Talk:The Ben Stiller Show

Second sentence

The second sentence of this arcticle makes no sense: "It was a spin-off from the successful MTV series of the same name"

How can a show be spun off from the same thing?

well it says of the same name, meaning its not the same thing

Sub-reference

Can whoever wrote this explain what is meant by "sub-reference". I am just curious because it is not in the dictionary and I have never heard it before.

Wow...

What a poor article. Rambling, unfocussed, unsourced....just poor right down the line. Anyone object to tearing this down and starting over from scratch? 172.130.39.77 (talk) 20:30, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Kahn?

"Stiller and Kahn used this show as a means to introduce and hone many of Ben's characterizations, some of which would later be seen on the Fox network production." Who is Kahn? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.159.75.226 (talk) 23:27, 9 April 2011 (UTC)

Yeah

So most of the content of the article - everything in the "MTV series" section - is almost entirely about a separate MTV show with the same name. While everything else - the show description panel, the episode list, etc - is about the Fox show. Pretty confusing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.221.224.57 (talk) 22:09, 25 January 2013 (UTC)

There was a section on the FOX series, but somebody decided to delete it;

Popular sketches and characters of the Fox Series

• Melrose Heights 90210-2402: Parody of Melrose Place, The Heights and Beverly Hills, 90210.

• Skank: A Married... with Children-esque starring a rude sock puppet named Skank (played by Andy Dick) whose catch phrase is "Shut Your Stinkin' Trap!"

• The No, No, No Guy: Ben Stiller plays a pushy fan who talks celebrities into embarrassing situations. (This character reappeared in Stiller's remake of Starsky & Hutch and also in Stiller's film Heavyweights).

• Ask Manson: Bob Odenkirk plays lunatic Charles Manson answering personal query letters.

• Cops: Ben Stiller and John F. O'Donohue play policemen in various historical settings a la Fox's Cops program.

• Grady's Oats: A parody of Quaker Oats commercials. Contributor Dana Gould portrays a Wilford Brimley-esque character giving rustic monologues praising, among other things, his love of putting on a pink taffeta gown and filling his panties with Grady's Oats.

• Michael Pheret, Agent: Ben Stiller plays a fast talking agent with horrible ideas.

• Stiller's Wheel of Filler: Sketch wherein the premise of a short piece is determined by the random turning of a big wheel.

• The Grungies: Over-the-top Monkees's style sitcom set in the super-serious Seattle grunge scene. Actual Monkee Mickey Dolenz played a talent scout in one instance.

• U2: Various sketches use Stiller's Bono impression, including a U2 rockumentary about their supposed partnership with former manager Ruben Kinkaid (Dave Madden) from the Partridge Family, U2 playing a bar mitzvah, endorsing Lucky Charms cereal and a parody of U2's bombastic Zoo TV Tour.

• Bruce Springsteen: Stiller plays the Boss in various sketches including the "Legends of Springsteen" sketches wherein Bruce, always a man of the people, goes above and beyond the call of duty to affect people's lives. He is also featured in short vignettes in which he makes an answering machine message, and counts to 24. The character is loosely based on Springsteen's personality in concerts.

• Tino Gallegas, The Pig Latin Lover: Spoofing music infomercials, Stiller portrays a Latino who sings in Pig Latin instead of Spanish.

• Tom Cruise: Various sketches use Stiller's Cruise impression, including one where Cruise stars in a one-man Broadway show re-creating his famous film roles.

• Foxy the Fox: Judd Apatow plays the supposed mascot of the racy Fox network in a few public service announcements aimed at children.

• Relaxation Tapes: Andy Dick plays the sometimes obtrusive voice in a relaxation tape.

• The Let-Go Clinic with Tony Bobbins: Caustic parody of motivational speaker and author Tony Robbins. Stiller is Bobbins, manipulative spokesperson for the Let-Go Clinic (a motivational institute of questionable ethics), who threatens to mesmerize his clientele with his "noxious spit."

• Movie parodies included "Cape Munster" ("Cape Fear" with Stiller as a revenge-riddled former child actor Eddie Munster) & "Woody Allen's 'Bride of Frankenstein'" (Andy Dick as Allen as a self-absorbed neurotic mummy).

• Low Budget Tales of Clichéd Horror, a take-off on Tales From The Crypt. (The actual sketch itself was based almost entirely on an episode of Tales From The Darkside starring his father, Jerry Stiller.

I agree that deleting it was a rotten idea. Reformatting the section would've made more sense. ---------User:DanTD (talk) 18:35, 14 March 2018 (UTC)

Trimmed

I just took a meat axe to the offending section referenced for the last 10 years in comments above. //Blaxthos ( t / c ) 13:21, 12 July 2018 (UTC)

MTV version aired in 1989 or 1990?

Top of this page says "The Ben Stiller Show is an American sketch comedy series that aired on MTV from 1989 to 1990" then below that it says "The original MTV version of The Ben Stiller Show aired in 1990 to 1991" So is it 1989 or 1990? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.235.216.38 (talk) 23:43, 17 October 2019 (UTC)