It hasn’t been the smoothest road for Jim Carrey on Saturday Night Live so far this season. Reaction to his impression of former Vice President and current President-Elect Joe Biden has been mixed with some loving his take and some feeling it was time for a change. Last night, however, the legendary comedian pulled out a little Ace Ventura from his bag of tricks, and the surprise reference went over really well with fans.
The joke in question occurred at the end of the cold open, which presented dueling victory and not exactly concession speeches… sort of like the Dueling Town Halls bit a few weeks ago but not as much back-and-forth. Carrey’s Joe Biden and Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris went first, then it swapped to Alec Baldwin’s always funny Donald Trump impression and then it went back to the new administration for the closer. That’s when Carrey busted out his Ace Ventura impression to call Trump a loser. Check out the moment that has been spreading quickly and enthusiastically on Twitter…
Ace Ventura was the title character in two comedy movies in the mid-1990s. Both performed well at the box office, received largely negative reviews from critics and found a pretty passionate younger audience. They also spawned an animated television series for children that ran for three seasons but never quite caught on to the level of the movies. The movies follow an energetic and utterly ridiculous detective who searches for missing animals. He’s fond of calling both other people and himself a loser, which he pronounces in the same manner Carrey does in the SNL sketch.
If you haven’t seen Ace Ventura and you need a refresher or if you just feel like reminiscing and watching Jim Carrey get really weird you can check out the supercut compilation of Ace Ventura Loser quotes below. It’ll make you smile, even against your better judgment, which also is a thing you can say about most of the larger Ace Ventura franchise too…
Jim Carrey’s Joe Biden impression was the subject of a lot of complaining on Twitter for a few weeks, particularly from so-called blue check marks. Many of them felt Carrey’s Biden impression was a little too manic or a little too reminiscent of Carrey’s normal schtick and didn’t flow with the show’s writing. Comments on other platforms were largely positive, which left the reception somewhere in a grey area. This Ace Ventura reference, however, was almost universally appreciated with numerous comments saying they absolutely loved it.
It’s unclear what this might mean for Carrey’s impression long-term. We don’t know if he’s going to keep playing the President-Elect now that the election is over or if the show will have a cast member do it. Alec Baldwin played President Trump throughout his Presidency, but he seemed to have a love-hate relationship with the role and talked about leaving several times because of the commitment.
Regardless, it’s nice to see Jim Carrey start building some more positive momentum. I’ve been at least luke warm or better on his impression the whole time. I’m happy he got such a universal win last night, and I hope these good vibes will help him continue to win over more and more observers if he carries on playing the role moving forward.
