Ben Stiller Didn't Think There's Something About Mary Hair Gel Scene Was Believable

Comedian reveals he initially thought the over the top joke about his character's semen lacked plausibility

There's Something About Mary was Ben Stiller's first truly big Hollywood hit.

And much of the credit for that movie's success goes not only to the funnyman's zany performance, but also to some hysterical gags hatched by sibling directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly, the most famous of which is the hair gel scene.

Of course, as we all know by this point, Stiller's character has sperm dangling from his ear before his big date with Cameron Diaz, who mistakes it for hair gel, and ends up going out sporting a pretty funky 'do!

But now 15 years since Mary's release, the 47-year-old comic actor admits he didn't think audiences would even buy the unlikely scenario.

"My big thing with that scene was that I argued with the Farrelly brothers all during the shot, asking how he could not feel it on his ear? I was lobbying them to have a back story that the character had somehow, like, lost sensitivity in his ear, like he had gotten hit as a kid or something," Stiller tells the New York Times in an interview to promote his latest directorial effort, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

As it turned out however, the Tropic Thunder star ended up going along with the joke anyway after some reassurance from the Farrellys.

"They finally told me it doesn't matter, and I should quit thinking about it," he said.

Thankfully, the gut-busting moment made the cut and moviegoers fell in love with Mary, powering it to more than $369 million worldwide, and the rest is cinema history.

Stiller has since gone on to forge a stellar big-screen career starring in such comedies as Meet the Parents, Keeping the Faith, Zoolander, Dodgeball, and The Night at the Museum series among others.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, his highly anticipated adaptation of James Thurber's classic comedy-fantasy novel, which hits theaters on Dec. 25.