Ben Stiller does not open his soda commercial in a tasting room or a neon product cave. He opens it in Katz’s Delicatessen already dressed as Munkustrap – full Broadway Cats fur, ears, tail, glasses – because he thinks he is there for a musical, not a Shirley Temple. Stiller’s Soda’s Katz’s film, directed by and co-starring Nicolas Heller (New York Nico), is a three-minute deadpan mix-up that treats New York absurdity as the media plan.
WHAT HAPPENS ON SCREEN
The ~2:59 cut sits mostly at a Katz’s Formica table under the “Send a Salami to Your Boy in the Service” neon. Heller, in cap and short sleeves, interviews Stiller as if this were another New York Nico sit-down. Stiller never breaks the costume bit: he is here for Cats, not carbonation, and the deli must somehow absorb a Broadway cat talking soda. The humor is commitment, not punchline stacking – patrons keep eating; the camera keeps the fluorescent grit; Stiller keeps the whiskers on.
Product arrives without a hard-cut demo reel. Stiller’s Shirley Temple cans enter the conversation as the reason the interview exists: Katz’s is adding the flavor to its menu – trade coverage (Reel 360, shots, Lürzer’s Archive) frames it as the deli’s first new soda in decades. End-card energy on the official Stiller’s Soda YouTube upload is simple: the cat is out of the bag; the soda is at Katz’s.
YouTube publishes the film as “Stiller’s Soda | Katz’s Deli with New York Nico!” on the official Stiller’s Soda channel (@stillerssoda), video ID XrTuYsldHdk, uploaded September 22, 2026. Runtime on the file is ~179 seconds. That is digital comedy length, not a :30 network unit – and that is the point of reviewing it here.
CREDITS
Brand: Stiller’s Soda (co-founded by Ben Stiller and food-and-beverage entrepreneur Alex Doman, per Reel 360). Partner / location: Katz’s Delicatessen (Lower East Side). Campaign film: Katz’s Deli / Shirley Temple menu launch. Format: ~2:59 digital comedy film on official Stiller’s Soda YouTube. Agency: Stiller’s Soda in-house (per Lürzer’s Archive). Director / on-camera interviewer: Nicolas Heller (New York Nico). Production company: m ss ng p eces. Costume: Sarah Edwards (Severance) helped source the Munkustrap look, including Broadway-connected wig pieces, per Reel 360 / shots. Talent: Ben Stiller (as himself-in-costume); Heller opposite him. Lineup context from brand/trade notes: Shirley Cola, Root Beer, Lemon Lime, Shirley Temple; cans cited at 30 calories / 7g sugar. Cinematography and other craft roles beyond those named sources are left unknown rather than invented.
THE EXECUTION
Celebrity beverage brands usually pick one of two lanes: lifestyle soft-focus or Super Bowl shout. Stiller and Heller pick a third – documentary sit-down energy with a costume that refuses to be a cameo. The Katz’s / Cats pun is almost too on-the-nose; the craft save is that nobody winks at the camera to explain it. Edwards’s costume work matters: if the fur looks rented-Halloween, the bit dies in ten seconds. It does not. The deli stays Katz’s – tiles, neon, mail-order salami map – so the brand borrows institutional New York credibility instead of building a soda-fantasy set.
Heller’s own Katz’s history (his earlier “Twins” spot for the deli won a New York Emmy, per Reel 360) is useful context without becoming the plot. He knows how to shoot the room so it feels inhabited. Stiller’s deadpan does the rest: the joke is not “movie star wears cat suit,” it is “movie star will not leave the cat suit while discussing Shirley Temple.” Against a crowded functional-soda shelf, the positioning in trade copy is almost stubborn – taste like soda, not another gut-health lecture. The film sells that stubbornness as personality.
WHY IT WORKS AND WHERE IT FAILS
It works because the cultural hinge is local and legible. Katz’s is not a rented loft with a pastrami prop; it is a real menu decision wrapped in a real New York bit. Official-channel publishing on @stillerssoda clears the DailyCommercials bar that Chase’s Scream spoof still fails (fan archives only) and that Telstra’s Scamageddon sequel still fails (press today, Vimeo hero, no new brand YouTube cut). Casting Edwards for the costume is the kind of craft detail celebrity ads usually skip.
It softens wherever vanity and commerce blur. This is still a founder starring in his own soda launch – charming until you ask whether the film teaches anything about the drink beyond the can color and the Katz’s halo. At nearly three minutes, YouTube patience is the media plan; there is no compressed :15 that keeps the Munkustrap thesis. Viewers who want product proof get atmosphere and a menu announcement. Viewers who want comedy get a strong bit that could live as a Heller short even if the soda vanished tomorrow.
For this midday slot, Stiller’s Soda is the worthy second file after this morning’s Credit Karma “Bumpin’.” Fresher than Staples’ Hard Button (Sept 15 official :30s), cleaner than Wendy’s emo music videos, and actually on brand YouTube – which is more than half the week’s loudest trade stories can say.
WATCH IT HERE
DailyCommercials Score: 7.5/10. A Katz’s / Cats costume sit-down that turns founder vanity into New York deadpan – sharp on commitment and place, light on what the soda actually tastes like.
Would you order a Shirley Temple with your pastrami because Ben Stiller showed up in fur – or is the costume doing all the work? Tell us in the comments.
