The comedic duo that is the more reserved Jeff Daniels and the wild man Jim Carrey is one of those teams that history will never forget. As their partnership in 1994’s Dumb and Dumber created a team destined for dim-witted greatness, the interviews connected to their pairing are just as iconic. Nowhere is that more readily apparent than a viral clip of the two actors talking up their experience, which has been re-released during the writer’s strike.
As the 2023 WGA writer’s strike timeline continues to unfold, keeping shows like The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon off the air, social media has seen the series keeping itself busy by dropping “Fallon Flashbacks.” One of the most recent instances, shown below, comes from when Daniels and Carrey were promoting 2014’s Dumb and Dumber To, and it’s easy to see why it’s such a winner:
Jim Carrey & Jeff Daniels reminisce on auditioning for Dumb and Dumber. #FallonFlashback pic.twitter.com/YE3Z7H7LulMay 30, 2023
What you see before you is, yet again, evidence of why Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey are such a memorable team in the history of comedy. Lloyd and Harry’s antics wouldn’t have been half as memorable without either of their comedic energies, which is crazy when you consider that New Line Cinema didn’t want Jeff Daniels for his Dumb and Dumber role in the first place.
If only the powers-that-be had let Daniels do his magic shake of dumbness before saying such a thing, he may have convinced them a lot earlier. Though speaking of feelings, that Tonight Show clip is also enough to make us sad all over again about the fact that Jim Carrey announced his retirement from acting.
With that news dropping roughly around the time of Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s release, it’s still not enough time to prepare ourselves to no longer see Carrey’s shenanigans freshly playing out on the big or small screen. It’s hard not to feel that way when watching him pull his usual faces of extreme emotions, especially with Jeff Daniels playing along right beside him.
With the WGA writer’s strike still raging, who knows what the next viral hit will be from The Tonight Show, or any other late night series trying to keep busy in the meantime. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that we’ll get to see old favorites like Daniels and Carrey cutting it up yet again. It may be reruns, but when the results are as hysterical as what’s seen above, it’s comfort in a conflicting time.
If you haven’t seen Dumb and Dumber To, that’s ok. You can correct that, should you choose to, provided you have an Max subscription. That investment pays off twice as nicely if you’re a Jeff Daniels fan, as his less goofy, but still engrossing series The Newsroom is an HBO original that, at the time of this writing, is still streaming in its native digital home.
