Before They Were Stars: Ben Stiller in “The Hustler of Money”

A few days ago, we showcased a sketch from The Ben Stiller Show featuring a parody trailer for the Die Hard series called Die Hungry. In 1987, an unknown Ben Stiller directed another dead-on parody trailer called The Hustler of Money, which satirized Martin Scorsese’s The Color of Money and featured Stiller as Tom Cruise and John Mahoney (who was co-starring with Stiller in a Broadway production at the time) as Paul Newman. This short got aired on an episode of Saturday Night Live and Stiller was eventually offered a job as a writer on the show. Look for cameos from his parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, along with surprise appearances by Julie Hagerty and Danny Aiello.