Emily Zemler
View all posts by Emily Zemler November 9, 2026 Add us as a Google Preferred Source
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Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, and Ariana Grande on 'The Tonight Show' Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images Ariana Grande, Ben Stiller, and Robert De Niro appeared on The Tonight Show to discuss collaborating on the upcoming comedy film Focker In-Law. The trio talked about making the sequel and took the opportunity to participate in a few skits and games.
“It was very surreal,” Grande said of joining the film franchise, adding that she had first met Stiller when he directed her in an orgy scene in Zoolander 2. “So right off the bat we had a comfortability,” she quipped.
Grande described her first scene with Stiller in Focker In-Law, which involved her giving him the Heimlich. She explained she expected to get to know each other first, but the actors were thrown straight into rehearsal. “We met the stunts team and they were amazing and they were like, ‘Alright Ben, bend over. Ariana you’ll get behind and just put your arms around him,'” Grande recalled. “My mom was like, ‘How was your first day honey?’ I was like, ‘Well, I gave Ben Stiller the Heimlich for a few hours.’ It was crazy.”
Ahead of their interview, De Niro, Stiller, and Grande interrupted Fallon’s monologue to sing a rendition of “O Christmas Tree.”
The actors later joined Fallon for a game of “True Confessions,” which saw Grande convincing the group that she fell into a tank at the Boca Aquarium when she was four.
