,149 Jerry always wanted to do a comedy act. 224 00:11:32,025 --> 00:11:34,945 And I always was very haughty about that. 225 00:11:35,612 --> 00:11:37,489 I looked down on comedy. 226 00:11:37,865 --> 00:11:42,786 That stage of my life, I was a very serious acting student. 227 00:11:42,870 --> 00:11:46,164 I carried Eleonora Duse's life under one arm. 228 00:11:46,248 --> 00:11:49,001 An Actor Prepares, Stanislavski, under the other. 229 00:11:49,459 --> 00:11:51,086 Even later, as she got older, 230 00:11:51,170 --> 00:11:53,505 she always wanted me to do more serious stuff, you know, 231 00:11:53,589 --> 00:11:56,341 I would do something like Night at the Museum or Dodgeball. 232 00:11:56,425 --> 00:11:59,011 I've never seen a resume quite like yours. 233 00:11:59,553 --> 00:12:00,596 All right! 234 00:12:02,639 --> 00:12:04,391 That wasn't a compliment. 235 00:12:04,474 --> 00:12:07,936 She'd be like, "Yeah, but I like Permanent Midnight. Or Greenberg." 236 00:12:08,020 --> 00:12:10,898 - She really liked Greenberg. - Like that was the sell-out stuff? 237 00:12:10,981 --> 00:12:13,025 - Sort of. It felt like that to me. - Yeah. 238 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:17,446 The irony of that was your mom was so good at comedy. 239 00:12:17,529 --> 00:12:18,906 Yeah, and she could ad lib. 240 00:12:18,989 --> 00:12:22,409 She just was naturally great at live performing. 241 00:12:22,492 --> 00:12:23,327 Yeah. 242 00:12:23,410 --> 00:12:25,412 In a way that he had to work at much more. 243 00:12:26,538 --> 00:12:28,415 We wanted to do comedy. 244 00:12:28,498 --> 00:12:32,002 I always liked acting more, but he always thought I was funny. 245 00:12:32,085 --> 00:12:34,296 I myself always felt that Anne was the… 246 00:12:34,796 --> 00:12:37,257 well, let's say, she was the strength of the act. 247 00:12:43,555 --> 00:12:46,517 My dad grew up as a kid watching vaudeville. 248 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:49,019 Eddie Cantor or Jack Benny. 249 00:12:49,102 --> 00:12:52,397 And as much as he wanted to be, you know, the funny guy, 250 00:12:52,481 --> 00:12:55,651 he saw how naturally gifted Anne was. 251 00:12:56,276 --> 00:12:58,654 He admired her so much as a performer. 252 00:12:59,363 --> 00:13:01,698 You know, he really kind of needed her. 253 00:13:03,617 --> 00:13:06,203 - He really did pull her into comedy. - Yeah. 254 00:13:07,287 --> 00:13:09,289 And at that time, the thought occurred 255 00:13:09,373 --> 00:13:13,252 we could put something together and make a name and a living for ourselves. 256 00:14:00,132 --> 00:14:03,343 You see, this is a thing we call a tape recorder, Amy. 257 00:14:03,427 --> 00:14:07,389 So if you'd like to sing a song, we can record the song on the tape. 258 00:14:07,472 --> 00:14:09,892 - You wanna sing a song? - Yeah. 259 00:14:09,975 --> 00:14:13,020 Look at that. "I went in hospital 3 p.m. 260 00:14:13,103 --> 00:14:16,899 and gave birth to baby girl at 7:48 p.m. 261 00:14:16,982 --> 00:14:19,735 Amy Belle Sawyer Stiller was born today." 262 00:14:20,903 --> 00:14:21,820 Wow. 263 00:14:21,904 --> 00:14:24,114 That's crazy, she wrote that on the day you were born? 264 00:14:24,990 --> 00:14:26,658 Sing "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral." 265 00:14:26,742 --> 00:14:32,247 Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral 266 00:14:32,331 --> 00:14:34,917 "She's beautiful. Jerry came up by train. 267 00:14:35,584 --> 00:14:38,045 Was here 10 a.m. He is so very happy. 268 00:14:38,754 --> 00:14:43,342 Had to leave at 1 p.m. to get back in time to do a 5:30 p.m. show." 269 00:14:46,970 --> 00:14:49,056 When we'd had a baby, 270 00:14:49,139 --> 00:14:53,936 the whole need to succeed was very, very important in our life. 271 00:14:54,269 --> 00:14:57,940 I was so scared to not make enough money to have a family. 272 00:14:59,525 --> 00:15:01,652 I think the need for success for him 273 00:15:01,735 --> 00:15:06,698 was as much about creative expression as it was about security for the family. 274 00:15:08,075 --> 00:15:10,118 He was a very loving person. 275 00:15:11,745 --> 00:15:14,289 And he… he wanted to be loved. 276 00:15:15,415 --> 00:15:18,585 'Cause I don't think he got that kind of nurturing as a kid. 277 00:15:18,919 --> 00:15:21,255 My father, when I told him I wanna be an actor, said, 278 00:15:21,338 --> 00:15:23,298 "Why don't you become a stagehand? 279 00:15:23,382 --> 00:15:25,592 Where do you get off trying to be Eddie Cantor, 280 00:15:25,676 --> 00:15:29,012 or Jack Benny or George Burns? You have no right to do that." 281 00:15:30,722 --> 00:15:34,768 I watched my parents literally trying to survive the Depression. 282 00:15:34,852 --> 00:15:38,063 My father was a cab driver first, then he became a bus driver. 283 00:15:43,777 --> 00:15:45,362 What was the name of the company? 284 00:15:45,445 --> 00:15:46,613 Do you remember the name? 285 00:15:48,115 --> 00:15:51,118 - New York City Omnibus. - That's right. 286 00:15:51,201 --> 00:15:52,911 - I worked for the City. - Yeah. 287 00:15:53,453 --> 00:15:57,291 I dropped out. I could have been an actor, whatever, I never made it. 288 00:15:57,374 --> 00:15:59,710 I wanted to be an actor. 289 00:16:00,127 --> 00:16:02,379 So what did you do? Did you go up on the stage 290 00:16:02,462 --> 00:16:03,463 and give it a try? 291 00:16:03,547 --> 00:16:06,675 I tried once, I think. Once or twice. I don't remember. 292 00:16:07,217 --> 00:16:10,679 Yeah. I had talent. I have talent. Yeah. 293 00:16:10,762 --> 00:16:12,431 What happened? What made you stop? 294 00:16:12,514 --> 00:16:15,225 I don't know. I didn't feel like I can do it. 295 00:16:15,309 --> 00:16:18,187 - I got along just the same. - You made ends meet, right? 296 00:16:18,270 --> 00:16:21,023 That's right, yeah. Whatever it was, I took it. That's all. 297 00:16:21,106 --> 00:16:22,983 What's the use complaining about it? 298 00:16:31,533 --> 00:16:34,578 My mother and father had these horrible fights. 299 00:16:36,246 --> 00:16:37,998 Always about the money. 300 00:16:38,540 --> 00:16:40,167 Always about the money. 301 00:16:42,127 --> 00:16:45,172 A lot of times I was hiding under the bed. 302 00:16:45,672 --> 00:16:49,426 'Cause I was so scared, and Jerry would just zoom me out. 303 00:16:50,177 --> 00:16:52,179 Jerry was very good to me. 304 00:16:53,597 --> 00:16:56,350 He was the father image of all three of us. 305 00:16:57,768 --> 00:17:01,230 Jerry protecting me and Arnold at the time. 306 00:17:01,313 --> 00:17:02,356 Very protective. 307 00:17:02,439 --> 00:17:03,941 - Yes, always. Always. - Yeah. 308 00:17:07,319 --> 00:17:09,320 - Jerry just wanted out. - Right. 309 00:17:09,404 --> 00:17:12,491 And the only way out at that time was joining the service. 310 00:17:13,282 --> 00:17:15,743 My dad's jacket from the army. 311 00:17:17,996 --> 00:17:18,829 Which one? 312 00:17:18,914 --> 00:17:22,416 And when he came on back, he went to Syracuse University. 313 00:17:23,001 --> 00:17:25,587 He became very involved in the acting then. 314 00:17:27,130 --> 00:17:30,968 I think the comedic actors he loved when he was a kid, 315 00:17:31,051 --> 00:17:34,763 were such an escape for him, and his sister and his brother. 316 00:17:34,847 --> 00:17:37,766 And in the theater, he found this home. 317 00:17:39,977 --> 00:17:44,481 Before his mom died, he took her to see the marquee of The Golden Apple, 318 00:17:44,565 --> 00:17:46,733 which was the play that he was in on Broadway. 319 00:17:46,817 --> 00:17:48,652 She just didn't say anything. 320 00:17:50,070 --> 00:17:51,613 But she did say, "You stunk," 321 00:17:51,697 --> 00:17:54,825 when she saw him in a play in school or something? 322 00:17:55,617 --> 00:17:57,452 Just horrible. 323 00:18:00,289 --> 00:18:01,373 "I said to Anne, 324 00:18:01,456 --> 00:18:04,334 'You know when they ask me if my parents ever encouraged me,' 325 00:18:04,418 --> 00:18:06,461 I'll say, 'There was nothing to encourage. 326 00:18:06,545 --> 00:18:09,673 The truth is my father never said anything to encourage me. 327 00:18:09,756 --> 00:18:11,008 I did it all by myself.'" 328 00:18:11,091 --> 00:18:12,384 That's right. 329 00:18:12,467 --> 00:18:14,052 "'Maybe,' she said, 'they were fearful. 330 00:18:14,136 --> 00:18:15,637 They didn't wanna see you get hurt.' 331 00:18:15,721 --> 00:18:17,723 Suddenly I could feel the truth. Anne was right. 332 00:18:17,806 --> 00:18:19,933 They didn't wanna see me hurt. Humiliated." 333 00:18:22,978 --> 00:18:25,439 Mamma… Did you have a good time tonight? I mean… 334 00:18:25,522 --> 00:18:27,858 Did you have a good time? I mean, did you… 335 00:18:27,941 --> 00:18:32,613 Joel, did I have a good time? I'm overwhelmed. 336 00:18:32,696 --> 00:18:37,492 I mean, you know, it's been so long. When you called up yesterday on the phone, 337 00:18:37,576 --> 00:18:39,369 I said, "Joel who?" you know? 338 00:18:39,453 --> 00:18:42,456 We started to play in the village and little coffee houses 339 00:18:42,539 --> 00:18:43,624 and stuff like that. 340 00:18:43,707 --> 00:18:45,501 You can imagine how I felt 341 00:18:45,584 --> 00:18:48,212 when, poof, out of the blue, you take me to dinner and a show. 342 00:18:48,295 --> 00:18:50,005 - Yeah. - I figured, "What's up?"… 343 00:18:50,088 --> 00:18:52,424 They came up with a sketch in their living room, 344 00:18:52,508 --> 00:18:54,927 you know, 20 blocks up Broadway, 345 00:18:55,010 --> 00:18:57,638 that then they were gonna, you know, do on stage here 346 00:18:57,721 --> 00:19:00,057 that would be beamed out to the rest of the world. 347 00:19:00,390 --> 00:19:02,893 The town coordinator came down and saw us. 348 00:19:02,976 --> 00:19:06,563 And he liked us, and they hired us for a shot. 349 00:19:07,231 --> 00:19:08,398 One shot on Ed Sullivan. 350 00:19:08,482 --> 00:19:11,902 Looking at the marquee coming up there. Wow, imagine that, 351 00:19:11,985 --> 00:19:15,697 saying, you know, "Ed Sullivan Theater, Stiller and Meara, Rolling Stones." 352 00:19:15,781 --> 00:19:19,952 And now, here he is, live from New York, Ed Sullivan. 353 00:19:20,035 --> 00:19:22,079 Kind of puts a lump in your throat to think about it. 354 00:19:22,788 --> 00:19:24,998 The time Ed Sullivan was on, 355 00:19:25,082 --> 00:19:28,335 there would be generations of grandparents, parents, children, 356 00:19:28,418 --> 00:19:29,837 all watching one show. 357 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:31,505 The Ed Sullivan Show was watched 358 00:19:31,588 --> 00:19:34,007 by something like 20 or 30 million people every week. 359 00:19:34,091 --> 00:19:36,009 Does this feel natural and relaxed? 360 00:19:36,093 --> 00:19:38,846 Is this good? Is this how we planned it? 361 00:19:38,929 --> 00:19:41,139 - Hi. Good to see you. - How's it going, man? 362 00:19:41,223 --> 00:19:42,975 It was live from New York, you know, 363 00:19:43,058 --> 00:19:44,393 before Saturday Night. 364 00:19:45,227 --> 00:19:47,896 They first said, "Do you wanna move into The Ed Sullivan Theater?" 365 00:19:47,980 --> 00:19:51,316 My answer was, "Is it intimidating to be in the Ed Sullivan Theater?" 366 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:53,527 Now, ladies and gentlemen, The Supremes. 367 00:19:53,610 --> 00:19:55,487 Yes, that's right, Elvis Presley! 368 00:19:55,571 --> 00:19:56,405 The Beatles! 369 00:19:56,488 --> 00:19:58,866 I mean, this was the apex of show business. 370 00:19:58,949 --> 00:19:59,825 Yes. 371 00:19:59,908 --> 00:20:01,994 My mom talked about how nervous she would be 372 00:20:02,077 --> 00:20:03,996 coming out of that dressing room upstairs. 373 00:20:04,538 --> 00:20:06,123 The walk to the elevator 374 00:20:06,665 --> 00:20:09,376 which went down to the stage and how she wanted to throw up. 375 00:20:09,459 --> 00:20:11,545 Everybody was busy throwing up in the wings. 376 00:20:11,628 --> 00:20:14,214 If we were smart, we would've taken drugs, I'm telling you. 377 00:20:15,841 --> 00:20:17,718 It's a whole lot of pressure. 378 00:20:17,801 --> 00:20:20,637 I'm curious how you even… Do you think about that? Because… 379 00:20:20,721 --> 00:20:24,349 I always think, "You only have one chance to do these jokes, so don't fuck it up." 380 00:20:24,433 --> 00:20:25,601 - Right. - I mean, like, 381 00:20:25,684 --> 00:20:28,645 I slap myself in the face, hard. Twice. 382 00:20:28,729 --> 00:20:29,563 Are you serious? 383 00:20:29,646 --> 00:20:31,106 - Like this. Ready? - Yeah. 384 00:20:31,190 --> 00:20:33,150 - Oh, is that it? - That's it. 385 00:20:33,233 --> 00:20:35,402 Yeah. 386 00:20:35,485 --> 00:20:36,862 This was it for them. 387 00:20:36,945 --> 00:20:39,781 And if they did well, he'd invite you back the next week. 388 00:20:40,365 --> 00:20:41,366 Thank you. 389 00:20:43,619 --> 00:20:46,538 This team you're about to meet, they're completely novel. 390 00:20:46,622 --> 00:20:48,248 They have a completely new approach to comedy. 391 00:20:48,332 --> 00:20:50,834 He now directs and produces season two of Severance. 392 00:20:50,918 --> 00:20:52,878 Please welcome back to The Late Show… 393 00:20:52,961 --> 00:20:54,713 Jerry Stiller is the young fellow 394 00:20:54,796 --> 00:20:58,258 and the girl, Anne Meara. So let's have a nice welcome for 'em. 395 00:20:58,342 --> 00:21:00,719 Jerry Stiller and… 396 00:21:03,180 --> 00:21:04,640 We are witnessing 397 00:21:04,723 --> 00:21:07,976 one of the greatest human interest stories of all times. 398 00:21:08,060 --> 00:21:11,980 This man had been entombed alive for 24 hours 399 00:21:12,064 --> 00:21:14,983 in the abdominal cavity of a giant whale. 400 00:21:15,067 --> 00:21:16,401 What is your name? 401 00:21:17,027 --> 00:21:17,986 Jonah. 402 00:21:19,821 --> 00:21:24,117 Strange ironic twist that this man sitting before us 403 00:21:24,201 --> 00:21:28,705 should bear the same name as one who long ago endured a similar fate. 404 00:21:28,789 --> 00:21:30,624 Go right ahead, Mr. Jonah. 405 00:21:30,707 --> 00:21:32,793 Somebody else this happened to here before me? 406 00:21:33,544 --> 00:21:35,170 Long time ago, sir. 407 00:21:35,671 --> 00:21:37,381 This is some place, this California. 408 00:21:38,382 --> 00:21:40,384 It was quite a while ago, Mr. Jonah. 409 00:21:40,467 --> 00:21:42,261 If it happened before, it'll happen again. 410 00:21:42,344 --> 00:21:45,222 - I don't think you understand, sir. - They should rope it off. 411 00:21:46,265 --> 00:21:49,226 - I'm sure they should. - You don't leave a place like this open! 412 00:21:49,309 --> 00:21:51,770 They started doing The Ed Sullivan Show in '63. 413 00:21:51,854 --> 00:21:55,941 And then, he invited them back and they kept coming back. 414 00:21:56,024 --> 00:21:59,444 I'd just been born, they'd just moved to this new apartment on Riverside Drive. 415 00:21:59,528 --> 00:22:01,405 I think they paid 11,000 dollars for it. 416 00:22:01,488 --> 00:22:03,866 The Sullivan Show, it hung over our head. 417 00:22:03,949 --> 00:22:07,286 We had to come up with six minutes and they had to be funny. 418 00:22:07,369 --> 00:22:09,788 - And you wrote it all yourselves? - Oh, yes. 419 00:22:10,289 --> 00:22:11,874 It was, all of sudden, security. 420 00:22:11,957 --> 00:22:15,669 But the flipside of it was they had to do it every time. 421 00:22:15,752 --> 00:22:19,256 'Cause every time an Ed Sullivan date was in the offing, 422 00:22:19,339 --> 00:22:21,800 we had two weeks to get ready to have new material. 423 00:22:23,343 --> 00:22:25,012 Mrs. Claus… Mrs. Claus… 424 00:22:36,064 --> 00:22:37,858 Well, we ran out of premises, you know? 425 00:22:37,941 --> 00:22:41,570 We had a guy and a tall girl, and we had the boss and the wife. 426 00:22:41,653 --> 00:22:43,906 We had Anne playing Mrs. Santa Claus… 427 00:22:43,989 --> 00:22:46,658 - Oh, that elf had a crummy mouth on him. - I see. 428 00:22:46,742 --> 00:22:49,036 - No sense of meshuggenah. - What, Mrs. Claus? 429 00:22:49,119 --> 00:22:51,079 It's an Eskimo word I picked up in the neighborhood. 430 00:22:51,163 --> 00:22:51,997 I see. 431 00:22:52,414 --> 00:22:56,335 These became their famous signature sketches. 432 00:22:56,418 --> 00:22:58,837 - Like Computer Dating. - Right. Wow. 433 00:22:58,921 --> 00:23:02,925 The idea of playing ourselves from our ethnic backgrounds 434 00:23:03,008 --> 00:23:04,593 had never come up before. 435 00:23:04,676 --> 00:23:07,387 They did this sketch which was computer dating, 436 00:23:07,471 --> 00:23:10,390 which had just been invented. And the sketch was 437 00:23:10,474 --> 00:23:13,393 that a Jewish guy and an Irish Catholic girl get put together. 438 00:23:13,477 --> 00:23:15,103 And that was Jerry's idea. 439 00:23:15,187 --> 00:23:20,150 And so we went home and we created Hershey Horowitz and Mary Elizabeth Doyle. 440 00:23:20,234 --> 00:23:21,818 Here's a wonderful team 441 00:23:21,902 --> 00:23:25,364 and they have a… something they're gonna do for you right now 442 00:23:25,447 --> 00:23:29,701 I think it'll go down as an all-time classic. 443 00:23:29,785 --> 00:23:34,873 The team of Stiller and Meara expressing this spirit. 444 00:23:39,086 --> 00:23:41,046 - How do you do? - How do you do? 445 00:23:41,463 --> 00:23:43,006 I'm Hershey Horowitz. 446 00:23:44,341 --> 00:23:46,260 I'm Mary Elizabeth Doyle. 447 00:23:48,262 --> 00:23:49,471 "Doyle?" 448 00:23:49,555 --> 00:23:50,556 "Horowitz?" 449 00:23:51,557 --> 00:23:52,391 Horowitz. 450 00:23:52,474 --> 00:23:55,519 H-O-R-O-W-I-T-Z. 451 00:23:55,602 --> 00:23:57,020 - Oh. - Hershey. 452 00:23:57,104 --> 00:24:00,232 People who had seen us break it in and rehearse, would say, 453 00:24:00,315 --> 00:24:03,360 "Well, it would never go on, because it doesn't relate to the entire country." 454 00:24:03,443 --> 00:24:05,821 And no one had ever done anything like that before. 455 00:24:05,904 --> 00:24:07,281 You have brothers and sisters? 456 00:24:07,364 --> 00:24:08,782 - Three brothers. - Oh. 457 00:24:08,866 --> 00:24:10,534 Bach, Buzi and Saul. 458 00:24:11,785 --> 00:24:13,078 - Bach? - Bach. 459 00:24:13,161 --> 00:24:14,413 - Ba-ch. - No. Bach. 460 00:24:14,496 --> 00:24:15,706 Bach. Excuse me. 461 00:24:15,789 --> 00:24:17,833 That was the one that resonated, I guess. 462 00:24:17,916 --> 00:24:21,211 And certainly with Ed Sullivan, because he was Irish 463 00:24:21,295 --> 00:24:23,422 and his wife was Jewish, Sylvia. 464 00:24:25,632 --> 00:24:28,093 When we finished that sketch, he was over there 465 00:24:28,552 --> 00:24:32,014 and his beautiful blue eyes were crying, they were weeping. 466 00:24:32,097 --> 00:24:33,348 He couldn't get over the… 467 00:24:33,432 --> 00:24:36,643 And this ended up being the iconic sketch for them. 468 00:24:36,727 --> 00:24:39,062 We did reach a… 469 00:24:39,146 --> 00:24:39,980 Pinnacle? 470 00:24:40,772 --> 00:24:42,232 Yeah, that's good. 471 00:24:45,319 --> 00:24:47,237 The Ed Sullivan Show for us, 472 00:24:47,321 --> 00:24:50,073 made it much easier to go out and play nightclubs 473 00:24:50,157 --> 00:24:51,909 and command a decent salary. 474 00:24:52,409 --> 00:24:55,662 It's their own style of comedy. Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. 475 00:24:55,746 --> 00:24:56,580 Here they are. 476 00:24:57,497 --> 00:25:00,042 They booked us into Cleveland, Detroit, 477 00:25:00,125 --> 00:25:01,168 Milwaukee, Chicago. 478 00:25:01,251 --> 00:25:04,505 The comedy of Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller. 479 00:25:05,005 --> 00:25:06,840 That's the best piece of comedy material 480 00:25:06,924 --> 00:25:08,467 I've heard in a long, long time. 481 00:25:08,550 --> 00:25:11,345 They're married in real life. He is Jewish and she's Irish. 482 00:25:12,262 --> 00:25:13,096 They're for real. 483 00:25:40,749 --> 00:25:42,835 They started to work a lot. 484 00:25:42,918 --> 00:25:44,920 People knew them, they were famous. 485 00:25:45,003 --> 00:25:46,338 And Jerry loved it. 486 00:25:46,672 --> 00:25:48,632 He loved to be recognized, 487 00:25:48,715 --> 00:25:50,634 happy to sign autographs, 488 00:25:50,717 --> 00:25:53,637 happy to have the accolades. 489 00:25:53,971 --> 00:25:55,806 Jerry, what bothers you more? 490 00:25:55,889 --> 00:25:58,767 When somebody criticizes your performance and you thought it was good, 491 00:25:58,851 --> 00:26:00,561 or when somebody raves about your performance 492 00:26:00,644 --> 00:26:04,356 - and you thought it was terrible? - When somebody criticizes me… 493 00:26:04,439 --> 00:26:06,233 You got it. That's it. Everybody got it. 494 00:26:06,316 --> 00:26:09,736 This success was really, really important to him. 495 00:26:12,239 --> 00:26:16,827 My mom cared about the work but it didn't define her. 496 00:26:16,910 --> 00:26:19,288 Do you wanna know, when you come off stage? 497 00:26:20,622 --> 00:26:23,500 - I'm just curious. - No, I really think… 498 00:26:23,584 --> 00:26:25,085 I-I don't seek it out. 499 00:26:25,169 --> 00:26:26,545 He put himself out there. 500 00:26:26,628 --> 00:26:28,672 I think sometimes it drove my mother crazy. 501 00:26:28,755 --> 00:26:30,716 He would love to connect with the fans, right? 502 00:26:30,799 --> 00:26:33,093 They'd be having a conversation, somebody would come over, 503 00:26:33,177 --> 00:26:34,011 "Jerry, I love you!" 504 00:26:34,094 --> 00:26:35,971 And my mother would be like, "We're talking." 505 00:26:36,722 --> 00:26:39,141 And my dad would be like, "Tell me about your children." 506 00:26:39,224 --> 00:26:40,559 Right. No, yeah. 507 00:26:40,642 --> 00:26:43,478 I remember this one time I literally was on the street 508 00:26:43,562 --> 00:26:45,314 talking to him about the fact 509 00:26:45,397 --> 00:26:48,567 that I felt like he didn't pay enough attention to us 510 00:26:48,650 --> 00:26:50,569 and while we were talking, somebody on the street 511 00:26:50,652 --> 00:26:52,362 came over and said, "Jerry, I love your work." 512 00:26:52,446 --> 00:26:54,198 And he started talking to the guy. 513 00:26:54,281 --> 00:26:57,367 That's actually hilarious, because just a few weeks ago, 514 00:26:57,451 --> 00:27:01,747 we were all out at a restaurant and I'd been stressed about college stuff 515 00:27:01,830 --> 00:27:04,625 and the people there wanted to get, like, a picture with you. 516 00:27:04,708 --> 00:27:06,251 And I just remember I was so frustrated, 517 00:27:06,335 --> 00:27:08,670 like, the world just has to stop to get this picture. 518 00:27:08,754 --> 00:27:11,298 - You know what I mean? - I think I got more of my dad in me 519 00:27:11,381 --> 00:27:13,258 - than my mom. - Right. Than your mom. Exactly! 520 00:27:13,342 --> 00:27:14,968 - Can I ask you a favor? - Yeah. 521 00:27:15,052 --> 00:27:17,513 - Can I say goodnight to Amy and Benjy? - You better. 522 00:27:17,596 --> 00:27:19,223 Goodnight, Amy and Benjy. 523 00:27:22,643 --> 00:27:24,895 When Mom and Dad were away to LA 524 00:27:24,978 --> 00:27:28,023 to do some… whatever, game show or talk show, 525 00:27:28,732 --> 00:27:30,776 first of all, we'd miss them when they were gone. 526 00:27:30,859 --> 00:27:32,819 But I remember that being so much fun. 527 00:27:32,903 --> 00:27:34,988 - 'Cause we would stay up late… - Yeah. 528 00:27:35,072 --> 00:27:37,824 …and we'd have our, like, secret knocking on the wall. 529 00:27:37,908 --> 00:27:39,076 Yeah. 530 00:27:40,869 --> 00:27:42,287 Hit it. 531 00:27:42,371 --> 00:27:43,747 Bonne nuit. 532 00:27:43,830 --> 00:27:45,958 Bonne nuit, finalement. 533 00:27:46,041 --> 00:27:47,709 - Buh-buh-buh! - B-b-b-b… 534 00:27:47,793 --> 00:27:49,503 And then I'd be like, "Bam!" 535 00:27:50,587 --> 00:27:52,464 - It was like our own little world. - Yeah. 536 00:27:59,972 --> 00:28:04,017 Our building was its own ecosystem because it was so big. 537 00:28:04,852 --> 00:28:07,229 It was a lot of, kind of, going back and forth 538 00:28:07,312 --> 00:28:09,022 between people's apartments 539 00:28:09,106 --> 00:28:12,317 so you go up and down the elevators, or you go up and down the stairs. 540 00:28:13,777 --> 00:28:15,362 And it was, you know, the '70s 541 00:28:15,445 --> 00:28:18,532 so definitely less gentrified and less safe. 542 00:28:20,158 --> 00:28:22,536 And there was a real sense of community. 543 00:28:23,912 --> 00:28:25,497 So all my friends were in the building. 544 00:28:25,581 --> 00:28:28,667 Adam Max. His dad was Peter Max, the artist. 545 00:28:31,879 --> 00:28:36,008 We'd go up there and Peter would have all these really interesting people over. 546 00:28:36,091 --> 00:28:37,968 Like the Swami Satchidananda 547 00:28:38,051 --> 00:28:41,305 and all these kinda hip, groovy '70s people. 548 00:28:45,726 --> 00:28:48,228 There was a lot of creative energy in the building and… 549 00:28:49,271 --> 00:28:52,900 I started to pick up a camera the way my dad always did. 550 00:28:56,361 --> 00:28:58,238 Making my own movies. 551 00:29:02,618 --> 00:29:06,121 Good evening. This is "The Benjamin Stiller Hour". 552 00:29:06,205 --> 00:29:08,373 Intermission. 553 00:29:08,457 --> 00:29:11,251 My dad got me a Super 8 camera. 554 00:29:11,335 --> 00:29:12,711 Got me editing equipment. 555 00:29:15,464 --> 00:29:19,426 For me, it became sort of a safe harbor. 556 00:29:22,429 --> 00:29:24,640 When they were away or fighting… 557 00:29:25,682 --> 00:29:28,977 or weren't focusing on us because they were working so much… 558 00:29:30,687 --> 00:29:32,356 it was something to fall into. 559 00:29:43,575 --> 00:29:47,287 Hard thing to imagine the apartment's not gonna exist anymore. 560 00:29:51,708 --> 00:29:55,712 Basically, whenever it is that you decide, "Okay, we've got this stuff out", 561 00:29:55,796 --> 00:29:57,714 realtors are gonna say, 562 00:29:57,798 --> 00:30:01,468 "Okay, let's clear it out and let's stage it." 563 00:30:02,636 --> 00:30:05,556 It's not a reality… I'm not in touch with it right now. 564 00:30:05,639 --> 00:30:07,349 - Yeah. And that's, to me… - To be honest. 565 00:30:07,432 --> 00:30:10,978 …what's really gonna, kind of, really make everything feel real. 566 00:30:11,061 --> 00:30:13,689 - Exactly. - It's just this place not being here. 567 00:30:42,926 --> 00:30:46,388 Very few people are lucky enough to find together 568 00:30:46,471 --> 00:30:48,640 what they dream about as kids. 569 00:30:49,266 --> 00:30:51,351 Frankly, I mean, we're very fortunate 570 00:30:51,435 --> 00:30:54,062 to find our love and our happiness in the work that we do. 571 00:30:54,146 --> 00:30:56,648 And we get a great charge out of making it happen. 572 00:30:58,692 --> 00:31:01,695 I remember there was a folding, white accordion door. 573 00:31:01,778 --> 00:31:03,614 Oh, I had to be able to do all things. 574 00:31:03,697 --> 00:31:07,284 Wife, lover, sweetheart, pal, cook. Then you say, "Well, I'll do the cooking." 575 00:31:07,367 --> 00:31:09,661 And when that door was closed, they were working. 576 00:31:12,998 --> 00:31:15,834 And that was time to not bother them. 577 00:31:20,422 --> 00:31:23,091 Sometimes hearing laughter, sometimes hearing raised voices. 578 00:31:27,721 --> 00:31:32,601 Never knowing if that was real or them rehearsing something. 579 00:31:32,684 --> 00:31:35,604 She's the funniest woman in the world off stage and on stage. 580 00:31:35,687 --> 00:31:38,857 Now, the thing is, when she does these funny things, I am being… 581 00:31:38,941 --> 00:31:40,859 I am an exploiter, an opportunist. 582 00:31:40,943 --> 00:31:43,654 I'll take a pencil and start to write it down. The minute I do that… 583 00:31:43,737 --> 00:31:46,365 He'll say, "We can use that on a show." And I'm ready to kill him. 584 00:31:46,448 --> 00:31:49,618 I said-- Again, where does the act end and the marriage begin? 585 00:31:50,035 --> 00:31:51,453 I hate you. 586 00:31:51,954 --> 00:31:54,289 You hate me? I hate you. 587 00:31:54,998 --> 00:31:57,668 You don't know what hate is, the kind of hate I have for you. 588 00:31:58,877 --> 00:32:01,338 My hate for you is such a hate… 589 00:32:02,506 --> 00:32:04,174 such a hot hate. 590 00:32:05,217 --> 00:32:08,679 I hate you with hot, heaping hunks of hate. 591 00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:11,181 We have a sketch we call "Hate". 592 00:32:11,265 --> 00:32:12,349 The heat of your hot hate… 593 00:32:12,432 --> 00:32:16,436 I say to Anne, "I hate you." And she says, "You hate me? I hate you." 594 00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:18,772 And one day, Amy, who's six, came into the room 595 00:32:18,856 --> 00:32:22,067 and she heard us saying this to each other and we looked at her for a moment 596 00:32:22,150 --> 00:32:24,027 and we didn't know what to say, so we said, 597 00:32:24,111 --> 00:32:28,240 "Amy, Mommy-Daddy rehearse. Mommy-Daddy rehearse." 598 00:32:28,323 --> 00:32:30,993 And Amy looked at us and she started to smile. 599 00:32:31,076 --> 00:32:33,537 Well, about two weeks later, we were fighting. 600 00:32:35,038 --> 00:32:36,456 Amy walked in and she said… 601 00:32:36,540 --> 00:32:38,959 "Mommy-Daddy rehearse?" "No, Mommy-Daddy fight." 602 00:32:39,042 --> 00:32:42,129 - "Get outta here!" - It gets to be a little complicated. 603 00:32:42,212 --> 00:32:45,257 - I hated you before I met you. - I hated you before you were born. 604 00:32:45,340 --> 00:32:47,676 To me, that's one of the things that I think about 605 00:32:47,759 --> 00:32:50,554 is just how that became, sort of, like, 606 00:32:50,637 --> 00:32:52,973 "Yeah, that's the laugh. That's the funny joke." 607 00:32:53,056 --> 00:32:55,350 But what is the reality of that story, though? 608 00:32:57,144 --> 00:32:58,145 We don't know, Ben. 609 00:32:58,228 --> 00:33:00,689 That's why we're so messed up. That's why… 610 00:33:00,772 --> 00:33:02,357 That's why we're doing this documentary? 611 00:33:02,441 --> 00:33:05,152 We're gonna figure it out by going through this stuff. 612 00:33:05,235 --> 00:33:08,322 Anne and Jerry live in a large apartment on the West Side 613 00:33:08,405 --> 00:33:10,991 with their daughter, Amy, and son, Benjy. 614 00:33:11,074 --> 00:33:14,244 Much of their comedy material begins at home. 615 00:33:14,328 --> 00:33:18,373 Apparently, this is one marriage where there is no communications problem. 616 00:33:18,457 --> 00:33:20,250 - I-- - He doesn't even pick up his underwear 617 00:33:20,334 --> 00:33:21,835 on the floor. He doesn't. 618 00:33:21,919 --> 00:33:23,003 This is the way you talk 619 00:33:23,086 --> 00:33:24,922 in front of these people here in New York City? 620 00:33:25,005 --> 00:33:26,423 I mean, where were you raised, that… 621 00:33:26,507 --> 00:33:28,717 If you're an artist, you don't worry about underwear. 622 00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:32,429 - You don't worry about things like… - What am I? Chopped liver? 623 00:33:32,513 --> 00:33:35,057 But what is important is that Anne and Jerry 624 00:33:35,140 --> 00:33:37,476 put family life first and show business second. 625 00:33:37,559 --> 00:33:42,022 It's 1976, and I'm filming my son Benjy coming down the hill. 626 00:33:42,105 --> 00:33:45,567 To about three miles an hour on this madness of life. 627 00:33:45,651 --> 00:33:48,237 Do you ever have any aspirations of being in theater or… 628 00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:51,490 What the hell is this gizmo here? 629 00:33:51,990 --> 00:33:54,660 I'm Ben Stiller, doing the voiceover for this whole show. 630 00:33:54,743 --> 00:33:56,787 Whatever happened to the sweet little old Alice 631 00:33:56,870 --> 00:33:58,497 we once knew in Wonderland? 632 00:33:58,580 --> 00:34:02,084 It's a very early hour. It's 6:30 in the morning 633 00:34:02,167 --> 00:34:03,502 I'm going back to sleep. Goodbye. 634 00:34:03,585 --> 00:34:07,130 You know, you grow up around these very unique theater people. 635 00:34:07,214 --> 00:34:08,047 Yeah. 636 00:34:08,130 --> 00:34:11,510 Always up to, like, do weird improvisations and stuff. 637 00:34:11,592 --> 00:34:15,138 ABC Sports, interviewing the great Italian diver. 638 00:34:15,222 --> 00:34:18,600 I know I'm gonna win because I got my lucky shirt on. 639 00:34:18,684 --> 00:34:21,687 - Let-Let's see you dive. - Are you kiddin'? 640 00:34:21,770 --> 00:34:24,773 - Commercial! Quick. - Cut! Cut! 641 00:34:25,315 --> 00:34:27,317 When we were kids, he would do crazy characters. 642 00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:29,235 I feel like you do that, too. 643 00:34:29,319 --> 00:34:32,406 - I love that we do that. - I do, too. That's who we are. 644 00:34:32,489 --> 00:34:34,199 Well, I better get going now. 645 00:34:34,283 --> 00:34:37,661 Aw, we love you, Mr. Apple. 646 00:34:37,744 --> 00:34:42,748 Oh, one more thing. The name's Mr. Anaragreenapopo. 647 00:34:43,292 --> 00:34:46,295 Daddy, can you do that one more time, except louder? 648 00:34:46,378 --> 00:34:47,880 Anaragreenapopo. 649 00:34:47,963 --> 00:34:49,547 Benjy, your mother says 650 00:34:49,630 --> 00:34:52,259 that she'd like you maybe to grow up to be a big producer 651 00:34:52,342 --> 00:34:55,137 and then you could give her and your dad starring roles. 652 00:34:55,219 --> 00:34:56,513 Would you hire these two? 653 00:34:56,597 --> 00:34:59,600 - No. - You wouldn't? Benjy. 654 00:34:59,683 --> 00:35:01,351 - What is this? - What is it? Yeah. 655 00:35:01,435 --> 00:35:03,061 Boy, how fast they forget! 656 00:35:03,145 --> 00:35:05,063 Well, I would hire somebody else. 657 00:35:05,147 --> 00:35:06,106 - Why? - Why? 658 00:35:06,190 --> 00:35:08,066 It'd be hard to work with you. 659 00:35:09,568 --> 00:35:14,156 So, Benjy, would you cast your parents in… in your movies? 660 00:35:14,239 --> 00:35:15,365 Well, no. 661 00:35:16,658 --> 00:35:19,578 - Why not? - Well, I don't think I'd cast them. 662 00:35:20,746 --> 00:35:23,290 Well, I think they'd be rather hard to work with. 663 00:35:24,333 --> 00:35:26,502 I think I would cast somebody else. 664 00:35:28,837 --> 00:35:30,088 I didn't sound like that. 665 00:35:30,172 --> 00:35:34,801 Well, see, the movie I was gonna make, they wouldn't be right for it. 666 00:35:34,885 --> 00:35:36,220 It's… It wouldn't… 667 00:35:36,303 --> 00:35:38,305 How would you like to work for the State Department? 668 00:35:38,388 --> 00:35:41,058 No, why? What's the movie about? 669 00:35:41,141 --> 00:35:47,272 I'll be making adventure or a murder or something like that, but never comedy. 670 00:35:47,356 --> 00:35:49,733 I don't like comedy. I don't like comedy. 671 00:35:53,153 --> 00:35:55,656 I'm Ben, I'm Ben It's my show, yo 672 00:35:55,739 --> 00:35:57,950 "Fox's new Sunday night show, The Ben Stiller Show, 673 00:35:58,033 --> 00:36:00,661 premiering tomorrow night at 7:30 on Channel 5 674 00:36:00,744 --> 00:36:03,789 is… is a feeble collection of film sketches, 675 00:36:03,872 --> 00:36:06,291 starring a comic clearly not ready for prime time." 676 00:36:08,043 --> 00:36:10,838 "You too can get probably get your own TV show like Ben Stiller 677 00:36:10,921 --> 00:36:12,631 if you come from a showbiz family. 678 00:36:12,714 --> 00:36:15,759 His parents are likeable comics, Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller." 679 00:36:15,843 --> 00:36:17,886 "Offspring of a Comedy Line." 680 00:36:17,970 --> 00:36:20,681 You know, for me, going out trying to have my own career, 681 00:36:20,764 --> 00:36:23,600 so much of it was tied into my parents. 682 00:36:23,684 --> 00:36:26,812 They just cast a very big shadow. 683 00:36:26,895 --> 00:36:31,024 Both as entertainers, actors, comedians. But then just also as people. 684 00:36:31,108 --> 00:36:35,612 And I think for a long time, I felt like it was so much to live up to. 685 00:36:35,696 --> 00:36:37,155 Part of me really wanted 686 00:36:37,239 --> 00:36:39,575 - to just distance myself from them. - Yeah. 687 00:36:40,284 --> 00:36:42,286 Oh, Mr. Munster. 688 00:36:42,369 --> 00:36:45,372 I'm laughing as you're saying that 689 00:36:45,455 --> 00:36:48,542 because you're so contradicting yourself 690 00:36:48,625 --> 00:36:53,255 because one of them or both of them were always in things you did. 691 00:36:53,338 --> 00:36:55,215 Because I wasn't stupid. They were funny. 692 00:36:55,299 --> 00:36:57,801 Even in my audition tape for Saturday Night Live… 693 00:36:57,885 --> 00:36:59,678 Look, Ma, big favor, big favor. 694 00:36:59,761 --> 00:37:01,263 I got a writer in there who's all dried up. 695 00:37:01,346 --> 00:37:03,849 I got a lot of material I need. 696 00:37:03,932 --> 00:37:05,559 - You talked so fast. - Start again. 697 00:37:05,642 --> 00:37:07,186 - What is this? - That's old stuff. 698 00:37:07,269 --> 00:37:09,313 - Daddy and I did that a long… - Stiller and Meara stuff? 699 00:37:09,396 --> 00:37:11,440 - Yeah, on The Sullivan Show, honey. - This is good. 700 00:37:11,523 --> 00:37:12,733 - No, it's not. - Wait a minute. 701 00:37:12,816 --> 00:37:14,109 It's 30 years old. It's not pertinent. 702 00:37:14,193 --> 00:37:16,528 I was using them completely. 703 00:37:16,612 --> 00:37:18,697 In case you just joined us, we're spending a day in my life. 704 00:37:18,780 --> 00:37:20,699 One of the sketches we did on the show 705 00:37:20,782 --> 00:37:22,534 was us all going to family therapy together. 706 00:37:22,618 --> 00:37:24,077 I come from a show business family… 707 00:37:24,161 --> 00:37:26,330 We actually did go to therapy. 708 00:37:26,413 --> 00:37:27,873 It's my life. 709 00:37:27,956 --> 00:37:29,875 Okay, I'd like to talk 710 00:37:29,958 --> 00:37:33,128 about how the rest of the family feels intimidated by my success. 711 00:37:34,671 --> 00:37:35,631 Jerry, please. 712 00:37:35,714 --> 00:37:37,633 No, I mean, you know… I think it's obvious. 713 00:37:37,716 --> 00:37:40,052 You can't deal with the fact I'm more successful than you are. 714 00:37:40,135 --> 00:37:41,303 What's he talking about? 715 00:37:41,386 --> 00:37:43,680 I'm so sick of Ben monopolizing the conversation. 716 00:37:43,764 --> 00:37:45,807 - This happens every time. - All right. 717 00:37:45,891 --> 00:37:48,685 - This is my sister Amy. - No! Really. You come in here 718 00:37:48,769 --> 00:37:50,395 and you're the biggest baby I've ever seen. 719 00:37:50,479 --> 00:37:53,440 You just use our lives as fodder for your little show. It's disgusting. 720 00:37:53,524 --> 00:37:55,317 - Little show? - Yes, little show, Benjy. 721 00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:56,985 Why don't you tell everybody 722 00:37:57,069 --> 00:37:58,904 about the time you wet your bed with your girlfriend? 723 00:37:58,987 --> 00:38:00,822 - Shut up, Amy! - That's 'cause it's true! 724 00:38:00,906 --> 00:38:03,033 - Stop it! - Shut up! I hate you! 725 00:38:03,116 --> 00:38:06,912 And it was ridiculous 'cause nobody knew who I was at the time. 726 00:38:06,995 --> 00:38:09,289 Screw you and your little dog too! 727 00:38:09,373 --> 00:38:10,415 Look out! She's got an egg! 728 00:38:11,291 --> 00:38:13,669 But the line was always blurred in our family. 729 00:38:13,752 --> 00:38:16,046 I mean, we grew up around them working together 730 00:38:16,129 --> 00:38:18,674 and improvising to create their act. 731 00:38:18,757 --> 00:38:22,803 And that's what we did as kids 'cause they did it and it worked for them. 732 00:38:22,886 --> 00:38:24,471 I'll split your lip for ya! 733 00:38:24,555 --> 00:38:27,140 - A woman seems to be-- - This is Mommy talking to ya, sweetheart. 734 00:38:27,224 --> 00:38:30,060 It worked so well that it literally became their identity 735 00:38:30,143 --> 00:38:31,812 and their livelihood. 736 00:38:31,895 --> 00:38:35,232 I'd always been funny by accident. It was Jerry that got me to do comedy. 737 00:38:35,315 --> 00:38:38,193 It's much easier to be funny by accident than to be funny, you know… 738 00:38:38,277 --> 00:38:40,863 - And I was… - …two times a night at a nightclub. 739 00:38:40,946 --> 00:38:43,532 He was always, you know, mining and pulling it out of her 740 00:38:43,615 --> 00:38:45,367 because he admired her so much. 741 00:38:45,450 --> 00:38:49,162 But that also put stress on their… And pressure on her. 742 00:38:49,246 --> 00:38:51,748 You think each of these vignettes is gonna be a winner. 743 00:38:51,832 --> 00:38:53,584 But, when you tell it, it's not funny. 744 00:38:53,667 --> 00:38:57,421 - And if I tell it, it becomes funny. - Yeah. Yeah. 745 00:38:57,504 --> 00:39:01,633 After having to do these incredibly high-pressure gigs, 746 00:39:01,717 --> 00:39:03,719 just wanting to let off steam… 747 00:39:07,139 --> 00:39:10,309 she'd go to Patsy's and she'd have her vodka. 748 00:39:12,978 --> 00:39:14,479 It was hard. 749 00:39:16,231 --> 00:39:17,816 This summer, I was a little edgy. 750 00:39:17,900 --> 00:39:21,195 We were in a trailer. Benjy came up to me. And I said, "What is it?" 751 00:39:21,278 --> 00:39:24,698 And Amy came over to Benjy and she says, "Leave Mommy alone. 752 00:39:24,781 --> 00:39:27,451 Can't you see she's under a lot of pressure?" 753 00:39:27,534 --> 00:39:29,036 Here's what happened. She'd scream at them 754 00:39:29,119 --> 00:39:31,330 and then they'd look at me in a strange way. 755 00:39:31,413 --> 00:39:32,456 "What does she mean by that?" 756 00:39:32,539 --> 00:39:35,250 I says, "You know, she's got a show to do tomorrow night. 757 00:39:35,334 --> 00:39:37,794 She's a little upset about what she has to do. Don't mind her." 758 00:39:37,878 --> 00:39:39,671 What you whispering for? What is this, Watergate? 759 00:39:40,672 --> 00:39:42,424 What is this? Just speak into the tape. 760 00:39:43,300 --> 00:39:45,052 - Say hello, Ben. - Hi. 761 00:39:46,053 --> 00:39:48,889 I don't know what you're doing. You're going crazy. 762 00:39:49,348 --> 00:39:51,183 This child… 763 00:39:51,266 --> 00:39:53,519 has been rented for the occasion. 764 00:39:53,602 --> 00:39:55,479 - Hello. - What's your name? 765 00:39:55,562 --> 00:39:57,940 - I said it was Benjy. - What's your name? 766 00:39:58,023 --> 00:39:59,566 - We rented this little girl. - Amy. 767 00:40:00,150 --> 00:40:01,401 Oh, my God! 768 00:40:01,485 --> 00:40:03,028 Amy is waiting for a parent… 769 00:40:03,111 --> 00:40:03,946 Well, we had a… 770 00:40:04,029 --> 00:40:06,365 But don't you think we had a colorful childhood? 771 00:40:06,448 --> 00:40:09,701 Yeah. I just see Mom… Like, that to me is, like… 772 00:40:10,702 --> 00:40:12,871 I think of it-- Yes, of course it was colorful. 773 00:40:12,955 --> 00:40:16,834 But I also see, like, Mom's definitely… drunk. 774 00:40:16,917 --> 00:40:19,336 You think she's drunk? I don't think so. 775 00:40:19,711 --> 00:40:20,963 Are you kidding? 776 00:40:22,172 --> 00:40:25,425 And I feel that… I also know that's why I'm reacting like that, too. 777 00:40:25,509 --> 00:40:26,385 I can see… 778 00:40:26,468 --> 00:40:29,179 "Why are you acting so… crazy?" 779 00:40:29,263 --> 00:40:31,515 I don't know if she was drunk. 780 00:40:31,598 --> 00:40:35,644 Or they were just joking around. I mean, Dad wasn't exactly normal, either. 781 00:40:35,727 --> 00:40:38,313 I see him happy. Yeah, no they were definitely… 782 00:40:38,397 --> 00:40:40,899 I don't know if he is, but… 783 00:40:40,983 --> 00:40:42,860 - We rented this little girl. - Amy. Amy. 784 00:41:00,002 --> 00:41:03,964 With Jerry, you know, if you have a second drink he says, "Stop that. 785 00:41:04,047 --> 00:41:05,215 You don't know who you are." 786 00:41:05,299 --> 00:41:07,092 Does she get silly after… a couple? 787 00:41:07,176 --> 00:41:10,345 He says, "Don't do that. Everything you do reflects on me." 788 00:41:10,429 --> 00:41:12,890 Anne falls asleep on the coats, usually, when that happens. 789 00:41:12,973 --> 00:41:15,559 I do. I usually find a room, you know, where the coats are. 790 00:41:15,642 --> 00:41:17,686 And I end up dribbling on someone's mink. 791 00:41:17,769 --> 00:41:20,856 - No… It's very harmless. - Not mine. I don't have a mink, lady. 792 00:41:20,939 --> 00:41:22,149 - Not me. - You know, today… 793 00:41:22,232 --> 00:41:28,030 When she was drinking, my dad never really knew how to handle it. 794 00:41:28,113 --> 00:41:30,991 Do you think he was afraid to talk to her about it? 795 00:41:31,074 --> 00:41:33,160 I think he loved her so much, 796 00:41:33,243 --> 00:41:36,205 - and he was so committed to her. - Right. 797 00:41:36,288 --> 00:41:38,290 Also, the act and what they did together, 798 00:41:38,373 --> 00:41:40,667 - it was so important that that worked… - Yes. Yeah. 799 00:41:40,751 --> 00:41:44,421 …that he had to figure out how to deal with that on his own. 800 00:41:44,505 --> 00:41:48,717 But I think I resented him for not acknowledging it to us. 801 00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:51,220 He loved us more than anything, but I think he was just trying 802 00:41:51,303 --> 00:41:53,055 - to figure out how to navigate that. - Right. 803 00:41:53,847 --> 00:41:56,725 And I got so angry at him for not being there for us. 804 00:41:56,808 --> 00:41:58,727 But I don't think I even understood that. 805 00:41:59,770 --> 00:42:01,146 - Yeah. - For a while. 806 00:42:02,272 --> 00:42:03,440 I have to blame my-- 807 00:42:09,154 --> 00:42:09,988 So… 808 00:42:46,817 --> 00:42:49,152 I am going wacky from guilt. 809 00:42:49,236 --> 00:42:51,154 I am the rottenest wife and mother in the world. 810 00:42:51,238 --> 00:42:52,781 Now I'm putting myself down 811 00:42:52,865 --> 00:42:56,326 only in the hopes it will make me feel better after saying it. You understand? 812 00:42:56,410 --> 00:42:57,286 You mean to everybody? 813 00:42:57,369 --> 00:42:59,329 So the children say, "No, you're not, Mommy." 814 00:42:59,413 --> 00:43:02,749 Yeah, anything. Because I'm not home enough. 815 00:43:03,375 --> 00:43:07,004 And I wouldn't mind, if I could carry it off, but I feel so rotten. 816 00:43:09,590 --> 00:43:16,221 I feel like your mom would always own her, sort of, shortcomings. 817 00:43:16,305 --> 00:43:19,183 Yeah, she was very open about all of that. 818 00:43:19,266 --> 00:43:21,226 So open about it. 819 00:43:21,602 --> 00:43:26,940 And really loved to talk about all the things she didn't do. 820 00:43:27,024 --> 00:43:28,442 Like as a parent and a mother 821 00:43:28,525 --> 00:43:31,528 and how she screwed up and, "We were working, we missed this." 822 00:43:34,072 --> 00:43:36,700 She would see me as a new mother 823 00:43:37,451 --> 00:43:39,077 and during those moments 824 00:43:39,161 --> 00:43:42,873 where it was crazy and frenetic and your mom would just say, like, 825 00:43:42,956 --> 00:43:44,499 how great a job I was doing. 826 00:43:44,583 --> 00:43:48,378 Like, it was a way to make me feel so good about what I was doing. 827 00:43:49,630 --> 00:43:53,759 But also her acknowledging what she couldn't do. 828 00:43:55,219 --> 00:43:57,804 "And the minute his heart didn't feel quite so tight…" 829 00:44:00,849 --> 00:44:02,768 But I think a lot of it, for her, 830 00:44:02,851 --> 00:44:07,064 came out of being overwhelmed at being a mom, 831 00:44:07,147 --> 00:44:11,235 because she really felt so… unprepared to be a mom. 832 00:44:11,318 --> 00:44:12,319 Right. 833 00:44:12,402 --> 00:44:14,696 You know, what a traumatic thing it was 834 00:44:14,780 --> 00:44:16,698 to lose her mom at such a young age. 835 00:44:16,782 --> 00:44:21,495 And then when she had Amy and I and being overwhelmed by that, 836 00:44:21,578 --> 00:44:25,415 and the pressure of having to go and do the act on Ed Sullivan 837 00:44:25,499 --> 00:44:28,836 and go do these shows. And it was hard. 838 00:44:29,253 --> 00:44:32,047 How about in your family? Were you the youngest of the children? 839 00:44:32,130 --> 00:44:35,634 I am… I think I'm like you. I think… Are you an only child? 840 00:44:35,717 --> 00:44:37,386 No, no. I just act like one. 841 00:44:40,097 --> 00:44:42,933 Do you know what that means? That means I'm probably a little spoilt. 842 00:44:43,016 --> 00:44:46,061 No, well, I'm the best and the worst, I was an only child. 843 00:44:46,144 --> 00:44:49,314 Oh, you were an only… Were you closest to your mother or your father? 844 00:44:49,773 --> 00:44:53,193 I… I guess… My mother died when I was young. 845 00:44:53,277 --> 00:44:55,070 I was a daddy's girl. 846 00:44:59,533 --> 00:45:01,994 I was an Irish princess from Long Island. 847 00:45:03,495 --> 00:45:05,747 My mother loved movies. 848 00:45:08,250 --> 00:45:10,586 I loved movies 'cause she did. 849 00:45:12,212 --> 00:45:15,841 I wanted to be like that. I wanted to be, you know, on the silver screen. 850 00:45:19,887 --> 00:45:22,055 This is… She wrote to her mom. 851 00:45:22,431 --> 00:45:27,311 "To my mom. Now when it comes to poetry, I think I'm just a flop. 852 00:45:27,394 --> 00:45:31,064 But all that I can say is this, 'I think you're just tops.' 853 00:45:31,940 --> 00:45:34,151 - Love, Anne." - That looks like my handwriting. 854 00:45:36,320 --> 00:45:37,154 Wow. 855 00:45:37,863 --> 00:45:41,491 "Just a little gift to make you happy on Mother's Day. Love, Anne." 856 00:45:42,492 --> 00:45:43,619 Oh, my God. 857 00:45:45,412 --> 00:45:47,664 It was just my father and me. And, you know… 858 00:45:47,748 --> 00:45:50,334 I could wind my father around my finger, 859 00:45:50,417 --> 00:45:55,005 'cause he was, like, distraught and nervous ever since my mother died. 860 00:46:03,597 --> 00:46:05,933 "It's October 15th, 1940, 861 00:46:06,016 --> 00:46:09,603 and I'm sitting on a milk box near the side of a bungalow we rented 862 00:46:09,686 --> 00:46:12,022 far away from our old house on Baker Hill Road. 863 00:46:12,940 --> 00:46:14,733 And my mother was still unhappy. 864 00:46:16,610 --> 00:46:18,820 Many neighbors were milling about on the front lawn, 865 00:46:18,904 --> 00:46:20,697 and an ambulance had pulled up to the curb. 866 00:46:21,448 --> 00:46:25,285 My father was in the house with paramedics who were trying to revive my mother 867 00:46:25,369 --> 00:46:29,039 who had turned on the gas and inhaled eternity." 868 00:46:32,084 --> 00:46:35,045 You know, she told me about her mother's suicide. 869 00:46:35,128 --> 00:46:36,255 Which shocked me. 870 00:46:36,338 --> 00:46:38,757 Her mother obviously was suffering from depression, 871 00:46:38,841 --> 00:46:40,551 but they would say that she would get blue. 872 00:46:40,634 --> 00:46:43,136 - Never said she was depressed. - No, she was just blue. 873 00:46:43,220 --> 00:46:44,555 - She would get blue. - Yeah. 874 00:46:44,972 --> 00:46:48,725 And I think that's where Anne's comic genius came from, 875 00:46:48,809 --> 00:46:51,687 was her trying to cheer up May. 876 00:46:54,439 --> 00:46:58,986 I think her mother, May, is always one step behind the audience. 877 00:46:59,069 --> 00:47:02,239 And so she's there to keep her mother alive. 878 00:47:03,073 --> 00:47:07,744 Both Anne and Jerry had come out of a real dark place. 879 00:47:07,828 --> 00:47:10,873 Their lives were always reaching for the light. 880 00:47:14,918 --> 00:47:16,503 I love working with Anne, 881 00:47:16,587 --> 00:47:20,132 and I feel vibes when I'm with Anne that I don't feel with anybody else. 882 00:47:20,215 --> 00:47:22,551 Now, why that happens, I can't explain it. 883 00:47:22,634 --> 00:47:24,928 Maybe it's some sort of a terrible need 884 00:47:25,012 --> 00:47:27,514 that one person has for another. I feel very strongly. 885 00:47:27,598 --> 00:47:30,184 For me, growing up, seeing them work together, 886 00:47:30,267 --> 00:47:33,103 the act was what was moving them forward. 887 00:47:34,229 --> 00:47:37,191 But there was that tension in the marriage 888 00:47:37,274 --> 00:47:40,402 that came from them wanting different things. 889 00:47:40,485 --> 00:47:42,988 Yet being tied into the act together. 890 00:47:43,071 --> 00:47:46,533 - What do we do when we have a fight? - We cry a lot, we hit each other. 891 00:47:46,617 --> 00:47:48,035 What does anyone do? 892 00:47:48,118 --> 00:47:52,039 Well, Anne and I have a way of dealing with all husband-and-wife arguments… 893 00:47:52,122 --> 00:47:53,916 The worst thing that can happen to anybody 894 00:47:53,999 --> 00:47:56,043 is indifference. It's the absence… 895 00:47:56,126 --> 00:47:59,546 I've never been indifferent to you, Jerry. I've always felt and cared about you. 896 00:47:59,630 --> 00:48:02,841 I've never been indifferent. You know, I… 897 00:48:02,925 --> 00:48:04,718 - Tell me how you felt. - No, you've never been… 898 00:48:04,801 --> 00:48:07,012 Well I've always felt that when you had something to say… 899 00:48:07,095 --> 00:48:08,847 Get in touch with the real feelings within you. 900 00:48:08,931 --> 00:48:11,767 Well…The reality of it all is that when you're married to someone… 901 00:48:11,850 --> 00:48:13,810 They wanna hear your own feelings. 902 00:48:14,394 --> 00:48:17,606 The dynamic of their whole, sort of shtick was, 903 00:48:17,689 --> 00:48:19,608 "Jerry, shut up. That's not interesting." 904 00:48:19,691 --> 00:48:21,235 I don't know what that means, Jerry. 905 00:48:21,318 --> 00:48:22,903 I get to say, "Shut up," now. 906 00:48:22,986 --> 00:48:25,239 You've never talked so long at one stretch, ever, 907 00:48:25,322 --> 00:48:26,782 without me interrupting. 908 00:48:27,574 --> 00:48:29,034 Why did I let you do that? 909 00:48:29,117 --> 00:48:31,703 When you talk about contributing that includes both of us. 910 00:48:31,787 --> 00:48:32,955 I don't want the people to think 911 00:48:33,038 --> 00:48:35,374 I am stopping any idea you might have in your brain. 912 00:48:35,457 --> 00:48:37,709 So speak up, Jerry, if you wish. 913 00:48:37,793 --> 00:48:40,462 That was also their dynamic in life 914 00:48:40,546 --> 00:48:43,173 that they knew worked for their act. 915 00:48:43,257 --> 00:48:45,592 I think any woman in the audience would understand. 916 00:48:45,676 --> 00:48:50,472 If you're together 24 hours a day, I'm telling you, Lily, you can go bananas. 917 00:48:50,556 --> 00:48:54,101 - I mean, really, first of all, he messes… - I see him very seldom. 918 00:48:54,184 --> 00:48:56,395 - Once or twice on the weekend. - Yes, about that… 919 00:48:56,478 --> 00:48:57,980 I meant to speak to you. 920 00:48:58,063 --> 00:48:59,439 I just wonder sometimes, 921 00:48:59,523 --> 00:49:01,859 what kind of toll that took on their actual relationship. 922 00:49:01,942 --> 00:49:05,028 Derek, is everything okay? I've been trying to reach you for a week. 923 00:49:05,112 --> 00:49:06,113 A week? 924 00:49:06,196 --> 00:49:10,909 I think in our relationship, I feel like that's what you were feeling from me. 925 00:49:10,993 --> 00:49:14,204 When we got together and then started working together, 926 00:49:14,288 --> 00:49:15,747 in the beginning, 927 00:49:15,831 --> 00:49:18,959 I had this natural aversion… 928 00:49:19,585 --> 00:49:21,837 - Yes. - Did you feel that? 929 00:49:21,920 --> 00:49:24,214 I mean, I do feel like there was history. 930 00:49:25,591 --> 00:49:28,969 And I think a lot of it was your experience 931 00:49:29,052 --> 00:49:32,973 of what that ultimately meant for a relationship, 932 00:49:33,056 --> 00:49:34,850 that it could put extra strain 933 00:49:34,933 --> 00:49:38,395 when you're eating, sleeping, breathing each other in that way. 934 00:49:38,478 --> 00:49:40,689 You understand the world doesn't revolve around you… 935 00:49:40,772 --> 00:49:41,607 Good. 936 00:49:41,690 --> 00:49:46,028 I also felt like there was a fear for you, for me, 937 00:49:46,111 --> 00:49:49,865 of, like, what that would look like to the outside world. 938 00:49:49,948 --> 00:49:51,825 - I mean, it was very loaded. - Yeah. 939 00:49:52,951 --> 00:49:58,165 I was feeling, like, "Wait a minute, I don't want to become my parents." 940 00:50:16,934 --> 00:50:18,685 This was my dad's room. 941 00:50:20,687 --> 00:50:22,147 My mom's room is next door. 942 00:50:22,231 --> 00:50:26,527 And… I don't know when they started getting to the point 943 00:50:26,610 --> 00:50:29,279 of having separate bedrooms, but they did. 944 00:50:29,363 --> 00:50:33,075 Adjoining. A nice suite. But I think that's how they wanted it. 945 00:50:33,158 --> 00:50:35,118 They were married for 62 years. 946 00:50:35,577 --> 00:50:36,870 What was their relationship? 947 00:50:36,954 --> 00:50:40,457 What was their agreement with each other that they were able to, you know, 948 00:50:40,541 --> 00:50:42,251 make it work for that long? 949 00:50:42,334 --> 00:50:44,586 I don't think of it in terms of their closeness. 950 00:50:44,670 --> 00:50:46,672 'Cause I feel like they were very close. 951 00:50:47,881 --> 00:50:50,050 But they also were very, very different, too. 952 00:50:50,133 --> 00:50:51,969 My Margaret Mary's 15. 953 00:50:52,052 --> 00:50:53,720 She's no Einstein. 954 00:50:53,804 --> 00:50:56,306 She don't know the Hudson Tubes from the fallopian tubes. 955 00:50:56,390 --> 00:50:58,392 I see. Well, Mrs. Mulcahy… 956 00:50:58,475 --> 00:51:01,395 She's gonna be in a lot of trouble if she tries to get to Jersey. 957 00:51:01,687 --> 00:51:03,564 Mrs. Mulcahy… 958 00:51:03,647 --> 00:51:04,606 Do you feel that… 959 00:51:04,690 --> 00:51:09,486 When I look at them doing their act, I see Dad working so hard. 960 00:51:09,570 --> 00:51:13,115 He's drilled it over and over again, and he doesn't wanna screw it up. 961 00:51:13,198 --> 00:51:16,076 And Mom just letting it flow. 962 00:51:16,785 --> 00:51:18,120 I remember Mom going, like, 963 00:51:18,203 --> 00:51:21,206 "Daddy stayed up 'til five in the morning memorizing his lines." 964 00:51:21,290 --> 00:51:25,127 I mean, there's a perfectionism that I think you and I have inherited. 965 00:51:25,210 --> 00:51:27,004 Some of it's good… 966 00:51:27,087 --> 00:51:27,921 But some of it… 967 00:51:28,922 --> 00:51:30,674 - Some of it's good. - But some of it… 968 00:51:30,757 --> 00:51:33,135 it takes away our enjoyment of things. 969 00:51:33,218 --> 00:51:34,511 That's exactly right. 970 00:51:40,434 --> 00:51:46,398 Jerry was very serious, and he rehearsed morning, noon and night. 971 00:51:46,982 --> 00:51:48,483 Good enough, got you. 972 00:51:49,026 --> 00:51:50,360 Okay, Jerry. 973 00:51:50,444 --> 00:51:53,280 He would struggle over every word, every sentence. 974 00:51:53,363 --> 00:51:54,573 Oh, yeah. 975 00:52:34,947 --> 00:52:37,991 He definitely had the work ethic, and I think that kept him… 976 00:52:38,075 --> 00:52:39,535 That's how he got to where he got to 977 00:52:39,618 --> 00:52:43,455 but it was impossible for him to… let go. 978 00:53:20,492 --> 00:53:22,578 Well, you do a lot of strange things, honey. 979 00:53:22,661 --> 00:53:23,537 I do. 980 00:53:24,204 --> 00:53:25,038 You sure do. 981 00:53:25,122 --> 00:53:28,208 - You do some strange things, too. - There's no need to get personal. 982 00:53:28,292 --> 00:53:31,545 Well, why would I want starch in a collar that says, "Do not starch."? 983 00:53:31,628 --> 00:53:32,921 To keep your chin up. 984 00:53:34,089 --> 00:53:36,466 - You got a weak chin. - I have a weak chin? 985 00:53:36,550 --> 00:53:37,843 So does your mother. 986 00:53:39,219 --> 00:53:42,347 Where would Mom be without Dad, in a way, you know? 987 00:53:42,431 --> 00:53:44,600 I look at it "Where would Dad be without Mom?" 988 00:53:45,392 --> 00:53:49,229 I don't know if Dad would have had a career in comedy without Mom. 989 00:53:50,314 --> 00:53:54,193 He was so committed to her, in that he needed to… 990 00:53:55,068 --> 00:53:57,779 it to work with her. I think he loved her very much. 991 00:53:59,156 --> 00:54:02,743 He wasn't willing to risk maybe losing her, 992 00:54:02,826 --> 00:54:08,498 or risk her not being there for them and for their act. 993 00:55:20,487 --> 00:55:23,282 I always thought about my mom, 994 00:55:23,365 --> 00:55:26,368 and how she really connected with Christine. 995 00:55:27,744 --> 00:55:29,955 I could, sort of, hear my mom's voice in my head 996 00:55:30,038 --> 00:55:33,417 when I was really focused on the work too much. 997 00:55:34,376 --> 00:55:35,919 I remember my mom telling me, 998 00:55:36,003 --> 00:55:38,255 "You really need to be there for your family." 999 00:55:38,338 --> 00:55:41,675 Well, eight pounds, two ounces. That was a week earlier. 1000 00:55:41,758 --> 00:55:44,303 I feel like there was the period of time 1001 00:55:44,386 --> 00:55:46,972 where work was a really big priority. 1002 00:55:47,055 --> 00:55:53,395 And, you know, as we talk about this I now see that… that parallel with your dad. 1003 00:55:53,478 --> 00:55:55,898 That when you put really good work out there 1004 00:55:55,981 --> 00:56:00,110 you would still just see the one thing that didn't work. 1005 00:56:00,194 --> 00:56:03,530 - Right. - The defeat. The, like, absolute defeat. 1006 00:56:04,489 --> 00:56:11,496 And the behind the scenes of how we kind of navigate those waters for you 1007 00:56:11,580 --> 00:56:16,919 did sort of become this family, like, us saying "Okay, so what if?" You know? 1008 00:56:17,002 --> 00:56:19,546 Like, "If it doesn't do well, la-da-da-da-da. 1009 00:56:19,630 --> 00:56:21,423 - If it does do well…" you know? - Yeah. 1010 00:56:21,507 --> 00:56:23,550 And I think… I mean, you know… 1011 00:56:23,634 --> 00:56:25,761 - I think the word is… - This sucks. 1012 00:56:25,844 --> 00:56:27,387 Yeah, it's also, you know, 1013 00:56:27,471 --> 00:56:31,767 it's like, "Don't try to pretend that it's not affecting you, 1014 00:56:31,850 --> 00:56:34,144 - just be able to voice it." - Right. 1015 00:56:34,770 --> 00:56:36,396 You know, for better or worse. 1016 00:56:39,149 --> 00:56:42,486 I remember Anne would pull me aside and she's like, 1017 00:56:42,569 --> 00:56:43,946 "You take care of you." 1018 00:56:44,446 --> 00:56:45,906 - Like, she had my back. - Yeah. 1019 00:56:45,989 --> 00:56:47,908 And you were her son. 1020 00:57:01,505 --> 00:57:02,422 Yeah. 1021 00:57:03,090 --> 00:57:03,924 That's all. 1022 00:57:14,810 --> 00:57:19,731 I keep coming up against, you know, "You're your parents' son." 1023 00:57:19,815 --> 00:57:21,567 And when you become a parent 1024 00:57:21,650 --> 00:57:25,112 you think you're gonna not make the mistakes your parents made. 1025 00:57:25,195 --> 00:57:27,489 - And you end up… - You always fall into doing them. 1026 00:57:27,573 --> 00:57:31,076 …making different mistakes, or some of the same mistakes. 1027 00:57:33,745 --> 00:57:35,831 Ella recently said to me, 1028 00:57:35,914 --> 00:57:39,376 "I literally can't ever remember you being around when I was growing up." 1029 00:57:39,459 --> 00:57:40,502 Yeah. 1030 00:57:41,128 --> 00:57:44,965 Let's get to what you've been doing over this past week. 1031 00:57:45,048 --> 00:57:48,427 Well, I've just been working a lot. You know, my family was in LA, 1032 00:57:48,510 --> 00:57:50,679 so I've just been really working full time. 1033 00:57:50,762 --> 00:57:52,639 I only had one day off this week. 1034 00:57:53,348 --> 00:57:56,185 - So, yeah… - Well… 1035 00:57:56,268 --> 00:57:59,229 But for all the mistakes I made as a parent… Yes, I have made a couple. 1036 00:58:00,856 --> 00:58:02,357 I know it's shocking to you. 1037 00:58:02,441 --> 00:58:06,403 And also… yeah, I was cut. 1038 00:58:07,529 --> 00:58:10,365 I cut you out of Secret Life of Walter Mitty. 1039 00:58:10,449 --> 00:58:12,701 It's probably the worst decision I've ever made in my life. 1040 00:58:13,577 --> 00:58:16,413 - What? - You look cute in your outfit. 1041 00:58:16,914 --> 00:58:18,081 This is for… I work. 1042 00:58:18,165 --> 00:58:21,210 - It's not all about you, Walter. - What? 1043 00:58:21,293 --> 00:58:23,128 - Aww, you're so cute. - I was really scared. 1044 00:58:23,212 --> 00:58:27,799 I remember I was really, really scared. It didn't make sense in the movie. 1045 00:58:27,883 --> 00:58:34,056 No, no, I… What it relates to is my own issues with my own obsession with my work, 1046 00:58:34,139 --> 00:58:36,850 - or "perfectionism". - Yeah. 1047 00:58:37,809 --> 00:58:39,478 Does that resonate with you? 1048 00:58:39,561 --> 00:58:41,855 - Maybe. Yeah, I would think so. - With me? 1049 00:58:41,939 --> 00:58:45,150 I think, there's things, you know, after a tough day, 1050 00:58:45,234 --> 00:58:47,110 you know, or something was going wrong, 1051 00:58:47,194 --> 00:58:50,989 you can get very much in your own head. You know what I mean? 1052 00:58:51,073 --> 00:58:54,826 And I think, once you kind of go into that place… 1053 00:58:54,910 --> 00:58:56,161 hard to get you out of it. 1054 00:58:56,245 --> 00:59:00,582 So that would, kind of, put a damper on the… you know, fun part 1055 00:59:00,666 --> 00:59:02,668 about being on vacation. You know what I mean? 1056 00:59:02,751 --> 00:59:05,462 You have all these hats that you're trying to balance, you know? 1057 00:59:05,546 --> 00:59:08,757 Being a director, an actor, you know, a producer, writer. 1058 00:59:08,841 --> 00:59:11,051 But also just, like, a father. Right? 1059 00:59:11,844 --> 00:59:18,141 And sometimes I felt that that would come last to these other things. 1060 00:59:22,521 --> 00:59:23,897 There was this one time 1061 00:59:23,981 --> 00:59:26,525 I was sitting in the kitchen with Quin when he was little, 1062 00:59:26,608 --> 00:59:29,278 and telling him I was gonna do Night at the Museum 3, 1063 00:59:29,361 --> 00:59:31,738 and I had to go to Canada for a few months. 1064 00:59:32,573 --> 00:59:35,367 I just saw his face sort of drop and he said, 1065 00:59:35,951 --> 00:59:37,953 "I wish you could stay home." 1066 00:59:38,787 --> 00:59:41,123 And I remember pathetically sort of saying, 1067 00:59:41,206 --> 00:59:44,918 "But you love Night at the Museum." But it didn't matter to him. 1068 00:59:47,629 --> 00:59:50,841 The irony is I thought I was doing so much better than my parents 1069 00:59:51,884 --> 00:59:55,345 I thought I was pulling it off. I was flying home on the weekends, 1070 00:59:55,429 --> 00:59:59,516 and having special places for the kids to play when they come visit the set. 1071 00:59:59,600 --> 01:00:03,729 But, in reality, and just hearing them talk about it, 1072 01:00:03,812 --> 01:00:08,859 you know, for them, it was the same thing I was going through as a kid. 1073 01:00:08,942 --> 01:00:11,945 And I just couldn't see that at all at the time. 1074 01:00:15,782 --> 01:00:17,951 - When we separated… - Right. 1075 01:00:18,035 --> 01:00:22,456 My feeling was, "Oh, I'm failing at this." And, like, "Look at my parents." 1076 01:00:23,207 --> 01:00:26,793 They have this incredible 50-plus-year marriage. 1077 01:00:26,877 --> 01:00:30,464 - Yeah. - And I can't, you know, live up to that. 1078 01:00:33,842 --> 01:00:36,929 It's not so easy being married to you. You know what I mean? 1079 01:00:37,012 --> 01:00:38,722 - Do you love me? - What? 1080 01:00:38,805 --> 01:00:39,723 Do you love me? 1081 01:00:41,850 --> 01:00:44,353 Do you love me? 1082 01:00:45,312 --> 01:00:46,688 Do I what? 1083 01:00:47,648 --> 01:00:50,359 Do you love me? 1084 01:00:50,943 --> 01:00:53,820 Do I love you? 1085 01:00:53,904 --> 01:00:59,576 With our children growing older And your mother back in town 1086 01:00:59,660 --> 01:01:05,290 You're upset, you want out Go inside, go lie down… 1087 01:01:05,374 --> 01:01:07,918 The nightclubs drove me meshuggah. 1088 01:01:08,001 --> 01:01:09,920 That need to go out there, 1089 01:01:10,003 --> 01:01:12,756 and just be hilarious every minute, two shows a night. 1090 01:01:12,840 --> 01:01:15,592 In front of a lot of people who didn't care who I was. 1091 01:01:15,676 --> 01:01:16,802 You know? 1092 01:01:16,885 --> 01:01:21,515 I… I said, "Jerry, I don't know where the act ends and the marriage begins." 1093 01:01:21,598 --> 01:01:23,267 I'm asking you a question… 1094 01:01:23,350 --> 01:01:28,564 The entity of Stiller and Meara had… become oppressive to them. 1095 01:01:29,565 --> 01:01:31,316 I think they felt trapped by it. 1096 01:01:34,820 --> 01:01:37,322 My wife, Annie, in addition to being a comedian, 1097 01:01:37,406 --> 01:01:39,241 is also a dramatic actress. 1098 01:01:39,324 --> 01:01:41,910 But no one knew it when we were comedians. 1099 01:01:41,994 --> 01:01:43,996 And this is something she always wanted. 1100 01:01:44,079 --> 01:01:48,083 Now, as comedians, you couldn't project two images at the same time. 1101 01:01:48,166 --> 01:01:50,043 One day she said, "I wanna do this kind of thing. 1102 01:01:50,127 --> 01:01:52,796 I want it to happen this way." And I said, "I'm gonna let you do it." 1103 01:01:52,880 --> 01:01:56,008 After quite a few years 1104 01:01:59,011 --> 01:02:04,725 It's nice to know 1105 01:02:07,978 --> 01:02:09,354 I love you. 1106 01:02:09,688 --> 01:02:11,690 We had to stop doing this act. 1107 01:02:12,399 --> 01:02:16,653 Which was a risk because we were starting to, in a way, take off. 1108 01:02:19,406 --> 01:02:21,200 I'm finished with the follies, 1109 01:02:21,825 --> 01:02:24,328 and the vanities and the scandals. All of them. 1110 01:02:25,204 --> 01:02:29,249 God, the years I wasted with that cheap stuff. 1111 01:02:36,507 --> 01:02:39,259 I'd written the play, The House of Blue Leaves. 1112 01:02:39,760 --> 01:02:43,472 There was this character, Bunny, the hero's girlfriend. 1113 01:02:43,555 --> 01:02:47,100 And we saw everybody for the part. 1114 01:02:47,184 --> 01:02:49,895 And one day the producer called me and he said, 1115 01:02:49,978 --> 01:02:53,357 "I'm having lunch in The Russian Tea Room, and I've just seen Bunny. 1116 01:02:53,440 --> 01:02:55,609 She's at the next table and I'm listening to her. 1117 01:02:55,692 --> 01:02:57,110 It's Anne Meara." 1118 01:02:58,153 --> 01:03:00,948 And I said, "But does she work with Stiller and Meara? 1119 01:03:01,031 --> 01:03:04,284 Does she work alone?" He said, "Well there's only one way to find out." 1120 01:03:07,079 --> 01:03:09,790 When I met Anne, I was thrilled to know, my God, 1121 01:03:09,873 --> 01:03:12,334 that she'd been in the original Ulysses in Nighttown 1122 01:03:12,417 --> 01:03:14,628 and, you know, was a serious actor. 1123 01:03:16,380 --> 01:03:19,341 Her agent did not want her to do a play off Broadway. 1124 01:03:19,716 --> 01:03:22,302 At that point, off-Broadway was not prestigious, 1125 01:03:22,386 --> 01:03:24,805 it was really an alternate theater. 1126 01:03:26,056 --> 01:03:29,726 Her agent felt it would be damaging to her career. 1127 01:03:31,562 --> 01:03:34,857 She didn't care, and she signed on. 1128 01:03:39,152 --> 01:03:41,572 And there's one thing I hope you can find, 1129 01:03:41,655 --> 01:03:44,324 where Anne brought her little boy. 1130 01:03:44,408 --> 01:03:45,367 Ben. 1131 01:03:48,704 --> 01:03:50,706 We're standing in front of the Truck and Warehouse Theater. 1132 01:03:50,789 --> 01:03:53,834 You're holding a copy of my script, and you're going through it, 1133 01:03:53,917 --> 01:03:56,420 making changes, ripping out pages… 1134 01:03:56,503 --> 01:03:59,882 And I'm bowing and scraping, "Yes, thank you, thank you, Mr. Stiller." 1135 01:03:59,965 --> 01:04:01,049 Yes. 1136 01:04:03,844 --> 01:04:08,265 What I think is amazing, is that after doing the comedy for so many years, 1137 01:04:08,348 --> 01:04:11,310 she was able to transition into serious roles. 1138 01:04:11,393 --> 01:04:13,145 Plays by Eugene O'Neill 1139 01:04:13,228 --> 01:04:15,981 and Richard Greenberg and respected playwrights. 1140 01:04:18,358 --> 01:04:20,152 The fact that Annie's doing this 1141 01:04:20,235 --> 01:04:24,573 makes me feel very, very important, and part of a dream that's coming true. 1142 01:04:28,994 --> 01:04:33,081 How do you make the marriage survive, in terms of domestic competition? 1143 01:04:33,165 --> 01:04:34,541 I mean, you're all actors. 1144 01:04:34,625 --> 01:04:36,502 There's a natural competitiveness, I would think, 1145 01:04:36,585 --> 01:04:37,628 between a husband and a wife. 1146 01:04:37,711 --> 01:04:40,464 Well, in our case, Annie is doing all the work right now 1147 01:04:40,547 --> 01:04:42,799 in terms of appearances. 1148 01:04:42,883 --> 01:04:44,843 She is in a play called The House of Blue Leaves, 1149 01:04:44,927 --> 01:04:47,721 which keeps her going constantly… 1150 01:04:47,804 --> 01:04:51,266 I think the prospect of working alone was something he both wanted, 1151 01:04:51,350 --> 01:04:54,102 but was also probably pretty daunting after having success, 1152 01:04:54,186 --> 01:04:56,939 to think about if he could do it on his own. 1153 01:05:03,403 --> 01:05:08,242 The thing that people don't realize is my dad was a very spiritual person. 1154 01:05:09,034 --> 01:05:11,161 There was, like, an energy with him. 1155 01:05:11,245 --> 01:05:13,580 If you had, like, hurt your elbow or something 1156 01:05:13,664 --> 01:05:17,751 he would, like, just put some energy on it for you. Things like that. 1157 01:05:19,378 --> 01:05:21,505 He just was a very deep person. 1158 01:05:23,715 --> 01:05:26,009 He had a real belief in himself. 1159 01:05:29,054 --> 01:05:33,100 I remember there was a time when we all went on vacation to Spain and… 1160 01:05:34,518 --> 01:05:37,479 they invited people to come down. It was a bloodless bull fight. 1161 01:05:39,147 --> 01:05:41,400 And he got in the ring with a bull. 1162 01:05:44,570 --> 01:05:46,238 He… did that. 1163 01:05:49,116 --> 01:05:50,200 He had something in him 1164 01:05:50,284 --> 01:05:53,287 where he was willing to jump in the ring and go for it. 1165 01:05:55,163 --> 01:06:00,836 I feel like I'm always trying to live up to the type of person he was. 1166 01:06:01,170 --> 01:06:04,131 Look, your father was a kind of a saint, you know? 1167 01:06:04,214 --> 01:06:08,177 There was something about him that's nine years old. 1168 01:06:09,511 --> 01:06:10,721 - Yeah. - You know? 1169 01:06:11,305 --> 01:06:13,140 - Stays there. - Yeah. 1170 01:06:13,223 --> 01:06:16,476 - Here's a note from your dad. - Oh, wow. 1171 01:06:16,560 --> 01:06:19,563 "Dear Chris, Your mirror note is on my mirror. 1172 01:06:19,646 --> 01:06:20,772 Keep on breaking wind 1173 01:06:20,856 --> 01:06:23,650 through those fine Harrod silky shorts." 1174 01:06:23,734 --> 01:06:24,568 Yeah. 1175 01:06:25,861 --> 01:06:28,363 This is amazing, actually, all this stuff. 1176 01:06:28,780 --> 01:06:30,324 Yep. Hurlyburly. 1177 01:06:30,407 --> 01:06:32,534 I mean, I remember this play so well 1178 01:06:32,618 --> 01:06:36,413 'cause you guys did this, Mike Nichols directed it. 1179 01:06:36,496 --> 01:06:39,666 Did you-- Is that where you guys, kind of, became close, you and Jerry? 1180 01:06:39,750 --> 01:06:42,836 No, I knew Jerry from way before that. 1181 01:06:42,920 --> 01:06:44,254 - 60 years ago. - Right. 1182 01:06:44,338 --> 01:06:47,424 Joe Papp was starting the Delacorte Theater. 1183 01:06:47,508 --> 01:06:51,803 - Shakespeare in the Park. - Yeah. And Jerry did shows for him. 1184 01:06:51,887 --> 01:06:53,597 - Yeah. - And maybe Anne, too. 1185 01:06:53,680 --> 01:06:56,642 - Early on, yeah. - And that's when I met them. 1186 01:06:57,226 --> 01:06:59,603 Your mom, kind of, scared me a little bit. 1187 01:06:59,686 --> 01:07:00,729 Yeah. 1188 01:07:00,812 --> 01:07:02,356 She… Your mom would look at me 1189 01:07:02,439 --> 01:07:05,609 and I knew that, you know, she had my number. 1190 01:07:09,029 --> 01:07:10,072 - No? - Yeah. 1191 01:07:10,155 --> 01:07:13,408 She'd look at me and I could tell, "She knows you're up to no good." 1192 01:07:13,867 --> 01:07:14,701 Yeah. 1193 01:07:14,785 --> 01:07:16,620 But also, I worked with Jerry. 1194 01:07:16,703 --> 01:07:20,415 And when you work with people, it's a very intimate thing. 1195 01:07:20,499 --> 01:07:21,333 Right. 1196 01:07:21,416 --> 01:07:24,711 I think of it, like, in the circus, the trapeze thing. 1197 01:07:24,795 --> 01:07:27,047 You know, where you do the flip, 1198 01:07:27,130 --> 01:07:30,008 and you gotta be sure that somebody's hands are there. 1199 01:07:30,092 --> 01:07:32,386 You know, that you can catch them. 1200 01:07:32,469 --> 01:07:35,848 Jerry was like that, he was, like, really solid. 1201 01:07:36,473 --> 01:07:37,391 What's up, Z? 1202 01:07:38,267 --> 01:07:41,144 - You won't believe it. - You know me, I'll believe anything. 1203 01:07:41,228 --> 01:07:42,604 A train's been hijacked. 1204 01:07:44,731 --> 01:07:45,566 I don't believe it. 1205 01:07:46,066 --> 01:07:47,401 I did a movie. 1206 01:07:47,484 --> 01:07:50,612 I was asked to do a movie called Taking of Pelham One Two Three. 1207 01:07:50,696 --> 01:07:52,155 Such a great film. 1208 01:07:52,239 --> 01:07:54,408 This is Pelham. What happened to Garber? 1209 01:07:55,284 --> 01:07:56,660 Even great men have to pee. 1210 01:07:57,661 --> 01:08:00,038 I just like the way that it excites us all, you know? 1211 01:08:00,122 --> 01:08:02,624 You know, and I can tell that it excites you, too. 1212 01:08:02,708 --> 01:08:05,002 - 'Cause you got to be… - Yeah, I got to be… 1213 01:08:05,085 --> 01:08:07,045 …in the back of a car for one of the scenes. 1214 01:08:07,129 --> 01:08:08,630 Transit authority. 1215 01:08:09,423 --> 01:08:10,465 Still gotta pay. 1216 01:08:10,549 --> 01:08:11,967 When they're shooting this scene, 1217 01:08:12,050 --> 01:08:14,761 I'm there the whole time in the back seat of the car. 1218 01:08:14,845 --> 01:08:17,264 It was the first movie set that I was ever on. 1219 01:08:17,346 --> 01:08:20,392 Hey, can you account for your whereabouts today, Mr. Latimer. 1220 01:08:20,475 --> 01:08:23,103 Do you remember, shooting that, thinking, "This is so cool. 1221 01:08:23,187 --> 01:08:25,189 My dad's play--, you know, with Walter Matthau." 1222 01:08:25,272 --> 01:08:28,108 Something clicked inside of me, like, this is the kinda thing I wanna do. 1223 01:08:28,192 --> 01:08:30,903 - You sure? - Sure? Ask anybody. 1224 01:08:30,986 --> 01:08:33,363 It's like one of the classic endings of a movie. 1225 01:08:33,447 --> 01:08:36,617 Sorry if we bothered you, Mr. Longman. Come on, Rico. 1226 01:08:36,700 --> 01:08:39,243 He sneezes. Cuts to the door, the door opens 1227 01:08:39,328 --> 01:08:41,997 and then Walter Matthau sticks his head in like that. 1228 01:08:43,582 --> 01:08:46,335 Then, just, the music comes in. Da-da-da… 1229 01:08:55,844 --> 01:08:57,386 If the need arose, 1230 01:08:58,055 --> 01:09:01,183 I think we'd play a club tomorrow. If the need arose. 1231 01:09:01,265 --> 01:09:04,353 But I enjoy much more, and I think you do… 1232 01:09:04,435 --> 01:09:05,645 Tell me to shut up if you want. 1233 01:09:05,729 --> 01:09:07,689 - Shut up, Anne. Let me tell you about us. - Okay. 1234 01:09:07,773 --> 01:09:09,608 - Do you agree with her? - I love it when he's masterful. 1235 01:09:12,944 --> 01:09:15,822 Here at the Paramount Theater, plays The Ritz, 1236 01:09:15,906 --> 01:09:19,158 starring Rita Moreno and Jerry Stiller. 1237 01:09:19,243 --> 01:09:20,743 What's his hit? The Ritz. 1238 01:09:20,827 --> 01:09:22,828 Yeah. Oh, listen folks, if you get to New York 1239 01:09:22,912 --> 01:09:25,374 you gotta see my husband 'cause he's terrific. 1240 01:09:25,457 --> 01:09:28,502 And Jack Weston and Rita Moreno are also starring in the show, 1241 01:09:28,585 --> 01:09:29,419 it's called The Ritz. 1242 01:09:29,502 --> 01:09:30,462 What's it about? 1243 01:09:30,546 --> 01:09:33,298 Well, it takes place in a gay steam bath. 1244 01:09:36,134 --> 01:09:37,636 And it's funny. 1245 01:09:39,136 --> 01:09:42,390 It was when they were at the height of their popularity, 1246 01:09:42,474 --> 01:09:45,769 in terms of what they were getting offered and what they were developing. 1247 01:09:45,853 --> 01:09:47,895 That's the Airport '75 script. 1248 01:09:47,979 --> 01:09:50,482 California, here I come 1249 01:09:50,566 --> 01:09:54,611 I actually made Airport '76, which was a remake of Airport '75 1250 01:09:54,695 --> 01:09:58,907 starring Amy and Libra Max, Adam's sister and Halle Michaels from downstairs. 1251 01:09:58,991 --> 01:10:01,910 This is it. Count your beads, folks. 1252 01:10:11,920 --> 01:10:15,340 We are getting further into this idea of separation. 1253 01:10:15,424 --> 01:10:16,842 There's a certain element 1254 01:10:16,925 --> 01:10:20,721 of being away from each other and being together that's very good. 1255 01:10:21,180 --> 01:10:23,473 Have you seen each other a lot lately? 1256 01:10:23,557 --> 01:10:28,937 Well, we haven't but I enjoy working and I enjoy seeing him work. 1257 01:10:29,021 --> 01:10:30,147 The reunions are great. 1258 01:10:37,029 --> 01:10:38,405 We moved out to California. 1259 01:10:38,822 --> 01:10:41,700 We were living at an apartment called The Westview Tower. 1260 01:10:42,409 --> 01:10:43,952 Just south of Sunset. 1261 01:10:44,912 --> 01:10:46,622 We were going to Disneyland 1262 01:10:46,705 --> 01:10:49,416 and Knott's Berry Farm, and Universal Studios for the tour. 1263 01:10:50,375 --> 01:10:52,920 On the set, watching them film my mom's show. 1264 01:10:53,003 --> 01:10:55,547 Joining me is my special guest, Annie Meara. 1265 01:10:55,631 --> 01:10:58,258 Anne is starring in a special CBS world premiere 1266 01:10:58,342 --> 01:10:59,968 called Kate McShane. 1267 01:11:00,052 --> 01:11:03,055 - Thank you so much. - And Anne is going to be serious. 1268 01:11:03,138 --> 01:11:05,057 - Yes. - Kate McShane's a serious person. 1269 01:11:05,140 --> 01:11:07,601 - That's right, she's a lawyer - No fooling around. 1270 01:11:08,101 --> 01:11:10,437 - How do I look? Okay? - You look nervous. 1271 01:11:10,521 --> 01:11:12,189 Oh, some pal you are. 1272 01:11:12,272 --> 01:11:15,067 Don't hit that kid in cold blood, only in the heat of anger. 1273 01:11:15,150 --> 01:11:17,152 I'm sorry, kid. I'm sorry. 1274 01:11:17,236 --> 01:11:21,323 First thing I did which was in my mom's TV show, 1275 01:11:21,406 --> 01:11:25,118 they gave me the part of the son of a client of hers. 1276 01:11:25,202 --> 01:11:28,038 It was in Paramount Studios and I was waiting to go on, 1277 01:11:28,121 --> 01:11:31,124 and there was a red light called a cue light. 1278 01:11:31,208 --> 01:11:33,293 They said, "When the light goes on you come out." 1279 01:11:33,377 --> 01:11:35,295 And I was so nervous coming out. 1280 01:11:35,379 --> 01:11:36,672 I know that. 1281 01:11:36,755 --> 01:11:38,590 You were more brave than me. 1282 01:11:38,674 --> 01:11:41,593 Well, you did Lovers and Other Strangers, when you were eight. 1283 01:11:41,677 --> 01:11:43,887 I know, but you can tell I'm scared out of my mind. 1284 01:11:43,971 --> 01:11:48,517 And it's hysterical, I'm singing off-key, and Cloris Leachman chimes in to help. 1285 01:11:48,600 --> 01:11:53,730 I love you truly 1286 01:11:53,814 --> 01:11:57,025 Truly dear 1287 01:11:57,109 --> 01:12:00,445 - She did sing off-key, and… - She did not sing off-key. 1288 01:12:00,529 --> 01:12:01,989 The child was beautiful. 1289 01:12:02,739 --> 01:12:04,992 Never saw such a beautiful… Amy Stiller. 1290 01:12:05,075 --> 01:12:08,287 And Benjy's a wonderful kid, too. Just in case he's watching. 1291 01:12:08,370 --> 01:12:09,496 Does he sing? 1292 01:12:10,038 --> 01:12:12,416 No, but he does the spoons. 1293 01:12:14,001 --> 01:12:16,170 This is the part of the documentary where we edit 1294 01:12:16,253 --> 01:12:20,591 and we cut to us on The Mike Douglas Show, 1974. 1295 01:12:20,674 --> 01:12:24,136 Now just relax. Remember there's just 30 million people watching. 1296 01:12:25,929 --> 01:12:27,931 I remember the lights being really bright. 1297 01:12:28,015 --> 01:12:32,186 Not wanting to screw up. And not realizing how bad we sounded, 1298 01:12:32,269 --> 01:12:33,729 - I don't think. - Yeah. 1299 01:13:01,548 --> 01:13:03,050 Bravo! Bravo! 1300 01:13:05,719 --> 01:13:08,138 Mr. Jerry Stiller and his wife Anne Meara. 1301 01:13:09,139 --> 01:13:12,434 How's the show going? I know Anne is shooting her new series for the fall. 1302 01:13:12,518 --> 01:13:13,810 And Jerry's got a show, too. 1303 01:13:13,894 --> 01:13:16,104 - Joe and Sons. - Isn't that something? 1304 01:13:16,188 --> 01:13:18,732 - You guys both got a series this year. - Yes. It's… 1305 01:13:20,025 --> 01:13:22,361 CBS is keeping our marriage together. 1306 01:13:22,945 --> 01:13:25,739 If both of those shows had been successful, 1307 01:13:25,822 --> 01:13:27,491 that would have changed our life a lot. 1308 01:13:27,574 --> 01:13:30,536 They probably would have had to move to LA or spend a lot of time there. 1309 01:13:30,619 --> 01:13:33,580 - What are you? A tree? - I am the mighty oak. 1310 01:13:34,581 --> 01:13:36,083 - Anne Meara. - What? 1311 01:13:36,166 --> 01:13:39,169 Why don't you summarize your feelings about 1975. 1312 01:13:40,462 --> 01:13:42,631 We had a very good year, Jerry and I. 1313 01:13:42,714 --> 01:13:44,675 - You mean emotionally? - You mean you both got cancelled? 1314 01:13:44,758 --> 01:13:46,802 - That was good? - Yeah, well we got to do it. 1315 01:13:46,885 --> 01:13:50,097 I mean, anyway. Yeah, we had two series that went down the tubes 1316 01:13:50,180 --> 01:13:53,225 But… What? You know? I hate to be Pollyanna, 1317 01:13:53,308 --> 01:13:55,352 "Better to have done it, than never have done it at all." 1318 01:13:55,435 --> 01:13:58,564 And we bought some good Christmas presents this year. 1319 01:13:58,647 --> 01:14:00,941 Next year, we don't promise the family nothing. 1320 01:14:01,024 --> 01:14:03,610 - Look at Dad. Look at Dad. - Yeah, Dad's like, "Gene!" 1321 01:14:03,694 --> 01:14:06,154 - Dad wants to punch him in the face. - Yeah. 1322 01:14:07,239 --> 01:14:11,159 My mom wanted to be happy, independent of performing. 1323 01:14:11,243 --> 01:14:14,079 And I think for my dad, performing was so important to him, 1324 01:14:14,162 --> 01:14:16,832 - it was part of his happiness. - Right. 1325 01:14:16,915 --> 01:14:18,917 So they had that tension between them. 1326 01:14:19,001 --> 01:14:21,003 But they didn't talk to me about it. 1327 01:14:21,086 --> 01:14:24,590 You know, why would they lay their career issues on us? 1328 01:14:24,673 --> 01:14:26,633 But yet, you'd just be around it. 1329 01:14:26,717 --> 01:14:29,636 - And we would feel it. Yeah. - That tension. Yeah. 1330 01:14:29,720 --> 01:14:32,472 Things were changing in the business, 1331 01:14:32,556 --> 01:14:34,766 and it was kind of a tough time for them. 1332 01:14:39,104 --> 01:14:41,690 They were doing guest spots on different shows. 1333 01:14:43,650 --> 01:14:47,529 They had these moments where they had some success 1334 01:14:47,613 --> 01:14:48,864 without each other. 1335 01:14:49,448 --> 01:14:52,743 They started to do movie roles here and there. 1336 01:14:52,826 --> 01:14:55,245 It's the human tragicomedy, Tommy. 1337 01:14:55,329 --> 01:14:57,206 It's enough to make a stone cry! 1338 01:14:57,289 --> 01:14:58,999 My mom worked on Archie Bunker's Place. 1339 01:14:59,082 --> 01:15:01,835 She got two nominations for Archie Bunker's Place. 1340 01:15:01,919 --> 01:15:04,755 Don't you kids ever think of anyone but yourself? 1341 01:15:04,838 --> 01:15:08,091 They were just trying to find their way separately. 1342 01:15:11,553 --> 01:15:16,183 I think this period was harder for my dad because he had such a need for approval. 1343 01:15:17,017 --> 01:15:19,353 And as obsessed as he was with the work, 1344 01:15:19,770 --> 01:15:25,150 I realized, making all those mistakes when I got older, with my kids, 1345 01:15:26,401 --> 01:15:29,905 that… you know, it's really hard. 1346 01:15:29,988 --> 01:15:31,990 It's really hard to… 1347 01:15:32,616 --> 01:15:35,118 balance that out. And I made so many mistakes. 1348 01:15:35,202 --> 01:15:37,538 I think I made more mistakes than my dad did. 1349 01:15:38,163 --> 01:15:39,289 Now you're talking. 1350 01:15:40,374 --> 01:15:42,125 That's a pretty nice suit you got there. 1351 01:15:42,668 --> 01:15:45,963 - My old man. - Hey, he must be something special. 1352 01:15:46,296 --> 01:15:47,673 When I think about it, 1353 01:15:47,756 --> 01:15:50,133 he'd be the one who was there for us in moments of crisis. 1354 01:15:50,217 --> 01:15:53,971 When I was homesick at camp, he came up and visited me. 1355 01:15:54,054 --> 01:15:56,557 Or when I took acid when I was 16 and was freaked out, 1356 01:15:56,640 --> 01:16:00,102 he was the one who would meditate with me and… 1357 01:16:00,185 --> 01:16:03,355 I mean, my mom couldn't handle it. She would, sort of, shut down. 1358 01:16:03,438 --> 01:16:07,401 But when he was there, he could be very sensitive and paternal. 1359 01:16:08,652 --> 01:16:12,865 I think he really wanted to shelter us from the pain that he felt. 1360 01:16:12,948 --> 01:16:15,200 Did you encourage Ben to get into the business? 1361 01:16:15,284 --> 01:16:17,202 No, I thought it was too tough a business. 1362 01:16:17,286 --> 01:16:20,455 I hated the idea of that rejection. 1363 01:16:20,539 --> 01:16:23,083 I didn't want that to go for Ben or Amy. 1364 01:16:23,166 --> 01:16:29,298 He was the type of person who could not help but try to help. 1365 01:16:29,381 --> 01:16:32,259 And he wouldn't tell me. That drove me crazy. 1366 01:16:32,342 --> 01:16:35,721 He'd, like… Literally I would get a bad review, once I started working, 1367 01:16:35,804 --> 01:16:38,140 and he would write a letter to the reviewer… 1368 01:16:39,183 --> 01:16:41,059 about how wrong he was. 1369 01:16:41,768 --> 01:16:46,523 Dad had an overprotectiveness that kind of… it stifled me. 1370 01:16:46,607 --> 01:16:49,443 He would do stuff 'cause he didn't trust that we could… 1371 01:16:49,526 --> 01:16:50,903 Do it on our own. 1372 01:16:50,986 --> 01:16:53,739 You have to make mistakes. You have to… You have to fall. 1373 01:16:53,822 --> 01:16:56,116 And he didn't want that. And then I think… 1374 01:16:56,700 --> 01:16:59,328 I felt, like, paralyzed. 1375 01:17:00,746 --> 01:17:04,208 The thing is that you had something that you could sink your teeth into. 1376 01:17:04,291 --> 01:17:08,045 I don't remember, for me, having anything that I felt that way about. 1377 01:17:08,128 --> 01:17:11,924 I just felt intimidated and 'cause I was the oldest, I had all this expectation. 1378 01:17:12,007 --> 01:17:14,593 - Dead air, dead air! - Nah, it's not dead air. 1379 01:17:16,094 --> 01:17:18,889 I'm just sick of it. I'm sick of Dad. I'm sick of… 1380 01:17:20,474 --> 01:17:22,267 sick of everything. Leave… 1381 01:17:25,145 --> 01:17:27,231 These films tend to be negative. 1382 01:17:28,398 --> 01:17:30,651 And it was a really tough time for women. 1383 01:17:30,734 --> 01:17:32,819 Yeah, and also we weren't anonymous. 1384 01:17:33,737 --> 01:17:36,657 So we couldn't really fail anonymously. 1385 01:17:36,740 --> 01:17:38,659 No, and I had a lot of opportunities, 1386 01:17:38,742 --> 01:17:41,119 and I just didn't know what to do with them. 1387 01:17:42,538 --> 01:17:43,705 I didn't know who I was. 1388 01:17:43,789 --> 01:17:46,375 You know, I look back on it and it was so painful. 1389 01:17:46,458 --> 01:17:48,293 - And… I didn't… - Yeah. Did you…? 1390 01:17:48,377 --> 01:17:49,670 What did you wanna do? 1391 01:17:49,753 --> 01:17:51,713 Well… I just want-- 1392 01:17:51,797 --> 01:17:54,049 When I did the nurse in Romeo and Juliet, I was, like, 1393 01:17:54,132 --> 01:17:56,218 "I just wanna make people laugh. I just wanna do this." 1394 01:17:56,301 --> 01:17:59,054 That's why all those years, when I was waitressing and you were getting famous, 1395 01:17:59,137 --> 01:18:01,473 do you know how fucking hard that was for me? 1396 01:18:01,557 --> 01:18:04,852 I mean, some of it was character building. But… to a point. 1397 01:18:07,771 --> 01:18:11,900 Obviously, like, children of actors have their issues… 1398 01:18:11,984 --> 01:18:13,652 - Right. - …in life. 1399 01:18:14,027 --> 01:18:18,240 And even though, like, you are the actor parent in this situation, 1400 01:18:18,323 --> 01:18:22,786 you're also someone I can relate to as having had the actor parent. 1401 01:18:22,870 --> 01:18:25,414 - Right. Yeah. - Like, I can't relate to that with mom. 1402 01:18:25,497 --> 01:18:27,791 - Right. 'Cause she had-- - Well, she is an actor parent. 1403 01:18:27,875 --> 01:18:30,711 - She had normie parents. - She-- Normie! 1404 01:18:31,211 --> 01:18:32,838 That's horrible. 1405 01:18:37,676 --> 01:18:39,636 They are the parents of two children. 1406 01:18:39,720 --> 01:18:42,848 And their marriage has been running successfully for more than 21 years. 1407 01:18:42,931 --> 01:18:45,017 At least we hope… We told them they couldn't get separated 1408 01:18:45,100 --> 01:18:47,769 until after this show was on. And then the repeat again. 1409 01:18:47,853 --> 01:18:49,479 After the repeat you can do whatever you want. 1410 01:18:49,563 --> 01:18:51,940 - Then we can split into the sunset. - Then you can split. 1411 01:18:52,024 --> 01:18:53,275 When we started 1412 01:18:53,358 --> 01:18:56,904 we felt that the success of the act would make the marriage work. 1413 01:18:56,987 --> 01:18:59,114 Then something else happens. 1414 01:18:59,198 --> 01:19:02,826 - You have to have success in your life. - The pressure. 1415 01:19:02,910 --> 01:19:04,995 And if the success… 1416 01:19:05,078 --> 01:19:07,956 can get in the way of that kind of marriage thing, 1417 01:19:08,040 --> 01:19:09,166 that you want together, 1418 01:19:09,249 --> 01:19:11,418 then you have to be willing to give something up. 1419 01:19:11,502 --> 01:19:14,254 You see, when you start you don't know it's going to happen. 1420 01:19:14,338 --> 01:19:17,049 Let's say you start a marriage. Do you know you're gonna last that long? 1421 01:19:17,132 --> 01:19:18,467 All the wrong reasons, didn't we? 1422 01:19:18,550 --> 01:19:20,928 Right. And all of a sudden you kind of grow up. 1423 01:19:21,011 --> 01:19:23,680 And what you're doing in your mind is renegotiating the marriage 1424 01:19:23,764 --> 01:19:24,723 as you go along. 1425 01:19:27,226 --> 01:19:28,393 Their marriage… 1426 01:19:29,436 --> 01:19:30,812 they worked at it a lot. 1427 01:19:34,608 --> 01:19:36,735 They did individual therapy. 1428 01:19:37,402 --> 01:19:39,404 They did couples therapy. 1429 01:19:40,030 --> 01:19:43,033 They were going two, three times a week, I think. 1430 01:19:43,909 --> 01:19:48,288 And they always went afterwards for coffee and they would talk and bond. 1431 01:19:51,208 --> 01:19:53,627 What we learned through the therapy, too, 1432 01:19:53,710 --> 01:19:57,047 was that our personal lives were more important than the theater lives. 1433 01:19:57,130 --> 01:20:01,885 And I started to really prick differently at our life. 1434 01:20:02,469 --> 01:20:05,305 I think they let go of a lot of that resentment. 1435 01:20:06,098 --> 01:20:09,560 I saw them just come closer together and take care of each other. 1436 01:20:11,103 --> 01:20:14,314 Our television series were cancelled but our marriage is alive. 1437 01:20:14,398 --> 01:20:15,399 That's right. 1438 01:20:15,482 --> 01:20:17,943 Which is very difficult to do in a business like this. 1439 01:20:18,026 --> 01:20:21,613 I really didn't know, if by going out to California, 1440 01:20:21,697 --> 01:20:23,365 Anne and I would really be together 1441 01:20:23,448 --> 01:20:26,451 after doing these things separately and together and what have you. 1442 01:20:26,535 --> 01:20:30,122 And I'm so glad that we've done this and it really worked out. 1443 01:20:31,081 --> 01:20:33,458 - This is kinda cool. Can I read this? - Yeah. 1444 01:20:33,542 --> 01:20:35,544 They had a pilot, you know? 1445 01:20:36,253 --> 01:20:37,087 - And… - Yeah. 1446 01:20:37,171 --> 01:20:40,299 So it said, "CBS has announced their line-up…" 1447 01:20:40,382 --> 01:20:41,550 - Who…? Is this Dad? - Yeah. 1448 01:20:43,010 --> 01:20:46,555 Jerry, we don't have time for that now. 1449 01:20:47,723 --> 01:20:50,517 Time for what? Happy anniversary, that's all. 1450 01:20:51,560 --> 01:20:54,313 Oh, yeah. Happy anniversary. 1451 01:20:54,396 --> 01:20:57,482 "I may need to back off from speculating 1452 01:20:57,566 --> 01:20:59,443 as to whether the pilot will be picked up. 1453 01:20:59,526 --> 01:21:05,741 Anne says, 'Don't spoil being together by bringing up the pilot.' 1454 01:21:05,824 --> 01:21:09,077 I realize that this is what has created the gap between us. 1455 01:21:09,161 --> 01:21:13,749 My desperate need to tie what we do on stage 1456 01:21:13,832 --> 01:21:15,459 with when we're together. 1457 01:21:15,542 --> 01:21:20,631 My grasp for success, my wanting it so desperately, 1458 01:21:20,714 --> 01:21:26,386 I've become aware of something within me that tells me I'm okay more." 1459 01:22:03,340 --> 01:22:06,343 No one tells Frank Costanza what to do! 1460 01:22:06,426 --> 01:22:09,304 That's right! Who the hell are they? How dare they? 1461 01:22:11,014 --> 01:22:12,474 Ow! Dad. 1462 01:22:12,558 --> 01:22:15,894 I was 65 years old, not getting any work. 1463 01:22:15,978 --> 01:22:18,021 And I was left hanging. 1464 01:22:18,105 --> 01:22:20,524 I got the call from Larry David. 1465 01:22:20,607 --> 01:22:23,068 He said, "We want you to replace the father in Seinfeld." 1466 01:22:23,151 --> 01:22:26,530 You know, I couldn't bring myself to spend one of these. 1467 01:22:26,613 --> 01:22:29,283 I got some kind of a… 1468 01:22:29,366 --> 01:22:30,576 phobia! 1469 01:22:31,827 --> 01:22:35,080 Ridiculous? I'll show you ridiculous. Give me! 1470 01:22:35,163 --> 01:22:39,168 I just feel like he had all of this stuff inside of him, that kinda… 1471 01:22:39,251 --> 01:22:40,961 - It came out… - It came out in Seinfeld. 1472 01:22:41,044 --> 01:22:44,131 When my blood pressure gets too high, the man on the tape tells me to say, 1473 01:22:44,214 --> 01:22:45,674 "Serenity now!" 1474 01:22:45,757 --> 01:22:48,010 I got in touch with what I call my "inner rage". 1475 01:22:48,093 --> 01:22:49,469 At least, that's what my… 1476 01:22:49,553 --> 01:22:51,054 That's what my wife Anne Meara used to say. 1477 01:22:51,138 --> 01:22:54,308 We went… You wanna talk, Jerry? I don't wanna interrupt you at any time. 1478 01:22:54,391 --> 01:22:57,352 If you feel the need to say something, just let it out. 1479 01:22:57,436 --> 01:22:59,396 'Cause we're Mike's guests on the show this week. 1480 01:22:59,479 --> 01:23:01,273 - That's right-- - And I feel that as co-hosts, 1481 01:23:01,356 --> 01:23:03,275 we could contribute in some way. 1482 01:23:03,358 --> 01:23:05,944 Him, you know, letting out all of that steam 1483 01:23:06,028 --> 01:23:09,656 that was kept… tamped down in life. 1484 01:23:10,699 --> 01:23:14,745 That, partly might have been where that character came out of. 1485 01:23:16,038 --> 01:23:18,290 Everybody, sing with me! 1486 01:23:18,373 --> 01:23:21,168 Take me out to the ball… 1487 01:23:21,251 --> 01:23:23,420 As much as you love the theater 1488 01:23:23,504 --> 01:23:25,797 and as much as you get out of an audience, 1489 01:23:25,881 --> 01:23:28,884 when you get on television, the whole world sees you. 1490 01:23:28,967 --> 01:23:32,179 Which is wonderful for me, because I always wanted to be loved by everybody. 1491 01:23:33,180 --> 01:23:35,349 - How are you? - I watch your show. I like that. 1492 01:23:35,432 --> 01:23:39,061 - Jerry Stiller, right? How's Meara? - Anne Meara is in good shape. 1493 01:23:40,646 --> 01:23:42,523 I think when Seinfeld happened for my dad, 1494 01:23:42,606 --> 01:23:44,900 my mom was able to relax a little bit, too, 1495 01:23:44,983 --> 01:23:47,778 because she wasn't needed for his success. 1496 01:23:50,614 --> 01:23:52,533 That might have been a relief for her. 1497 01:23:53,075 --> 01:23:55,244 I think I'm at the age where, you know, 1498 01:23:55,327 --> 01:23:58,413 if you're not reflecting on things, there's something… 1499 01:23:58,497 --> 01:24:02,209 You're screwed up. And it's never too late to make changes. That's all I'm saying. 1500 01:24:04,002 --> 01:24:07,422 She finally quit smoking and she stopped drinking. 1501 01:24:07,506 --> 01:24:13,345 And she acknowledged… where all this stuff had come from, too. 1502 01:24:13,428 --> 01:24:15,681 Many people feel that it's too painful 1503 01:24:15,764 --> 01:24:17,474 to explore certain areas, 1504 01:24:17,558 --> 01:24:23,230 but I have found it very helpful to get in touch with past upsets 1505 01:24:23,313 --> 01:24:26,024 that weren't dealt with at the time. 1506 01:24:26,108 --> 01:24:28,485 And when things aren't dealt with at the time, 1507 01:24:28,569 --> 01:24:32,990 they usually come out in unproductive ways later. 1508 01:24:33,699 --> 01:24:36,702 It was beautiful. I mean, she really, you know… 1509 01:24:38,620 --> 01:24:39,705 …grew. 1510 01:24:39,788 --> 01:24:41,874 But my dad would never accept it, you know? 1511 01:24:41,957 --> 01:24:46,753 Even when she went to AA and would go to meetings every day, 1512 01:24:46,837 --> 01:24:49,756 and she'd say, "Jerry," you know, "I'm an alcoholic." 1513 01:24:49,840 --> 01:24:52,092 And he would say, "No, don't be so tough on yourself. 1514 01:24:52,176 --> 01:24:54,803 You know, it's a lot of pressure and…" 1515 01:24:54,887 --> 01:24:59,850 You know, he didn't ever want to criticize her in that way. 1516 01:24:59,933 --> 01:25:02,728 He always had this unconditional love for her. 1517 01:25:04,688 --> 01:25:07,774 - Is this her original After-Play binder? - I found that in her stuff. 1518 01:25:07,858 --> 01:25:09,568 Wow. That's so cool. 1519 01:25:10,611 --> 01:25:13,447 Anne is the star and playwright of After-Play, 1520 01:25:13,530 --> 01:25:16,617 an off-Broadway show at Theater Four in New York City. 1521 01:25:16,700 --> 01:25:18,869 It was confusing. Mikey! 1522 01:25:18,952 --> 01:25:20,829 It's an epic, for God's sake! 1523 01:25:20,913 --> 01:25:23,457 - That scene with the mittens! - What mittens? 1524 01:25:23,540 --> 01:25:26,502 She's talking about two girls, which are, I think, standing in for you and me. 1525 01:25:26,585 --> 01:25:29,463 "Suzie and Polly? What's wrong with them? They're gorgeous." 1526 01:25:29,546 --> 01:25:32,257 "They have a lot of anger. I was never there for them. 1527 01:25:32,341 --> 01:25:34,384 Even when I was there, I wasn't there." 1528 01:25:34,468 --> 01:25:37,846 "Stop beating yourself. You were a terrific mother." 1529 01:25:37,930 --> 01:25:39,848 "We both had a career, for God's sake." 1530 01:25:39,932 --> 01:25:42,518 "We were both so busy trying to get rich and famous." 1531 01:25:42,601 --> 01:25:45,479 I feel like I'm talking to myself up there. 1532 01:25:45,562 --> 01:25:48,398 Maybe because I'm… Those lines that Anne has written 1533 01:25:48,482 --> 01:25:52,194 are essentially stuff we've said at one time in our lives. 1534 01:25:52,277 --> 01:25:55,948 "So great being with you guys. Maybe I will have another drink. 1535 01:25:56,031 --> 01:25:58,367 Raziel hands her the earring. 1536 01:25:58,450 --> 01:26:00,160 I believe you dropped this." 1537 01:26:00,244 --> 01:26:02,496 "My earring! I thought it was lost." 1538 01:26:03,330 --> 01:26:05,374 "Nothing is lost, ma'am." 1539 01:26:13,006 --> 01:26:16,134 I feel like… Maybe it's 'cause of my own experience of my marriage 1540 01:26:16,218 --> 01:26:20,722 but, like, I just have so much more empathy for them now. 1541 01:26:20,806 --> 01:26:24,268 Because… I think, because of what I've gone through in my life 1542 01:26:24,351 --> 01:26:27,521 and seeing how hard it is to do what they did. 1543 01:26:27,604 --> 01:26:29,606 He used to love coming out here, 1544 01:26:29,690 --> 01:26:30,983 - Grandpa Jerry. - Oh, yeah. 1545 01:26:31,066 --> 01:26:34,278 Christine and I, we'd been separated for a few years 1546 01:26:34,361 --> 01:26:36,280 and then when COVID happened, 1547 01:26:36,363 --> 01:26:40,826 we made the decision to come back to the house with the kids. 1548 01:26:41,493 --> 01:26:43,704 - And then that tree… - And that one right there. 1549 01:26:43,787 --> 01:26:45,831 That was his favorite tree. The big pine. 1550 01:26:45,914 --> 01:26:48,125 All of a sudden, we were together in the house, 1551 01:26:48,208 --> 01:26:52,212 and during that time, I started to make the movie, too. 1552 01:26:53,714 --> 01:26:55,883 So there was sort of this coming together. 1553 01:26:56,550 --> 01:27:00,971 - And her using that word, "joyless". - Yeah. 1554 01:27:01,054 --> 01:27:04,641 Us talking about what we were going through, our issues, 1555 01:27:04,725 --> 01:27:08,187 and looking at what my parents had been through, too, 1556 01:27:08,270 --> 01:27:10,397 in a way I hadn't looked at it before. 1557 01:27:14,651 --> 01:27:17,237 If anybody told me, that at my age I would… 1558 01:27:18,780 --> 01:27:21,283 you know, be happier than I was in younger years, 1559 01:27:21,366 --> 01:27:22,951 I would say, "How could that be?" 1560 01:27:23,035 --> 01:27:25,996 Well, that's great, isn't it? To discover that that's possible. 1561 01:27:26,830 --> 01:27:29,416 Thank you. You're very kind. 1562 01:27:31,293 --> 01:27:35,255 I… I'd like to say a little bit… A little bit about my life. I hope it… 1563 01:27:35,339 --> 01:27:38,175 I've been going out doing evenings, 1564 01:27:38,258 --> 01:27:41,094 where I come out and I do my life. 1565 01:27:41,178 --> 01:27:43,555 I… I get a great kick out of it. 1566 01:27:43,639 --> 01:27:47,142 It's the part of my life where… Actually, it's what I always wanted to do. 1567 01:27:47,226 --> 01:27:48,852 I always wanted to work alone. 1568 01:27:51,563 --> 01:27:53,565 I know. I know. It's just… 1569 01:27:53,649 --> 01:27:54,942 Thank you, very… 1570 01:27:55,776 --> 01:27:58,070 Oh, there she is. That's… 1571 01:27:58,153 --> 01:28:00,697 That's my wife. The lovely… Anne Meara. 1572 01:28:00,781 --> 01:28:02,241 That's her, yes. 1573 01:28:09,456 --> 01:28:11,416 You get so serious. 1574 01:28:11,500 --> 01:28:12,918 It gets, like, grim. 1575 01:28:13,001 --> 01:28:15,462 It's like you're doing the haftarah at your Bar Mitzvah. 1576 01:28:20,968 --> 01:28:22,636 - How do you do? - Oh, how do you do? 1577 01:28:22,719 --> 01:28:24,388 I'm Hershey Horowitz. 1578 01:28:26,431 --> 01:28:28,308 I'm Mary Elizabeth Doyle. 1579 01:28:30,227 --> 01:28:31,603 - Is it you? - Is it you? 1580 01:28:31,687 --> 01:28:32,729 - It's me. - It's me, too. 1581 01:28:32,813 --> 01:28:35,524 - Mary Elizabeth Doyle. - Hershey Horowitz. 1582 01:28:35,607 --> 01:28:37,818 - Oh, it's good to see… - You haven't changed one bit! 1583 01:28:37,901 --> 01:28:39,361 Oh, stop. 1584 01:28:45,409 --> 01:28:48,245 What in your career is your proudest achievement? 1585 01:28:49,997 --> 01:28:53,166 My proudest achievement in my life is… 1586 01:28:53,250 --> 01:28:55,294 is getting to know my husband in a real way. 1587 01:29:00,966 --> 01:29:04,219 And respecting him and respecting what we did together. 1588 01:29:24,323 --> 01:29:27,034 Okay. Sure you want half of this? 1589 01:29:28,410 --> 01:29:30,370 I hate that tofu stuff. 1590 01:29:30,454 --> 01:29:33,957 She wrote a few plays and then she wrote about her life. 1591 01:29:34,041 --> 01:29:35,876 Like, this is all dreams. 1592 01:29:41,256 --> 01:29:44,301 "Jerry lying on bed with me and Ben, up in Nantucket. 1593 01:29:44,843 --> 01:29:46,637 We're holding hands, Jerry and me. 1594 01:29:47,346 --> 01:29:49,556 I feel his hands and his skin. 1595 01:29:50,390 --> 01:29:54,394 The sun on my back, lying in the bed next to the window. 1596 01:29:54,478 --> 01:29:58,524 Jerry says, 'Damn plane never took off. So, I came home.'" 1597 01:30:00,776 --> 01:30:02,152 We had a house in Nantucket 1598 01:30:03,195 --> 01:30:05,197 and that was one of their favorite places. 1599 01:30:06,657 --> 01:30:09,743 That's where they're both buried together now, too. 1600 01:30:14,581 --> 01:30:16,875 After my mom had her stroke, 1601 01:30:16,959 --> 01:30:19,294 she really couldn't communicate. 1602 01:30:19,378 --> 01:30:22,297 But if you looked in her eyes, you could see that she was in there. 1603 01:30:24,341 --> 01:30:27,636 She was basically totally paralyzed. 1604 01:30:27,719 --> 01:30:28,971 But she could… 1605 01:30:31,682 --> 01:30:36,645 When we'd say something funny, she would laugh. 1606 01:30:39,356 --> 01:30:42,609 All we would do is hang out with her and try to make her laugh. 1607 01:30:43,318 --> 01:30:45,737 Amy would do characters and I would do characters. 1608 01:30:50,492 --> 01:30:53,537 If I said something that made her laugh, I felt that I'd done good. 1609 01:30:54,997 --> 01:30:57,040 'Cause she was a tough audience. 1610 01:31:03,714 --> 01:31:05,674 For a number of years. 1611 01:31:05,757 --> 01:31:07,593 Two years, three years. Whatever. 1612 01:31:08,468 --> 01:31:10,053 And then I… 1613 01:31:37,289 --> 01:31:38,123 I… 1614 01:32:16,036 --> 01:32:18,163 Are there any resentments at all? 1615 01:32:18,830 --> 01:32:22,501 - No, I really don't. No more. - Okay. 1616 01:32:22,584 --> 01:32:27,548 - I love you very much. - I know. I love you, too. Same way. 1617 01:32:44,648 --> 01:32:46,817 - Love you. - I love you so much. 1618 01:32:47,609 --> 01:32:50,153 So, tell me something, Daddy. 1619 01:32:50,237 --> 01:32:52,656 Is this better than anything, just being alive? 1620 01:32:52,739 --> 01:32:55,617 Yes. That's the way life is. 1621 01:32:55,701 --> 01:32:59,246 Yeah? When we go, we'll go together, you and me. 1622 01:32:59,329 --> 01:33:01,623 Yeah, all right. Okay, hold hands and everything else. 1623 01:33:01,707 --> 01:33:03,542 That's right. We'll hold hands. 1624 01:33:03,959 --> 01:33:06,170 We can have a good time together, wherever we're going. 1625 01:33:06,253 --> 01:33:07,087 Yep. Yep. 1626 01:33:07,171 --> 01:33:09,047 You'll take me to shows again when we get up there? 1627 01:33:09,131 --> 01:33:12,676 I used to take you… Yeah, when I go, I'll take you any place. 1628 01:33:12,759 --> 01:33:15,888 - You wanna say something to Ben? - Hey, Ben. How's everything? 1629 01:33:15,971 --> 01:33:18,056 You wanted to say hello to Amy, right? 1630 01:33:18,140 --> 01:33:22,394 She's in show business, too, you know? Very, very talented little girl. 1631 01:33:22,477 --> 01:33:25,856 It's like a miracle. It goes from one… 1632 01:33:26,273 --> 01:33:28,317 one person to another… 1633 01:33:29,151 --> 01:33:31,195 You can call it a miracle if you want to. 1634 01:33:31,278 --> 01:33:35,407 - Yeah. I can. - Yeah, sometimes the talent is… 1635 01:33:35,490 --> 01:33:37,701 is in you somewhere, and it goes on down. 1636 01:33:37,784 --> 01:33:40,579 Yeah. Yeah. 1637 01:33:45,626 --> 01:33:48,378 - What is this? - It's a tape recorder. 1638 01:33:48,462 --> 01:33:50,464 - A tape recorder? Oh. - Yeah. 1639 01:33:51,632 --> 01:33:53,717 Whatever you say is on that tape. 1640 01:33:53,800 --> 01:33:55,928 - So they'll hear you forever. - Yeah. 1641 01:33:56,428 --> 01:33:58,180 You'll never be lost.