The Real Reason Jim Carrey Will No Longer Play Joe Biden On SNL
Joe Biden is the President-Elect of the United States of America. In the weeks leading up to the recent presidential election, the media was pretty saturated with every facet of the horse race. As a result, there were plenty of ways to get the gist of what was going down between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
One of the most popular ways to keep abreast of all things political was not the news, but a show now famous for making fun of the news, NBC's long-running variety series Saturday Night Live. In the episodes preceding the election, the man tasked with donning the now-famous mirrored aviator sunglasses and feigning cognitive decline was none other than funnyman-turned-political painter Jim Carrey.
Carrey is no stranger to SNL. While most people associate Carrey's talent for sketch comedy with In Living Color, he actually tried out for SNL on two separate occasions. Since then he's hosted the show three times, but it wasn't until October 3, 2020 that Carrey discovered his truest SNL calling to impersonate a future president. Now, after six episodes in a row playing the forthcoming 46th President of the Unites States, Carrey is officially calling it quits (via CNN). Seems odd to abandon the role now that we know for certain Biden's folksy style will be a fixture of the American experience for at least the next four years, so let's talk about why Ace Ventura's throwing in the towel.
It makes sense for Jim Carrey to move on from Biden
It was Jim Carrey himself who took to Twitter to deliver the news that his Biden impersonating days were over. "Though my term was only meant to be 6 weeks, I was thrilled to be elected as your SNL President...comedy's highest call of duty," wrote Carrey. "I would love to go forward knowing that Biden was the victor because I nailed that $#@! But I am just one in a long line of proud, fighting SNL Bidens!"
It's not a huge surprise that Carrey is departing. He isn't an SNL regular. Carrey has always found far more success as a movie actor. In fact, recently, Carrey found enormous success in a surprising place — the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, in which he played the villainous Dr. Robotnik. It's quite an achievement starring in a video game movie people actually liked! With that in mind, it doesn't really make sense for him to spend much more time playing Biden on SNL.
Carrey is also right about the "long line of Bidens." Both Jason Sudeikis and Woody Harrelson played Biden before Carrey did. It stands to reason that either actor could return, or that someone entirely new could take over. After all, multiple SNL actors have played political candidates before. Hillary Clinton, for example has been played by: Jan Hooks, Janeane Garofalo, Ana Gasteyer, Amy Poehler, Drew Barrymore, Rachel Dratch, Vanessa Bayer, Miley Cyrus, and Kate McKinnon — and she never even got elected president!
Carrey's time as Joe Biden will certainly never be forgotten — he's the man who played Biden at the moment of his greatest political victory — but a new SNL Biden was always inevitable, and now he's surely on his way.