Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
With Father’s Day fast approaching, and all the crap going on in the world, it’s natural for a son to think back on his time growing up with his old man.
We’ve all got our stories that perfectly capture the essence of our own fathers.
Imagine the stories involved with being the son of Jerry Stiller.
Stiller passed away last week at the age of 92. His son, Ben Stiller, appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to honor his late father’s impact on comedy.
Stiller told Fallon how supportive his dad was in his early days of comedy and helped him navigate the insane world of show business world. Stiller then shared a hilarious story about the time, as a teen, he called his dad in the middle of a really bad acid trip.
“I got freaked out, scared, and my first instinct was, ‘I’m going to call my parents,’” explained Stiller.
“I could hear the silence on the other end of the phone,” Stiller recalled, “because I think he had that feeling of, like, ‘I failed as a parent.’ The next thing he said was ‘It’s going to be okay.’”
Trying to relate to his son, and talk him down off the ledge, the elder Stiller shared a similar experience from his youth.
Ben recalls, “He said, ‘I know what you’re feeling. When I was 10 years old I smoked a Pall Mall cigarette and I was sick for two days.’”
You don’t have to have dropped acid to know it’s NOTHING like smoking a cigarette.
The best part of the story is our ability to hear Jerry Stiller delivering that line as only Jerry Stiller can.
Here’s the entire interview from The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
[via The Tonight Show]
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Chris Illuminati is a 5-time published author and recovering a**hole who writes about running, parenting, and professional wrestling. Reach out to him on Instagram & Twitter.