The 1964 movie scene Jim Carrey called the funniest of all time: “I had so much fun with that”
Has Jim Carrey ever been involved in a movie scene that deserves to be ranked among the funniest ever committed to the silver screen? As always, that depends on how you feel about his schtick.
For some audiences, watching a grown man spread his arse cheeks to use them as the conduit for a conversation won’t raise a smile, while others thought it was one of the most hilarious things they’d ever seen, which nicely set the template for a movie career that didn’t always appeal to everyone.
The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, Liar Liar, and Bruce Almighty all feature moments that helped cement Carrey as one of the most bankable stars of his generation, which doesn’t mean that every single viewer will be left doubled over at seeing him beat the shit out of himself in a bathroom, infiltrate a psychiatric institution, or make the most annoying sound in the world.
Comedy, like every other art form, is subjective, and arguably more subjective than the rest. However, Carrey is far from alone in celebrating one master of physical comedy as the best to ever do it, with one of their scenes having stuck with him since he was a child as the standout example of their inimitable gifts.
Ask an actor who made their bed in the comedy genre who their biggest influences are, and Peter Sellers will come up more often than not, and with good reason. A famously difficult presence behind the scenes, he was a mercurial talent in front of the camera, ticking almost every box associated with the ‘tortured genius’ cliché, and leaving behind a cavalcade of characters who inspired a generation.
Carrey was just one of many, with Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Steve Carell, Rowan Atkinson, and Steve Martin just a few of the others, and it’s been that way for as long as he can remember. “Peter Sellers, my gosh,” the Eternal Sunshine leading man reflected. “Literally, my whole childhood, anybody who came to my house was entertained first by a ten-year-old child throwing himself down a long flight of stairs.”
In fact, it was basically his comedic awakening. “That’s how it began,” he noted. “And it just deteriorated from there.” As for the solitary scene that left the biggest impression on a guy who started off doing impressions before realising that physicality carried more longevity, he found it in Sellers’ second outing as Inspector Clouseau.
“I really love the moment in A Shot in the Dark where he scrapes the pool table,” the two-time Golden Globe winner reminisced, quoting the “I think I have grazed your billiard table” line, where Sellers’ bumbling detective gallantly attempts to question a murder suspect while making it patently clear that he’s ill-suited to both of the tasks at hand.
There are any number of scenes from the Sellers back catalogue that are worthy of consideration, but as far as Carrey can see, his 1964 masterclass in combining sight gags with slapstick will always be the one to beat.
