The only actor Jim Carrey was scared to make fun of: “Will he kick my ass?”
The tradition of reaching a certain amount and a certain type of fame is that you will be parodied on Saturday Night Live. Sometimes, if a person is just too popular, it feels like they have to be made fun of. But comedy legend Jim Carrey was still nervous to go there with one Oscar-winning star.
Carrey’s iconic comedy career includes films such as Dumb and Dumber, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Liar Liar, The Truman Show, and, in more recent years, the surprisingly well-received Sonic the Hedgehog movies. Like many of his contemporaries, Carrey got his start on a sketch comedy show—although while SNL is the common citation for comedic performers in Hollywood, Carrey actually began with In Living Color, and later went on to host SNL.
On SNL, we have seen many hilarious skits of huge celebrities, and how they are received by the subject may vary. For instance, Jennifer Lawrence recently reflected on her “annoying” persona early in her career in an interview with The New Yorker, and remarked that Ariana Grande’s sketch of her was “spot-on”. Namely, Grande did a pretty good impression of Lawrence’s voice and talked about how she’s a “regular” person and enjoys snacks.
Carrey’s portrayals of Matthew McConaughey from a decade ago included “McConaughey” appearing as a surprise contestant on SNL’s Jeopardy! spoof and a series of mock ads for Lincoln cars, drawing inspiration from the ones featuring the real act. Both SNL pieces were characterised by Carrey staring off into space with his voice over asking some trite philosophical questions, nodding to McConaughey’s perceived moody demeanour with some random twists and turns. These sketches were around the time that McConaughey won his Oscar for starring in Dallas Buyers Club, making him more famous than ever.
In an interview with Howard Stern, Jim Carrey posited, “Will he kick my ass? There’s always that thought in the back of your mind,” talking about his McConaughey impression.
It’s not obvious why Carrey would crack a joke about being afraid of this particular actor when McConaughey doesn’t have an overtly “tough guy” persona. His often relaxed attitude, combined with his acting prowess, could make him seem like a complete mystery, and Carrey fretted because he honestly had no idea at all as to how McConaughey would react. As of 2015, McConaughey said he had never seen Carrey’s spoof of his Lincoln ads (in an interview with Vanity Fair), though the Interstellar actor complimented his co-star Matt Damon’s impression of him in a different SNL sketch.
He also responded seemingly positively to Ellen DeGeneres’s take on one of the Lincoln commercials on her own show, again commenting on how ridiculous they came across. Unfortunately (or not), the Lincoln ads were unintentionally hilarious, with McCounaughey making vague statements like they are profound and doing apparently nothing while rubbing his fingers together. But Lincoln sales did jump in 2014, proving what star power can do when combined with something memorable if not sensical.
McConaughey took the mockery in stride, both concerning the ads and with other comedy sketches. At least he is a star with such a mythos that an actor who has also impersonated Clint Eastwood, Elvis Presley, and Joe Biden will wonder if the response to this one just might be different.
