A 'Meet'-ing of Minds

Box office champ Meet the Parents was created by A-list comedy all-stars: actor Ben Stiller, Austin Powers director Jay Roach, and, of course, Emo Philips. Emo Philips? Yes, the squeaky-voiced, longhaired '80s comic receives a surprise credit as an associate producer. The reason? Philips appeared in and executive-produced an obscure 1992 indie flick called... Meet the Parents. Universal bought the concept from Philips and director-star Greg Glienna, then rewrote it for Stiller and Robert De Niro. ''It's kind of an honorary credit,'' admits Philips, whose character — a video-store clerk — didn't make it into the new version. ''It's like when the white people name a street after the Indians.''