Watch Ben Stiller Honor His Comedy Icon Parents in the Tearjerking Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost Trailer

Ben Stiller has turned the ultimate home movie into an actual movie. He made a documentary about his parents, the legendary comedy duo Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, and Apple TV+ is rolling it out this month. If you grew up on Frank Costanza and The King of Queens, this one is aimed right at your heart.

The project

It is called 'Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost' and it is Stiller honoring his parents as performers and as, well, parents. The title is blunt in a good way. He says the whole thing sprang from a simple truth about them:

'They had this incredible marriage.'

That tracks. Jerry Stiller rode a second wave of fame as Frank on Seinfeld and stuck the landing with The King of Queens. Anne Meara popped up on Queens too. Meanwhile Ben carved out his own lane in comedy. Now he is pulling the camera back on the family operation.

Where and when to watch

• Premieres at the New York Film Festival on October 5
• Opens in select theaters on October 17
• Streams on Apple TV+ starting October 24

What it actually is

Think personal history lesson meets showbiz scrapbook. Stiller walks through his parents' run as comedy fixtures and then folds in the family side of it all - how the work bled into home life, how creativity and real life blurred, and what that leaves behind for the next generation. He turns the camera on himself and his family too, which is a nice, slightly surprising choice for a filmmaker who usually stays behind the lens these days.

The Apple connection

Stiller already has a strong Apple TV+ relationship thanks to Severance, and he is clear this one is close to the bone:

'I feel very fortunate to be partnering once again with the incredible team at Apple TV+, this time on a project that is very personal to me and my family. It is exciting to finally get to share it with audiences; and a great honor to celebrate my parents, both as I knew them growing up, and as I have come to know them in new ways through the making of this film.'

Behind the scenes, for the curious

Stiller is a producer on the film, joined by an awards-heavy roster: Oscar winner John Lesher (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Severance), Emmy nominee Geoffrey Richman (Severance, Tiger King), and Lizz Morhaim (The Super Models, Rebuilding Paradise). Executive producers include Oscar nominee Bryn Mooser (Lifeboat, They Call Me Magic), Emmy nominee Justin Lacob (Free Leonard Peltier, The Lionheart), and Emmy winner Kathryn Everett (Daughters, Lakota Nation vs. United States). Emmy nominee Matthew Cherchio (Diane Warren: Relentless) serves as supervising producer for XTR, with Tony Hsieh and Andy Hsieh also on board as executive producers. It is a stacked credit block, which tells you this is not just a homegrown vanity project.

Trailer and poster are out now. If you have any affection for this family or the eras of TV they helped define, this looks like a warm, inside-the-house version of comedy history.