Ariana Grande's Focker welcome came with hours of the Heimlich

Beside Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro, Grande explains the stunt rehearsal behind Focker In-Law's chaotic dinner scene, and how she first met Stiller.

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The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Story of November 10, 2026Trari Newsroom

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Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller and Ariana Grande Talk Focker In-Law and Intense Heimlich Maneuver Scene

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0:23Fallon shows a 2015 photo of Grande meeting De Niro backstage at the show.
0:53Stiller recalls being intimidated by De Niro and cracking up in their first scene.
3:51Grande tells how she first met Stiller, filming a cameo in Zoolander 2.
4:20Grande describes rehearsing an intense Heimlich maneuver on Stiller with the stunt team.
5:14The cast discusses Stiller singing "All of Me" to De Niro and booping his nose.
8:08A film clip shows a dinner argument that ends in Greg choking.

"I gave Ben Stiller the Heimlich for a few hours," Ariana Grande tells Jimmy Fallon. That was her first day of rehearsal on Focker In-Law: practicing, with the stunt team, a rescue that looks anything but gentle on screen.

The trio's Tonight Show visit already produced the musical monologue interruption we reported here, and a soap-opera sketch built around slow claps. This interview is the one about the movie itself, and it drew nearly a million views since yesterday.

Grande plays Olivia, the new girlfriend of Greg Focker's son Henry, and Stiller's Greg is not sure she is right for him. Anyone who remembers Greg squirming under Jack Byrnes' scrutiny in Meet the Parents will enjoy the reversal: the nervous boyfriend has become the suspicious father.

Fallon brings out a framed photo of Grande meeting De Niro backstage at the show in 2015. Her introduction to Stiller was less formal. "He was directing me in an orgy scene in Zoolander 2 with a hippo and Susan Sarandon," she says of her cameo in his film.

Stiller remembers being intimidated when he was first cast opposite De Niro, then cracking up in their very first scene together. Fallon admits he once broke character the same way in a Saturday Night Live sketch with De Niro. The new film offers another test of composure: Greg sings John Legend's "All of Me" to Jack and boops his nose. "As you know, I'm a professional singer," Stiller says.

The comments arrived about nine times faster than on the show's usual first day, much of the talk about Grande's short bob and black suit, and about seeing these three in one film at all. The segment closes with a dinner-table clip in which an argument turns into Greg choking, giving Grande's rehearsal story its payoff. Focker In-Law opens in theaters November 25.

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What viewers say

Seeing Ariana Grande, Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro in the same film was not on my 2026 Bingo card.
@Disney65FanSee it on YouTube
This trio is giving me Only Murders In The Building cast vibes
@roycemusicalSee it on YouTube
Yay we haven’t seen Ari for a bit, she looks so cute and happyyy
@AlfonzoFrohicky_See it on YouTube

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