The five comedy giants who shaped Steve Carell’s career: “I’m such a fan”
It could be argued that nobody has had a greater impact on comedy in the 21st century than Steve Carell.
His performance as Michael Scott in the American version of The Office (while still not being a patch on David Brent) made him one of the most recognisable faces on TV. His movie appearances in The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Crazy, Stupid, Love are as funny now as they were when they were released many years ago.
It was as a major player in the ‘Judd Apatow years’ of the early 2000s that Carell really started to find fame. First, it was as the idiot reporter Brick Tamland in Anchorman and then with a fantastic performance in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, the comedy he co-wrote with Apatow, that brought in over $100million at the box office and landed him several awards.
Thanks to his success, Carell signed a deal with NBC to star as the lead in their remake of The Office, and his incredible work as the boss from hell was to prove transformational, not just for him but for television comedy around the world. So influential was the show and its mock-documentary format that several others, including Parks and Recreation, were launched off the back of it, and Carell won several Emmys and Golden Globes for his portrayal of Michael Scott.
The Office ran for nine acclaimed seasons, although Carell departed after the seventh, and ended its run being considered as one of the finest comedies in history. He then began to take on some more serious dramatic roles, acting in films including Foxcatcher, Freeheld and The Big Short, a film about the financial collapse of 2008, which was one of the most angst-inducing watches you can possibly imagine.
Comedy is still the mainstay of his career, and the actor has spoken about his comedy influences at length, including the late firebrand stand-up comic George Carlin and Monty Python star John Cleese. However, it’s a somewhat straighter actor that he mentioned to Interview magazine when asked about his humour heroes.
Alan Arkin, who died in 2023, was an Oscar-winning actor and musician and was part of the industry for over 70 years, appearing alongside Carell in the 2006 hit Little Miss Sunshine and again in the Bond-aping spy comedy Get Smart two years later, and a third time for the 2013 comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.
Carell recalled of Arkin, “I’m such a fan. He’s one of those guys. I got cast in Little Miss Sunshine, and I asked who was playing the grandfather, and they said, ‘It looks like it’s Alan Arkin’. In my mind, I have a few comedic idols, and Peter Sellers is one of them, and Alan Arkin, the two of them are at the top of my list.” Arkin worked well into his 80s and found significant award recognition for his performance in Ben Affleck’s tense thriller Argo in 2012 before jumping back into comedy the following year.
He continued naming other greats, noting, “Mel Brooks, Billy Wilder, Steve Martin was a huge influence, I listened to all of his recordings… he just deconstructed comedy in such a beautiful way. [But] to work with someone that was an idol like Arkin, it was a little overwhelming”.
