Ben Stiller: ‘Only Time I Would See My Parents Was on The Ed Sullivan Show’
Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara were once household names, appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show more than 30 times and turning their real-life marriage into a comedy act that captured millions of viewers. For their son, Ben Stiller, however, those appearances were bittersweet. “I remember him talking about, ‘Sometimes the only time I would see my parents is when they were on The Ed Sullivan Show,'” recalled Stiller’s friend Jerry Stahl, in a new profile of Stiller for the New York Times.
That memory is now the heart of Stiller’s new documentary Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost, which opens in theaters today and arrives on Apple TV on October 24, 2025. The project began when Stiller began creating a personal film archive of his childhood after the 2020 death of Jerry Stiller, but quickly grew into a film that explores the pressures and sacrifices of building a career in entertainment while raising a family. “Oh my God, look what they were doing, look how hard that was,” Stiller said of the relentless pace his parents kept, writing fresh sketches every few weeks for a national audience while also trying to raise two children. Stiller knows the struggle all too well, having followed in his parents’ footsteps to form an acting career while raising a family of his own.
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Stiller’s documentary does not shy away from the impact that their busy schedule had on him as a child. He explains that while he absorbed their humor, he also felt their absence. One tough moment in the film comes when his son bluntly tells him that he did not always feel like Stiller’s top priority. He admitted, “As a filmmaker I was like, OK, this is a good moment for the movie. As a person I was like, that sucks.”
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The film marks a new chapter for the actor and director, who is best known for comedies like Zoolander and Meet the Parents, as well as the acclaimed Apple TV series Severance. He describes this film as “territory that I haven’t really traveled in before.” At its core, it is not only a celebration of his parents’ enduring love and professional legacy but also a look at the difficulty of balancing work and family. “The career stuff falls away. You get older, and you’re left with the real stuff in your life,” he reflected. “And for them, they were there for each other. And that’s what I want, at the end of the day.”
Remind 