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Whoa. Jim Carrey, you guys. Who knew? Just kidding. Before he dated Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey got his start in sketch comedy, so it makes sense that when he hosts Saturday Night Live he leaves it all on the mat. Very intense! On the one hand, this makes for some pretty decent late night comedy television. It always helps for the writers to have someone they can actually write for. This guy DOESN’T know what I’m talking about. Half of the sketches on the show were the weird, experimental, and most importantly, funny type of late-in-show sketches they usually reserve for the last 10 minutes when most viewers have gone to sleep. That is a lot of percent to dedicate to off-beat experiments, but they could get away with it because Jim Carrey was willing to carry the whole thing on his shoulders. But OK, so, can we talk about those shoulders? And how spastic and for-real insane and cringingly needy they are? And can we talk about how those shoulders, along with the body and face that they were connected to, made us deeply uncomfortable as they embodied a “performer’s” raw NEED FOR ATTENTION at any cost. Yikes. There were a couple of times where you could tell that Jim Carrey was getting tired of having to just say his lines like a human being and so he would shout them in that rapid-fire staccato nightmare blast of his that is sometimes very funny and effective and sometimes, as in these random outbursts when it was not appropriate, is a horrifying glimpse into the damp, empty, sucking blackhole of his heart. Taking it all in. Never satisfied. So hungry. Then he would pelvic thrust the air and fall on the ground, his face locked out in a rictus of despair.
Also, the Black Keys performed.
So, at the top of the show, and therefore at the top of this post, there was the Black Swan parody. I am not sure how funny it is, to be honest, but it certainly set the tone for the evening and reminded everyone what Jim Carrey is like when you get him revved up. Dude spins and spins, right off the edge of the table.
When it comes to Jim Carrey’s gift for physical comedy, I personally preferred the amusement park ride sketch. I bet these guys were a lot of fun at bar mitzvah parties after all the relatives had been invited up to light candles on the cake and it was time to do the robot on the dancefloor.
There was some kind of sportsketball event on television Saturday night that ran long and pushed back all the other programming, so my DVR of SNL actually didn’t tape the last 15 minutes (fascinating story, I hope I get a book deal for this story) but I am assuming this “Taste of New York” sketch is what I missed out on (along with the second performance of the Black KEys. Seriously, if there are any editors reading this, I’d love to discuss how to turn this riveting personal experience into a collection of stupid essays). It’s another Fred Armisen musical showcase, kind of like the punk rock wedding party sketch from last year. And good for us. Because Fred Armisen musical showcases are great.
There was one sketch above all the others, though, that I think expresses the aforementioned dichotomy between the pleasure and pain of watching Jim Carrey really BRING IT, and that is the psychic medium sketch. It’s a very funny idea, and Jim Carrey does a great job performing it, and yet underneath all of that hard work there is the squirmy sadness of a human being’s perpetually unfulfilled need/desire/hunger for human warmth and affection. This is not specific to Jim Carrey, it’s more of a general showbiz thing, and probably a comedy thing in particular, but it’s certainly very evident in the work of Jim Carrey, and in particular in this weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live and in particular particular this sketch.
It is almost 100% certain that I am reading way too much into this.
Also, the Black Keys performed.
Next week: Gwyneth Paltrow and Cee-Lo. Kind of can’t wait, to be honest.
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You know, I skipped SNL this week because I find Jim Carrey so very very very very grating. After watching 1:54 of the first video, I am more pleased than ever with my choice.
Part of me wishes they did other animals in the “A-flock-olypse” bit on Weekend Update (A-crab-colypse?). I more upset none of us found the pun before.
Oh…uh yea…me too. Can’t wait for Gwyneth to be oh so awesome next week.
Wait, you’re telling me a Hollywood actor and former Superstar is craves inhuman levels of attention???
I DON’T BELIEVE IT!
P.S. – very good episode of SNL
To be honest, the Black Swan sketch didn’t really have much to do with Black Swan.
Also, I didn’t really care because I was enjoying myself so much.
I am so mesmerized by the veins in his neck. Can’t stop watching, Swan will eat me
I think I’m going to be late to school because of this gif
This gif alone makes the entire episode worth it. UPVOTES FOREVER
If I ever mad a comment like “Once you go black swan, you never go back swan” on here, I’d be downvoted into next week.
Gd it. In case anyone has been trying to interpret my comment for the past ten minutes, I meant “made”, not “mad”.
No problem butterpranks, our collective Jim Carrey excitement is making us bad grammar all over the pace this morning.
I also just wanted to say I loved the Black Keys. About time SNL has a musical guest that I can honestly say I truly love.
I’d hate to be the F5 button on Gwyneth’s keyboard next Monday morning.
i can’t believe i’m saying this but they should just hire jim carrey, i think. he was really good! and what else is he doing, anyway?
I also like Carrey, and am kind of confused by how many people dislike him so intensely.
I understand that he comes across as desperate, but I think a lot of that perception comes from just knowing his back-story. Otherwise I think people would just see him as a really energetic mofo.
I was kind of surprised that Jim Carrey seemed to be there to promote “I Love You Phillip Morris”, yet he never actually mentioned the movie (and it’s probably the best movie he’s made).
Also, I loved this sketch that Gabe forgot to mention:
The obvious ending to this sketch is for satellite footage to zoom in and show him killing his wife in the woods. Instead the ending of the sketch fell flat. He was just a quivering wretch like the previous 2 people in the skit. Bummer. I can be SNL punch-up employee?
RIGHT?! should have gone dark. i bet that was the original ending and they cut it because of that.
I hated this episode so bad I turned it off after the weekend update. Christ not one laugh the whole time. None of this shit was funny and the pubic hair transplant bit was a repeat. They have no material and they are lazy and unfunny. GOOP will fare no better next week I predict
Wow, people downvoting the truth. I made it through the first 3 sketches and then just FF’d to the Black Keys
I particularly didn’t understand why the “hidden camera” sketch was supposed to be funny. So the first guy says he told off his boss or whatever, and a hidden camera shows he was a groveling idiot. Then someone says they told off their spouse, and a hidden camera shows they were also groveling. Then – guess what? another person says they told somebody off, and…you’ll never believe this…a hidden camera shows they didn’t.
Thank god they still have good music guests, and I have a DVR
you nailed it. that was so fucking weak. I hate this program
Almost as good as your cotton gin; almost.
I thought it was a good episode. It was nice to see an SNL host who was willing to just jump in.
Having said that, I was really pumped to see a Jim Carrey Digital Short, and there was nothing. If anyone could do something insane with Lonely Island, I thought it would be him.
GIF request: Jason Sudeikis’s freakout at about 3:33 of the psychic medium sketch.
I’m so happy to see this gif on here. I DIED when Sudeikis did that, and immediately thought “THAT BETTER BE A GIF ON MONDAY.”
Is it 2011′s Spider-man Pie? Stay tuned…
Yes! Thank you!
It’s like watching a star explode:
“What am I witnessing! Oh, I might be killed at the end of this! That’s how this ends!“
Nobody does a Thicke!
Look at her. She’s hungry…hungry for breadcrumbs.
WOW! Jim Carrey on SNL, in living color!
Oh, and I would like ot make a gif request, if I may- anything with the animatronic amusement park guys. LOVED it the second time they popped up and the guy with the tambourine visibly slowed down for a spell, like his gears got stuck as he did his hands in and out move, then sped up and popped up and down a couple times. SO goddamn fun to watch.
Kind of a weird week to have Jim Carrey on, what with the recent revelations about Carrey’s buddy, Dr. Andrew Wakefield. Wakefield is the British doctor who has been scaring people into believing in a completely unsubstantiated link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Though his research been discredited for years, Wakefield was recently discovered to be a humungous “liar liar”:
http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.c5347.full
Jim Carrey was (is?) his most high-profile advocate, of course:
http://www.ageofautism.com/2010/02/a-statement-from-jenny-mccarthy-jim-carrey-andrew-wakefield-scientific-censorship-and-fourteen-monke.html
Yuk.
I love Jim Carrey but I missed the episode, what exactly was he promoting? I looked at his Wikipedi & it doesn’t seem like he has anything coming up.
I Love You Phillip Morris is finally being released in theaters.
Even then, he wasn’t really promoting that. He didn’t mention it once.
When I saw Conan’s live show this summer, Jim Carrey showed up wearing nothing but a fruit basket over his junk. If that isn’t someone with a compulsive need for attention, I don’t know what is.
Also, all these sketches were great. Thank you, Jim Carrey’s compulsive need for attention.
Once again, nowhere NEAR enough Paul Brittain. Come on!
Not enough Bill Hader.
So am I the only one who really enjoyed the “Worst of Soul Train” sketch? Carrey’s commitment to the “I just need one titty!” guy was awe-inspiring.
Jim Carrey’s song was really funny, I thought Ocean Billy was funny, and the one with Keenan and his family of 26 sharing one bathroom. The funniest of all though was the one with the robots.
Does a robot
drink champagne?
Yes a robot
drinks champagne!
The rest of the skit, not so funny. So like half.
Also, I have a terrible feeling that Gwyneth Paltrow will be bad next week. I really hope I’m wrong.
Man, I thought you were going to write a glowing review of the show. Sure, SNL is stale due to their restrictive writing requirements, but this episode was fucking great. I have never laughed out loud so many times during a show as I did with this one. I think everyone is way too excited to jump on the “I hate SNL” bandwagon and too judgmental to even enjoy some great sketches. There was the ever-present problem of ending the sketches strangely, but it’s due to the demographic they’re shooting for. There wasn’t one sketch where I thought it was a waste of time.
And yeah, Jim Carrey is Jim Carrey. He does Jim Carrey best, his sense of humor has always balanced on seeming desperate. I, personally, respect him a lot for continuing to do what he thinks is funny, and let’s face it, the only reason so many people have a problem with him is the same reason why people turn against other successful comedians like Eddie Murphy (Dr Dolittle aside), Robin Williams, and Will Ferrell – you get used to their humor. It’s too formulaic. Complaining about Jim Carrey acting like himself is ridiculous. Given, he definitely could have said lines like the straight man without injecting so much of his absurdity into it. But then again, don’t you think that’s probably how he talks in real life?
Most importantly, he sold every single scene he was in. If effort is what you’re looking for in a guest, this guy nailed it. And frankly, he didn’t even have to care. His career may not be heading anywhere, but that guy is sitting on millions.