Opps, my post was supposed to go after Achernar’s “Don’t forget Mystery Men!” but I spent too much time at IMDB. Ben Stiller was in Zero Effect, not any of the Friends people.
Don’t forget the post-Seinfeld curse. The first episode of Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ sitcom had her … trying to mop up a flooded toilet. Hilarity did not ensue. Ratings proceeded to plummet. Flooded toilets are never funny, even when, as in Julia’s case, it was the cleanest, most sparkling flooded apartment toilet in all of history. People know what a flooded toilet means, and it ain’t funny. Or fun. Or watchable.
Ben Stiller’s problem is that he is a sketch comic, but that is not at all the same thing as being an actor.