Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost

And now, the comedy of Stiller and Meara.

Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, we live in a very unpredictable age.

Anything could happen.

Jerry and I, we'd like to show you what might happen

when the last two people left in the world meet for the first time.

- Hi! - Hello!

- Boy, am I glad to see you! - Am I glad to see you!

Boy, that was something.

Yeah, I've been looking all over. There's nobody.

- I thought there was just me. - Me too.

- Boy, are we lucky! - You're not kidding.

- I never expected it. - Yeah!

Well, my horoscope said, "Don't make any plans."

Did you see what happened to Sixth Avenue?

Yeah, and they just finished repaving it.

Well, I guess it's up to us.

I said, I guess it's up to us now.

What do you mean?

Well, I guess the pressure is really on us now.

You know, to get things started again.

Oh, yeah! You're right. We got a lot to do.

I mean, we gotta rebuild, clean up, plant vegetables.

Yeah. That too.

But I was thinking, you being the last woman

and me being the last man,

we've got something even more important to do than…

that.

We gotta make things.

You know, little things.

- You mean arts and crafts? - No, no, no. I was thinking of…

Of people. We gotta make little people.

What was it like growing up in that kind of showbiz family?

Your dad and mom, what were they like?

We absolutely, here on this show, adore your mother and father.

- The great Stiller and Meara. - Stiller and Meara.

Parents of this young boy.

Oh, Anne and Jerry! Stiller and Meara. You're their little boy.

Your father is the funniest character on Seinfeld,

- hands down. - I, well… I agree.

Gives a pow on the top of his head. It's a scream.

Are you gonna ever bring your parents in?

- Oh, well… into what? Into like-- - Anything.

Tell me what your parents gave you as an entertainer?

- Hello, how are you? - Hi.

- Hi. - Are you… Are you doing…

- I knew this was gonna happen. - That's why I mic'd you. Yeah.

- Is this cinéma-vérité? - Yes.

Amy and Benjy.

- I got almost-- - Hi!

Oh, my.

Gee, look who got daddy's curly hair?

That's right, and hers is natural.

- You laugh at Mommy and Daddy? - Yeah.

You think they're funny?

This is like-- This is Anne and Jerry. I love this picture.

Do they rehearse at home?

So many great pictures.

Do they try them out on you kids?

How dare you exploit my children. You just wanna pry into my private life.

No, I just wondered if you ever did bits…

Do you have any ideas about getting into the business?

Are either of you musical?

Or do you do funny things like your mom and dad?

Amy?

Well, I mean, the opening is just kinda walking into the apartment and…

- Yeah. - But there's no real context for it.

And I'm just thinking, what, the opening of the movie could be…

Maybe, since we're selling the apartment, it's us going through everything.

Or…

Maybe the idea of this question. Maybe you see the opening,

and then it's, like, us here. And then…

the question, like, "Why are you even making the movie?"

Yeah, like what's…

- Me asking you? - Yeah.

Okay.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

Are we… We're on camera, so shall I do it now?

Sure.

Bla-bla-bla…

So, Ben…

Quiet please.

Five, four, three, two…

If it's about us,

Stiller and Meara.

How two people who have…

It's not just that they work together,

but we wanna show what happens that when they do work together

they turn off on one another.

- Just get out. Get out! - Get out?

- Get out? - Yes.

Of course. Why didn't I think of it before? You want me to get out…

I think it can go in any direction at that point. It can go either--

I think we have to stick with Anne and Jerry, Jerry and Anne.

They're not superstars.

They're just performers who are known to the public through the tube.

And they're married and they have the kids,

and they try to do their best with both worlds.

When my dad died in 2020,

my mom had been gone for about five years.

And my career had been going along for a long time,

but things actually weren't great in my personal life.

I just felt out of balance and unhappy, and kind of disconnected…

from my family,

from my kids, and just, kind of, a little bit lost.

Wow, that's actually really nice.

No, don't film me.

And I started to think about my parents, and…

all the stress and tension I remember seeing as a kid.

And the pressure when they were working together.

And how they stayed together through it.

We will stay together.

- I think you're… - I know that now.

There was a time I didn't know it, but I know it now.

I think I wanted to somehow understand how they did it.

Oh, wow.

- It's all cassettes. - Yeah.

- Jerry, as you know, taped everything. - Wow.

I mean, this is all of the truth of our lives.

That's incredible.

Over the years you mean?

This is insane. "Amy and Benjy talk." "Benjy and Amy talk."

Let me ask you something, Benjy. What do you like to do the most with Amy?

Can't believe he taped everything.

Play Happy Face.

- What is Happy Face, Benjy? - A game.

He always had to record, you know, whether it was personal…

But it drove me crazy at the time, for sure.

I think it drove Anne crazy, too.

"You're making these tapes, Jerry, that nobody's ever gonna hear.

They're just gonna pile up when you die," she would say.

Well, she wasn't wrong.

Where exactly do you live in New York?

We live on Riverside Drive, Mike.

- And… - Yes.

We have three minutes of home movies.

Do you know how to do this, honey?

It's on norm, I gotta throw it on to low. Do you put the lights out first?

- Or do we show-- - Don't worry about the lights.

I knew we were gonna have to sell the apartment that we grew up in,

and my first instinct was to film it.

I don't know if that's weird or not.

It's just what my dad always did.

You know, I'm studying films now. That is I learn about how films are made.

And that includes editing, it includes the taking of the pictures,

the making of the pictures, how to put it together. Like, just--

That's a bird on the table. A pigeon.

Real home movies, folks.

We're not trying to show you anything you wouldn't see in your own home.

Oh, it broke again. It broke again. Hold it.

I have always felt like your family is an anomaly

because everything is documented.

I didn't want no pictures. No pictures.

No pictures.

There was something in him that didn't wanna let go of anything.

I think Jerry has a need

to keep his name going. And for some reason he thinks

that when we check out and pass over,

that the Smithsonian Institute is gonna want his memorabilia.

Once we know what you guys wanna keep,

- the pictures, the clothes… - Yeah.

…we know what we can give

to the national comedy center, for the collection.

I mean, it's insane what he kept.

The form for the 63rd Street Y family day membership.

A scuba diving mask.

I'm like…

Ah, man.

He even saved this article about how a sure summer hit missed.

"Reviewers found the film disconcertingly unfunny."

Ouch.

This is interesting. So there's…

From the Windermere Hotel in Binghamton, New York

to Miss Anne Meara,

11 Cornelia Street.

"Tuesday. Dearest Annesie,

It's awfully tough to start this letter.

I'm sitting on the steps of the porch looking at Charles Island,

and it's hazy and I miss you so much, sweetheart.

There, I said something."

We met in 1953, and in September '53 we got married.

I said, "You can't sleep over any more unless you marry me."

And he did because he liked sleeping over, I guess.

"To Kid Meara, I miss you, my baby. Miss you, miss you, miss you.

Oh, how I love you."

"Honey, you must forgive my not calling you.

I know you probably waited around for hours.

I'm just dying to touch you, feel you, my sweetheart."

"Anne, I just read over what I've written up to now.

It seems that if you just roll through it, you could never get what I really meant.

So, sweetheart I'm gonna tell you exactly how to read the beginning of this letter:

After morning phone call, Tuesday. Jokingly."

"To Kid Meara. With emotion. I miss you. Possessively.

My baby. Miss you, miss you. Emphasize esses.

Miss you." It's, like, a whole thing.

It's so crazy.

Kind of amazing. I never knew these…

I know, and I love the, "Honey, honey."

We were just two people who were trying to make it in the theater.

And we kind of fell into each other's lives,