In Ben Stiller's showbiz family, there was little separation between home and stage

In Ben Stiller's showbiz family, there was little separation between home and stage

Terry Gross

November 18, 2025 / 9:42 am

When both your parents are in show business, you get used to being stopped on the street. Just ask Ben Stiller , whose parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, formed a hit comedy duo in the 1960s and '70s.

"My mom usually wouldn't want to talk to people for a long time ... and my dad would talk to people forever," Stiller says. "As kids ... you feel that your parent's attention [is] being taken away from you."

Meara died in 2015 and her husband followed in 2020 . After his father's death, Ben Stiller found a stash of audio recordings his dad had made of his conversations and arguments with Meara about their marriage and their act. Those tapes are at the cen