Seriously funny Mr Stiller

For a comedian, having your work banned is a badge of honour. Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Monty Python - they were all gagged at some point or other. They can welcome to their ranks one Ben Stiller, whose last film, Zoolander, was recently given the official heave-ho by the governments of Malaysia and Singapore.

Admittedly, slapstick no-brainers about male models do not usually court controversy. But in Zoolander the film's hero, played and directed by Stiller, gets embroiled in a plot to assassinate the Malaysian premier. The film was deemed (in the words of the Malaysian home affairs ministry) 'unsuitable' for public consumption. MO<'I wasn't planning on travelling there any time soon,' says Stiller. 'I can't see what's offensive to them. It's a silly comedy and the Prime Minister of Malaysia is portrayed as a good guy. But I guess, you know, if I had it to do all over again...'

The comedy of Ben Stiller does not normally offend - not in a political sense - though some would argue his propensity for puerility is an affront to good taste. Remember the 'hair gel' scene in There's Something About Mary? In his last big hit, Meet The Parents, comic laughs were milked from the fact that his character was named Greg Focker. In the era of 'gross out' comedy, Stiller is the anointed clown prince - the '45th funniest man of all time' according to Entertainment Weekly magazine. Things could be worse.

'Every once in a while I'm mistaken for Adam Sandler,' he confesses. But then that's probably what you get for mangling your scrotum in your flies (as he does in There's Something About Mary). It's all a little unfair. Stiller's new-found status contradicts the fact that he has spent most of the past decade honing his skills as an astute comic actor/director, even straight man. There was Permanent Midnight, his serious take on drug addiction, and his directorial debut, Reality Bites, an angstful social comedy. More recently came Keeping The Faith, with Stiller as a sensitive rabbi. Even his one-off turn in Friends, as Rachel's shouty boyfriend, seemed underpinned by a dark menace that made his co-stars seem rather fluffy (which usually happens when someone half-decent guests).

This week sees another grown-up performance in the bittersweet comedy The Royal Tenenbaums. From Wes Anderson, the man who made Rushmore, it features Stiller as one of a brood of tortured child geniuses grown middle-youthed and bitter. 'He has issues with his father that are unresolved. He's dealing with the loss of his wife,' Stiller explains. 'It was an interesting part to play. Different to anything I'd done. Very different to Zoolander.' And, if he thought acting with Robert De Niro in Meet The Parents was tough, it proved less of an exercise in intimidation than appearing opposite the legendarily gruff Gene Hackman.

'He's an imposing presence,' says Stiller. 'I tried not to gush too much. I tried to go the whole movie without mentioning The Poseidon Adventure - but I had to, because as a kid it was my favourite film. I immediately regretted it after I said it.'

Like most mirthmeisters, in person Stiller is softly spoken and rather po-faced. He dresses all in black. Today, in sunny Beverly Hills, is no exception - a funereal clown whose tears seem primed to flow. His sensibilities should be applauded. Zoolander, released in the US last September, became the first film in which the World Trade Center towers were digitally excised. Critics railed against Stiller for rendering the building some kind of 'phantom limb', but Stiller, a native New Yorker, stuck to his guns. It was inappropriate, he claimed, to have such a tragic reminder looming from this piece of escapism.

Perhaps levity will come with the fact that in another poll, People magazine this time, Stiller was also voted the World's Sexiest Funnyman - Pierce Brosnan winning the straight category. Though why an aesthetic apartheid applies is rather odd. Don't women always claim to like a man who can make them laugh?

Apparently so. Stiller has been out with funny girl Janeane Garofalo, had a five-year relationship with pouting Jeanne Tripplehorn, then got married a couple of years ago to the gorgeous Christine Taylor - Marcia from the Brady Bunch movies. Their first child is due imminently. 'I'm looking forward to it,' Stiller gushes. 'A little intimidated, but yeah, excited.'

Stiller, 37 this year, has actually spent a lifetime in the business. His parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara are stalwart American TV comics. Jerry is best known as Frank Costanza, father of George, in the hit comedy Seinfeld. Ben and sister Amy (also in the biz) seemed destined to follow. 'In a way it was something I never really thought about, it just kind of happened,' says Stiller. 'My parents weren't discouraging of it at all, but they weren't kind of pushing us into it - they just let us find our way.'