Jerry Stiller switches to standup
The Ithaca Times ran an interview with Jerry Stiller after his solo performance at Statler Auditorium
Tonight, I did what I wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to stand up in front of a crowd of people who were willing to listen to me and tell me whether my life was worth anything as an actor. I’ve been in plays, movies and all that, but this is something that’s always been in my mind, that I wanted to be up there as a stand up comedian, which I was never able to do. And when I stopped working on these television shows, I had the opportunity to start to put my life together for people. I started to craft the stories in such a way that they became more than just little sound bytes. And people liked it!
4 Responses
Reply to: Jerry Stiller switches to standup
I’m confused. Wasn’t there a time when there was a stand-up team of Stiller and Meara?
You are not confused. Neither is Stiller.We suppose that Stiller considers his work with wife Ann Meara to be more sketch than standup. (We would agree.)
Whether you want to call it standup or sketch, Stiller and Meara were a great comedy team. I have great memories of them, but they are in black and white…..Heres a thought, the male and female halves of Shecky should perform a vintage “Stiller and Meara” sketch(with permission of course), and post it here.I’d like to see it…anyone else??J.R.
J.R.:Excellent idea.Although, to maintain our “alt” street cred, we’d hafta do it so that the Male Half does the Ann Meara part and the Female Half handles the Stiller part. It’s only right.We’re on our way to YouTube right now…