Ben Stiller is just not a standup comic — and that’s OK.
On the thirtieth annual Nantucket Movie Competition, Stiller assembled a bunch of comedy all-stars, as he has for the years, to debate their journeys and share profession insights whereas cracking up the auditorium viewers.
This yr, Stiller shared that he was “useless set in opposition to” a comedy profession as a result of it’s what his mother and father did, and an early try at standup in his teenagers just about killed that individual curiosity. The bit targeted on New York Metropolis’s alternate facet parking coverage, and he even carried out a model for festival-goers and his fellow panelists.
Clearly, comedy discovered its strategy to Stiller a technique or one other, however not on the trail taken by the panel’s improvisers Amber Ruffin and Zach Cherry, or standups Iliza Schlesinger, Michael Ian Black, and Mae Martin. Schlesinger was working a desk job and requested her mother and father to assist her purchase a laptop computer for comedy writing; Martin dropped out of highschool to work at Second Metropolis and inform jokes on stage; and Ruffin’s work led her to Chicago then Amsterdam.
The 2025 Nantucket Movie Competition showcased over 50 function and quick movies, together with Jay Duplass’ “The Baltimorons,” A24’s “André is an Fool,” Cole Webley’s “Omaha,” Kate Beecroft’s “East of Wall,” Matthew Shear’s “Fantasy Life,” Sophie Brooks’ “Oh, Hello!,” Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s “Folktales,” and Kim A. Snyder’s “The Librarians,” amongst many others. The June 27 Screenwriters Tribute honored “Andor” creator Tony Gilroy, documentary director Alex Gibney, and “The Bear” co-showrunner Joanna Calo, who additionally participated in conversations and panels all through the weekend.
The roundtable was moderated by author and producer Donick Cary, a Nantucket native who took the stage at his highschool alma mater for the dialog — and who, in fact, couldn’t resist citing “Severance” to Stiller and Cherry earlier than the occasion concluded. Whereas the duo clearly couldn’t spill any secrets and techniques from Season 3, they talked concerning the present’s pockets of levity and Cherry’s freedom to improvise (a privilege not afforded to everybody on set).
“Anyone who’s achieved a collection would know you begin from one place, however then it’s going to develop and these items are going to occur that you just don’t even know,” Stiller stated. “You’re simply locking in with the actors and saying ‘OK, we’re going to forged these actors, and it’s going to be a journey.’”