Comedy has satirized politicians for nearly as long as comedy and politicians have existed. Still, finding the right way to satirize a specific politician isn’t always easy, and for every inspired choice, there are countless others that fall flat. When it was first announced that Jim Carrey would play Joe Biden on this fall’s Saturday Night Live episodes, it seemed like a solid choice. Months later, Carrey has announced that he won’t be reprising the role in future episodes.
As Vulture reports, the actors who preceded Carrey in the role are an impressive group themselves: Jason Sudeikis, Woody Harrelson and John Mulaney.
Carrey’s take on the role didn’t entirely click for many viewers. Writing at The Ringer in October, Rob Harvilla offered a lengthy analysis as to why this was the case. “You don’t pay Jim Carrey to ‘disappear’ into a role; you pay him to explode that role entirely like the chestburster from Alien,” Harvilla wrote. “The role he is currently exploding is that of one of the two remaining candidates for president, and by orders of magnitude the calmer one.”
There isn’t any word on who might pick up the role going forward, though one assumes we’ll know soon enough, possibly as soon as tonight’s episode. Clearly someone will be taking on the role — it’s hard to imagine Saturday Night Live without someone riffing on the president, to varying degrees of success.
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