Stiller Struts Stuff at Pudding

A packed house at the Zero Arrow Street Theatre caught a glimpse of Derek Zoolander’s “blue steel” impression as actor Ben Stiller strutted down the runway during the Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ 2007 Man of the Year roast this Friday evening.

To rightfully earn his pudding pot, Stiller had to don a bra, pink heels, and a blonde wig in a walk-off against a Hasty Pudding Theatricals actor, disguised as actor Owen Wilson, a Man of the Year wannabe.

“Just like at home, honey,” the actor joked to his wife, actress Christine Taylor, who was seated in the audience, as he put on the bra.

Stiller emerged victorious in his runway showdown and eventually received his golden pudding pot, just one week after Scarlett Johansson paraded through Harvard Square as the Pudding’s Woman of the Year.

“For someone who never could have ever gotten close to getting into Harvard, I think this is even better,” Stiller said as he thanked the Pudding, the nation’s oldest undergraduate drama troupe, for the honor.

But before he could be crowned the 41st Man of the Year, Stiller had to jump through a few hoops during the traditional roast, conducted by Pudding producers Evan W. Eachus ’08 and Scott A. Wilmore ’08.

The roast was followed by the premiere of the Pudding’s 159th production, “The Tent Commandments.”

Eachus and Wilmore asked Stiller to prove that he was more worthy of the award than his longtime co-star Owen Wilson, as an actor entered onto the stage riding a scooter in allusion to Wilson’s character Hansel from their 2001 movie “Zoolander.”

The competition climaxed in the runway walk-off as both men strategically pulled underwear out from their pants, in order to recreate the scene from “Zoolander.” But Stiller had to prove that he was not just a “really, really ridiculously good looking” male model, but also a talented actor.

Though the comedic actor was not required to deliver a “eugoogooly,” with a pair of dark sunglasses on his nose, he did showcase his famous Tom Cruise impression, which he first revealed on his doomed sketch comedy show, “The Ben Stiller Show.”

In a press conference after the roast, Stiller said he would “be excited about the idea” of acting in a movie with Cruise. The two are set to co-star in a film version of the detective series “The Hardy Boys,” entitled “The Hardy Men.” But Stiller added that the planning for the movie is still in its early stages, and he is still waiting to read the script.

Stiller, who was dubbed an “international superstar” by Pudding members, also had to reenact a scene from the movie “Braveheart,” rallying the troops to fight. The catch, however, was that he had to speak in the voice of a neurotic man—a part quite familiar to Stiller given his role in the movies “Meet the Parents” and “Along Came Polly.”

The producers said the roast was a success and that Stiller was a great sport.

“He jumped right in there and really bought into the whole event,” Wilmore said.

During the press conference, Stiller told an 11-year-old girl that the most challenging scene he has ever shot was for the 1998 movie “There’s Something about Mary.”

“Don’t see it,” he added, referring to his memorable clash between his penis and the zipper of his pants.

Even after the trials of the roast and a tour of the Harvard Lampoon, a semi-secret Sorrento Square social organization that used to occasionally publish a so-called humor magazine, Stiller still emerged with a positive opinion of the University and said that he had a “great day.”

Stiller, who attended the University of California in Los Angeles for nine months in 1983, said he was impressed by how “on the ball” the students are at Harvard.

“I wasn’t a good student. I was sort of creative or whatever,” he said. “But, you know, the depressing thing is you come here and meet all these guys who are creative and really smart and have it all going on.”

After his recent visit to Harvard, it seems like Stiller’s two children, a four-year-old girl and a one-year-old boy, will not be attending the “Derek Zoolander Center For Children Who Can’t Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too.”

The actor said he is now trying to get his daughter into a “kindergarten feeder school for Harvard, because I would like her to have an experience like this.”

­—Staff writer Claire M. Guehenno can be reached at guehenno@fas.harvard.edu.