A Young Seth Rogen Thought Ben Stiller Was ‘So Old’ When They Met
In a recent interview with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Apple TV+ ingenues Seth Rogen and Ben Stiller discussed everything from their hit shows to their careers in comedy prior to their current TV success. Stiller is the director and executive producer of Severance, while Rogen is the star and executive producer of The Studio. Both shows picked up numerous Emmy nominations this season.
But long before prestige TV came into play, Stiller and Rogen had their fair share of hits (Zoolander, Superbad, Meet the Parents, Knocked Up, just to name a few) and duds (Zoolander 2). “Is there a meet-cute origin story for when you guys met? Do you remember when you first met each other?” Horowitz asked the pair.
“Yeah, because it was on the set of Freaks and Geeks,” Stiller responded.
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“Freaks and Geeks. Yeah,” Rogen confirmed.
“You were eight,” Stiller joked.
“I was 16, and you were 32,” Rogen replied.
“Exactly,” Stiller confirmed.
“I remember that because I asked you how old you were. You, with sort of embarrassment, said 32. And I think my reaction was like, ‘Whoa. Like you’re almostdead. We got a 32-year-old on set,’” Rogen recalled.
“I’ve been old for a long time,” Stiller said.
“It was crazy because I remember Judd (Apatow) saying, ‘There’s this really funny kid, and he’s really good and he’s writing stuff and he’s great and he’s kind of doing his own thing,” Stiller continued.
For Rogen, it was a big deal to meet the guy behind There’s Something About Mary: “The most mind-shattering comedy I ever saw. I really think it is like my life watching movies before seeing the nutsack in the zipper and my life watching movies after seeing the nutsack in the zipper.”
At the time, Stiller had agreed to appear on Freaks and Geeks as a favor to Apatow with the show struggling in the ratings. He played Agent Meara, a Secret Service agent prepping the school for a visit from President Bush in the show’s second-to-last episode. But by the time the episode aired, the show had been canceled.
“Meet the Parents had like literally just come out right before we shot (Freaks and Geeks),” Rogen said. “So, for us, it was like an unbelievable thrill. And now I look older than you.”
