Ben Stiller and Tramell Tillman surprise fans at the “Zoolander” Cinespia
screening with a marching band performance of the “Severance” finale theme at
the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on August 16, 2025 in Los Angeles,
California.
Photo: GettyImages
Tramell Tillman and the Department of Choreography & Merriment. So hot right now.
Ben Stiller and Tramell Tillman surprise fans at the “Zoolander”
Cinespia screening with a marching band performance of the “Severance”
finale theme at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on August 16, 2025 in Los
Angeles, California. Photo: GettyImages
Ben Stiller is one of the most recognizable comedic figures of the 21st century. But his contribution to film goes far beyond funny performances. As an actor, director, and producer, Stiller has shown that comedy can be smart, bold, and emotionally resonant.
🔹 A Specific Kind of Comedy Hero
In many of his films, Ben Stiller plays characters who are ordinary, slightly awkward, and full of anxiety, but also deeply relatable. From Greg Focker in Meet the Parents to the introspective title role in Greenberg, he helped audiences laugh not just at jokes but at the very real, uncomfortable situations of everyday life.
Ben Stiller created a specific type of comedy hero: someone who is not always funny by nature, but someone in whom each of us can find ourselves.
🔹 A Director with a Point of View
As a director, Stiller has proven he can deliver comedy with depth and style. His directorial debut:
🎬 Reality Bites – a story about young adults searching for meaning in the '90s, already demonstrated his ability to blend humor with generational insight and emotional truth.
He continued to expand this vision in:
🎬 Zoolander – a sharp and hilarious parody of the fashion industry
🎬 Tropic Thunder – a bold satire of Hollywood itself
🎬 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty – a visually stunning and heartfelt tale about dreaming big
🎬 Severance – a cerebral and unsettling series about corporate life and personal identity,
show that comedy in his performance can be intelligent and moving, not just funny.
Severance has received huge acclaim from critics and viewers. The first season received 97% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and the second season continued this trend. The series became one of the most popular titles in the history of Apple TV+, breaking viewership records and attracting new subscribers.
Fans of the show have been involved in creating their own interpretations of the plot, analyses, and fan videos that have gained popularity on social media, a testament to the profound impact Severance has had on viewers and internet culture.
🔹 Producer and Mentor
Behind the scenes, Ben Stiller supports new voices. Through his company Red Hour Films, he has produced many films and TV shows, helping to launch or elevate the careers of talents like Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig, and Adam Scott.
🔹 Shaping Modern Comedy
Ben Stiller made comedy more real, personal, and creative in the 21st century. He showed that laughter could be combined with reflection, that comedy could be an art form—just as important as drama or thriller.
Importantly, Ben Stiller didn’t follow trends so much as set them. Back in the ’90s, his The Ben Stiller Show revolutionized television humor, and later films like Zoolander and Tropic Thunder broke new ground in pop-culture satire. In an era when many comedies relied on simple gags, Ben Stiller created work that combined irony, intelligence, and emotion.
🔹 Conclusion: And He’s Not Done Yet
Ben Stiller hasn’t said his last word. He’s still developing new projects — films, series, and even returns to iconic roles. With each successive step he proves that comedy can be an art form, and he is one of its most important creators of our time.
JJ Redick, an American former professional basketball player, and Tommy Alter invited Ben Stiller to their show: "The Old Man and The Three".
JJ Redick wrote on YouTube in the description for an interview with Ben:
"Our guest on The Old Man and The Three this week is none other than legendary actor/director, Ben Stiller. Topics include: the long process of creating his new hit show Severance on Apple TV+, how he approaches projects as an actor vs. as a director, why classic comedies don't get great reviews, how it's utter BS that a movie like Heavyweights doesn't have a higher score on Rotten Tomatoes, working with Philip Seymour Hoffman during the basketball scene on Along Came Polly, his New York Knicks fandom and why he never became a Lakers or Nets fan, creating Zoolander, working with Robert De Niro and so much more."
Watch an excerpt from the interview on Severance and Escape At
Dannemora.
Ben Stiller had no idea he was casting a future president when he
grabbed Donald Trump and Melania for a quick cameo in Zoolander.
But Trump apparently never forgot about it, Stiller tells Molly
Jong-Fast, Rick Wilson, and Matt Wilstein in the latest episode of The
New Abnormal.
Ben recalls how
Trump even derailed an interview during the last campaign to talk about
Zoolander 2. Trump “started going into detail about, you know… in the
culture, people don't care about male models anymore,” Stiller recalls.
Not that Stiller is particularly gratified by the attention.
“Everybody has their own theories about whether or not [Trump] still
wants to be president, but I think it's gone so far now. People's lives
are being affected. And really, to me, it's not funny anymore. It's
kinda just like, it's a little bit insane,” Stiller says. The
actor/writer/director/comedian also discusses his work as an advocate
for refugees, what it’s like to play Michael Cohen on SNL, what he
wants to see from Joe Biden if he wins, and what are the boundaries of
comedy in 2020. (“Tropic Thunder probably would not have been made...
It would be tone deaf right now to make it,” he says.)
Plus!
Rick, Molly, and George Conway talk about whether Tucker Carlson will
run for president (yes, with Eric Trump as a running mate); whether a
war criminal is about to become a new Trumpworld star (unfortunately,
that’s a yes, too); and whether our commander-in-chief actually gives a
shit about the troops he’s supposed to be leading (hard no). As George
says, Trump “expressed more concern about how he was perceived walking
down that ramp at West point than he did about the fact that the
soldiers that he spoke to that day could go to Afghanistan and get
killed, because some Russians are paying money to the Taliban.”
In a recent interview with "The New Abnormal" podcast, Stiller discussed today's politically correct culture and its impact on comedy and movie-making. The actor-director noted how there are several movies — particularly satire — that were made just a few years ago that could not be made in today's climate, including his controversial hit, "Tropic Thunder."
Asked about the impact of today's "preposterous politics" on comedy and movie-making, Stiller, said, "Honestly, I don't know if it's the politics as much as just the atmosphere of the political correctness now and everybody being afraid to say something that's offensive."
"Comedically, it's definitely challenging," he said, adding, "I think it's much tougher now, and when I think about movies that I've worked on in the past, and I look at them now, definitely there are jokes and scenes and that I go, 'Oh, I don't know if we could have gotten away with that today, at all.'"
Specifically, he noted that "Tropic Thunder" — which included Robert Downey Jr. playing an actor who was playing the part of a black man and Stiller who portrayed an actor who played a mentally challenged character — likely wouldn't have been made in 2020.
He said that he could understand those feelings "contextually" today, however, he noted: "But at the time — that's the thing to me that's so complicated about how we approach what's appropriate and what's not in terms of the timeframe that it was made. It doesn't necessarily mean that anything was more appropriate at another time but you have to look at the context and realize that that's what was happening."
The Trump cameo
The discussion then turned to President Trump and his many cameos in TV shows and movies — and about whether to cut his his appearances from those productions, which some anti-Trump people have suggested.
Stiller directed the 2001 comedy movie "Zoolander," in which Stiller played the title character Derek Zoolander, an empty-headed, full-of-himself male model.
Among several celebrity cameos were Donald Trump and his then-girlfriend Melania Knauss. In the movie, Trump says of the main character, "Look, without Derek Zoolander, male modeling wouldn't be what it is today."
Ben Stiller said Trump and the future first lady were included because of where the filming occurred.
"We were shooting at the now defunct VH1 Fashion Awards," Stiller said, "and as people were coming up the red carpet, we pulled them aside and asked them to talk about Derek Zoolander, and so Trump and Melania did that."
He, of course, had no idea at the time that he was filming the future controversial president.
Now, in the current environment where no one wants to be offended by anything they see or hear, especially when it comes to Donald Trump, people are suggesting that Stiller cut the Trump cameo from the movie.
"I've had people who reached out to me and said, like, 'You should edit Donald Trump out of "Zoolander,"' and all that," Stiller told the podcast.
Stiller, no Trump fan himself, noted that the controversy over Trump is similar to the fights going on over movies and TV shows that could not be made today.
Noting the Trump cameo in "Zoolander," Stiller said, "But at the end of the day, it's kind of like, again, that was a time when that exists and that happened."
If you want, as a gift, you can help him support the project Ben Stiller wrote
about:
"Hey there- Please help me support a really great cause. Enter to win
the ultimate Derek Zoolander experience and you and a guest could win an
all-expense-paid trip to either Los Angeles or New York to hang with
actor/writer/director and long-time ALS fundraiser Ben "Ben" Stiller
(aka, "me"). Two nights of sleeping in a very cool hotel are included.
Let's strut!" (Ben Stiller/Fb).
Win this package and we will fly you and a guest, on an actual airplane, to either L.A. or New York, (the Eastern L.A.), to meet actor/writer/director and long-time ALS fundraiser Ben "Ben" Stiller.
You’ll take your very own "Blue Steel"
selfie with him on your actual phone. Then hand your phone off to Derek
Zoolander who will record a custom, very sexy outgoing message for you,
asking your callers if there’s more to life than being really, really,
really ridiculously good looking.
Two nights of sleeping in a very cool hotel are included.
