In 1987 Stern and Winter drove to Hollywood and sent a copy of
Squeal of Death to
Sam Raimi, whose film
Evil Dead 2 was an inspiration to them. Raimi responded enthusiastically. He and his partner
Rob Tapert optioned an anthology comedy feature film script from Stern and Winter. The pair then worked on a number of short films and music videos for bands such as
Red Hot Chili Peppers and
Ice Cube. Stern and Winter teamed up with writer Tim Burns on
The Idiot Box, with Stern and Winter also co-starring and co-directing. Immediately following
The Idiot Box, Stern, Winter and Burns co-wrote the 1993 film
Freaked with Stern and Winter also serving as co-directors. Freaked starred Winter,
Randy Quaid,
Keanu Reeves,
Bobcat Goldthwait and
Mr. T. Stern also co-wrote the screenplay to
An American Werewolf in Paris, the sequel to the 1981 film
An American Werewolf in London, with Burns and Anthony Waller. Stern and Burns also collaborated on
The Chimp Channel. Stern has worked with
Jimmy Kimmel's production company
Jackhole Productions on shows such as
Jimmy Kimmel Live!,
The Man Show as segment director, and
Crank Yankers as director and
supervising producer. In addition, Stern appeared as an actor and worked as a writer for
Trey Parker and
Matt Stone's presidential parody, ''
That's My Bush!, as co-executive producer, served as director and writer for The Andy Milonakis Show, and was one of the creators and producers of the Comedy Central travel show parody Gerhard Reinke's Wanderlust''. Stern was recently writer/director/producer on a live action
SpongeBob SquarePants special titled ''SpongeBob Appreciation Day: Patchy's Beach Bash!
, starring Tom Kenny, Jon Heder, Rob Riggle, Meghan Trainor and Anthony Davis which premiered on Nickelodeon on January 4, 2020. Stern was also recently showrunner/director on two Netflix shows: Kevin Hart's Guide to Black History
and The Toys That Made Us. His short film Adams'', which he produced, directed and adapted from the George Saunders story, stars
Patton Oswalt and
Fred Armisen, and recently won Best Comedy at the HollyShorts Film Festival, where the jury included Anthony Russo and Matthew Modine. Other recent shows directed by Stern include
Comedy Central's rebooted
Crank Yankers,
Fox's
What Just Happened with
Fred Savage, and
Disney+'s
Earth to Ned. ==
Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt==