This is a hilarious mashup, but it’ll only make sense if you’ve seen this.

[via Daring Fireball.]

It is a truth not quite universally acknowledged that Ben Stiller is a lazy hack whose schtick ceased being amusing long ago. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a fan. But he’s had his funny moments in the past. Take the clip below, a compilation of footage from Stiller’s appearance in the penultimate episode of Freaks and Geeks. The clip opens with a minute or so of footage that actually aired, then segues into a seven-minute uncut take from the filming of the scene. I pulled the raw footage off of one of the two extra DVDs included with the special eight-disc F&G fan edition. (The collection sold in stores only has six discs.)

In the episode, Stiller guest-stars as a disgruntled Secret Service agent assigned to Vice President George H.W. Bush, who has traveled to McKinley High for an appearance. Stiller’s character becomes suspicious of the school’s longhaired guidance counselor, Mr. Rosso, and escorts him down the hall to Rosso’s office.

Stiller’s riffing in the raw footage is very funny; it’s interesting to watch him try out different approaches to various lines, and to see him react to the coaching from the episode’s director, Jake Kasdan. There’s also a good George W. Bush reference, made more hilarious by the fact that the scene was filmed in early 2000, when Bush’s blundering numbskullery hadn’t yet affected the world.

Thanks to something Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes created, the October issue of Vanity Fair has gotten a little bit of attention. The issue also contains something I created: a fake cover flap you can cut out and attach to a newsstand copy of The Weekly Standard. It’s on page 272, in the Vanities section. More details are here.

…but what if we change a few letters and add the empty noggin of a dangerous but determined man?

(In January, I posted a great Absolut riff by my pal Rob Harrell.)