OK, let's be serious

By Lynn Smith

Nov. 5, 2006 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

IN Shawn Levy’s “Night at the Museum,” Ben Stiller plays a hapless night guard in a museum of natural history who discovers the exhibits come to life after closing. The ensemble comedy, opening Dec. 22, also stars Dick Van Dyke as a senior guard with a dastardly scheme and English comedian Ricky Gervais as the pompous museum director. (Robin Williams, Steve Coogan, Owen Wilson and Mickey Rooney are also featured.)

At the request of The Times, Stiller and Van Dyke gathered recently in Malibu, joined by Gervais via phone from London, to talk about working together, what makes them laugh and the state of comedy. Here, in excerpts, is what they had to say:

On their love fest with one another

Stiller: I got cast in the movie [first]. The ideas that came up were like, “Wow, wouldn’t it be great if we could get Dick Van Dyke or Ricky Gervais to do this part?” Sort of a pie-in-the-sky idea. So the fact that all these people ended up in the movie is sort of shocking to me. For me to have Dick in the film is such a huge thing. It was pretty amazing, the whole cross-generational thing that was going on.

Van Dyke: They called me and said, “Would you come in and read on this movie with Ben?” I’d never met Ben and loved his work, so I came in and read and that was it.

I’m a big Ben Stiller fan. He’s a reactor so he needs strong people around him to play off. That’s my favorite kind of comedy. All the great comedians were reactors. Stand-up comics are not reactors. I just love the way he works. He never overdoes anything.

Gervais: The other people are legends. I felt lucky to be there. I don’t know whether they wanted to work with me, but for me, it was a step up.

On their favorite moments

Van Dyke: My favorite scene is when Tyrannosaurus rex chases [Stiller] around. It’s perfect! He gets down with his tail wagging.

Gervais: I laughed out loud when Ben is having a slapping fight with a monkey. And Robin Williams comes up and says something like, “My God, man, why are you slapping a monkey?” That’s a classic Hollywood line. Up there with “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

Stiller: The monkey wears a diaper. They can train the monkey to do anything except they can’t potty train him.

Gervais: Exactly the same with me but I had clothes to hide my diapers. It looks a little bulky but you can’t tell.

Stiller: The monkey was allowed to slap me, but I wasn’t allowed to slap the monkey, which I thought was unfair.

Gervais: It’s political correctness gone mad, isn’t it? You’re not even allowed to slap a monkey these days.

Stiller: The thing that [Williams] kept on doing on the set, that I don’t think ended up in the movie, was Teddy Roosevelt-like in old newsreel footage. He would do him in fast motion with the sound going in and out. It was incredible. Shawn kept saying, “We’ve got to figure out a way to get it in the movie,” but there was no way to justify putting it in the film ...

There were a lot of outtakes. [Ricky and I] could never get it in sync where we weren’t making the other person laugh. I had the same experience working with him in “Extras.” I thought I was bad about breaking up on-camera but he’s got to be the worst.

Gervais: I am terrible.

Stiller: Then you work with Dick, who’s the ultimate professional, who would never think about cracking up on-camera, because he actually comes from a work ethic.

Gervais: Everybody on the crew and everyone I’ve ever spoken to who has ever worked with Dick says that he is the nicest man in the world.

Van Dyke: What a nice thing. Thanks for passing that along.

Gervais: It’s absolutely true. You know what? I’m sure people are saying the same things about me.

On how comedy has changed

Van Dyke: One of the big changes that happened was the Second City in Chicago. They kind of started the whole improv thing, getting suggestions from the audience and doing it on the spot. That really changed comedy. It became more thoughtful. And more intelligent, really. And not quite so visual. I miss visual comedy.

Gervais: Comedy isn’t just puns and funny faces. There has to be a drama to it, in a sense, there has to be conflict. The most important thing with comedy is empathy. When Ollie looks at the camera, you’re laughing because you know what he’s feeling. When he goes too far, you feel sorry for Stan. You’ve got to care about the characters and you’ve got to even care about the characters you’re not meant to like. Because if you literally don’t care about them, it doesn’t matter. They might as well not be there.

On their cast mates, including Wilson and Coogan who play tiny figurines, and working alone in CGI-heavy scenes

Stiller: Owen Wilson was playing one of the little people, so that wasn’t all that different from acting with Owen. I remember being depressed when you guys weren’t there. It was very exciting to me the days that real actors came in.

In this movie, [Williams] played it really straight ahead. He doesn’t go for the really crazy Robin Williams rants that could have gone that way.

Gervais: And he’s incredibly versatile as well. Some of his best roles are very straight, not even a hint of comedy in them. Some of his best stuff has been very dark, and I think he’s done it brilliantly.

Van Dyke: He has the quickest mind I’ve ever seen.

Gervais: Comedians, the good ones, don’t do things that they don’t like just to get a laugh. The best comedians do what they enjoy and getting a laugh is a bonus.

Stiller: I met Coogan when I got over to England a few years ago. He’s a guy who’s really smart and has a subtle but also broad thing going on, which I think is great. He and Owen are a nice little pair. Like a mini-Starsky and Hutch. I love Owen, he’s one of my best friends; he has such a gung-ho energy.

On improvisation

Gervais: One scene in particular, we just went crazy when we were standing on the diorama. Personally, I thought I was coming out with nonsense. But luckily some of it stayed in. The ad-libs are little bits and pieces to try and put Ben off really. That’s what I do when I get a chance to with great actors, to just try to throw them off their game a little bit so they look bad on-screen and I get the awards.

Stiller: I do like to improvise; it’s fun to not know what’s actually going to come out next in the situation. But I always want to have the scene work on paper, you don’t ever want to be finding it through improvisation, ever. That’s just too desperate. It’s always fun to work with people who you enjoy being with who make you laugh when you’re doing a comedy.

Gervais: I can’t really understand these comedians who don’t crack a joke or laugh at anyone else’s joke. I just think they’re in the wrong job. They don’t enjoy having a laugh. I like it when someone finds a thing funny and they ruin the take. It means it’s funny. Or, you’re on crack. I do this job because I wake up and it’s a joy. I can’t believe how lucky I am. This is entertainment. We’re not saving lives, we’re not defending the nation, we’re not getting shot at. You’ve got to enjoy it and hope that people do too. Anything else would be crazy.

Van Dyke: You’re right about how lucky we are.

Gervais: And to have the longevity that you had, that’s the important thing for me. That’s why I’m quite careful about my projects.

Stiller: I want to thank Ricky for taking time to travel out to L.A. for this round-table discussion.

Gervais: I want to thank Ben for those massages he gave me. I was asleep. He used to sneak into my room and calm me down with a gentle neck rub and I thank him for that.

Stiller [to the interviewer]: You’re not going to use all this, right?

lynn.smith@latimes.com.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Their favorite comedies:

BEN STILLER

“This Is Spinal Tap,” Rob Reiner,

Christopher Guest, Michael McKean

“Sullivan’s Travels,” Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake

“Real Life,” Albert Brooks

“Annie Hall,” Woody Allen, Diane Keaton

“The Philadelphia Story,” Cary Grant,

Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart