From "Jim Carrey will no longer play Joe Biden on 'SNL'
" (CNN Business).
I'll just say:
1. "Garner." It's one thing to get mixed reviews, but to garner them... That's got to hurt.
2. "Flapjack earnestness"? I struggled to understand. "Flapjack" is not an adjective in my dictionary. But you can use a noun as an adjective. So "flapjack earnestness" would simply be earnestness that is like a flapjack — flat.
3. It's rough getting compared to Alec Baldwin, who's not just an excellent actor but who had the role of Donald Trump. It's a way meatier role than Joe Biden. Not only is the Trump character incredibly colorful and weird, but you're encouraged to make as much fun of him as possible. Biden is bland and dull, and the show wants to prop him up, not tear him down. What could Carrey do to please the crowd?
4. How is "SNL" supposed to go about being funny with the Biden administration? It's not as though someone other than Carrey has a chance.
Posts
116 comments:
That’s not funny.
Jason Sudeikis used to do a funny, bumbling version of Biden. They should hire him back.
After all, he'll only need to play him for a couple months, before he gets "disappeared" from the national stage.
I would love to see Norm McDonald get a crack at Joe Biden.
They have to try a bit, but they can’t allow anyone to successfully satirize Slo Joe. Even when he is forced to leave, there will be deep sadness.
Maybe they included Flapjack because that is what Canadians call pancakes and Jim Carrey is Canadian? Joe Biden has never seemed earnest. I think they wanted to put a vague yet positive spin on Joe Biden, and what the author would normally decry as unsophisticated rubish (as in rube like) behavior they instead decided on "Flapjack Earnestness". It is hard to think of positive descriptors for Joe Biden. He isn't a smart or sophisticated man. And he hasn't really accomplished anything in politics. (This would seem to somewhat undercut his description of earnest). So maybe the author decided on well he is earnest.
I am fully ready for the Maya Rudolph administration. Just one caveat...
Could we get it without Harris?
The left these days has no sense of humor. The Baldwin thing was not funny. SNL flamed out 30 years ago.
So "flapjack earnestness" would simply be earnestness that is like a flapjack — flat.
It's tough to bring cognitive impairment to the stage.
Ooh, Norm as Biden is promising. But it's hard to squeeze comedy out of a demented old prune like Biden, who is a walking, talking mockery of American political elites as it stands. Just wind him up and let him go.
"Flapjack earnestness" is beautifully poetic. I'm not sure what they mean by it, either. It's not "crepe earnestness" or "pancake earnestness". It's a lumberjack-y kind of earnestness.
About Joe Biden, ffs.
Maybe they could take a cue from Clint Eastwood at the 2012 RNC and depict Biden with a smaller empty chair.
Will Ferrell could do it. Then he would never work in Hollywood again.
Woody Harrelson did a great job playing Biden. They should have stuck with him.
Earnestly dishonest is how I would put it.
"Flapjack earnestness"?
Mmmmm ... pancakes ...
I sort of understand: with Biden, you don't want to be over-the-top and exaggerated. It's best to underplay him. But is "earnestness" really the best word for Biden? The guy is always grabbing for more of a story than reality gives him. Not in a larger than life way. It's more like he's the guy in the bar who always exaggerates his achievements just enough to give himself away.
It's rough getting compared to Alec Baldwin, who's not just an excellent actor but who had the role of Donald Trump.
If you mean Trump is a great role, sure. If you mean Baldwin's was a great impersonation, then no. Too repetitive. Too one-note. Jason Sudeikis was a better Biden than Carrey. Darrel Hammond was a better Trump than Baldwin. Heck, even Sudeikis was a better Trump than Baldwin.
It much simpler, as i think we all have guessed. The SNL audience doesn't think there's anything really wrong about Biden to make fun of, except maybe some mild old-fashioned, gee-whiz stuff. I took that "flapjack" adjective in that way. He's just a middle-American guy, gosh darn it. He reminds you of those fundraising breakfasts the churches used to do, with flapjacks (a southern and western term, not like those - snigger - Eastern Elites). So let's play that up in our really brave transgressive attacks on the president-elect. That there is ample ground to make fun of him for his corruption, his being the epitome of a career politician who knows nothing else, his many slips of the tongue, and even more frequent vacuity does not occur to them. Or is not said out loud at any rate when they are pitching skits.
Yeah, he's too earnest. That's it. We'll go with that.
We saw the same thing with Obama. Comedians complained that there just wasn't anything to make fun of. Dishonesty comes in many forms. Intellectual dishonesty is not the same as lying or bullshitting. It's far worse.This is very close to a Screwtape/Great Divorce/Inner Ring dishonesty. Which will mean that in 90+% of the cases we cannot count on there ever being insight or self-understanding, and we must work around this rather than argue against it.
One did not make fun of General Secretary Andropov unless one wished to explore the gulag archipelago. Our neo-Soviet “journalists” at SNL and other infotainment outlets would be well-advised that the same rules apply to His Fraudulency.
Have him played by Leslie Jones.
There's no reason Biden couldn't be decontextualized as a heavyset black woman in sunglasses saying "Malarkey."
Then you have skits with him hanging around Kamela and Obama, trying to impress them with stories of CornPop, while only being the third wheel as Obama talks of the greatness Kamala can achieve as his true heir.
SNL can make fun of Joe, as long as they are lauding Kamala in the process.
I am Laslo.
Oh, for fuck's sake- it is unfunny because the punches are being pulled or, more accurately, not being thrown. It would be easy to mock Joe Biden if Carrey wanted to do it, he just doesn't want to do it, nor do the writers want to write material that properly mocks Joe Biden. You even see this in the fucking article written about this with the "deliberate, controlled and understated" bullshit describing Joe Biden's idiot persona on the stage. Biden is like a beach ball being pitched to a batter, but a batter can still swing and miss if missing is all he wants to do.
SNL will not make fun of Biden or Harris. It will be a tongue-bath of epic proportions.
I think 'flapjack' is alluding to his everyman persona...lunch pail Joe.
Blue collar guys eat flapjacks, while the 'elite' eat eggs benedict.
They've entered the woods of Westermain where they're OK as long as they believe. And believing in Biden - not so easy for an adult. "I sought this office to restore the soul of America." A laugh, like raucous jay swooping past, breaks the spell and then ...
The Woods of Westermain
I
ENTER these enchanted woods,
You who dare.
Nothing harms beneath the leaves
More than waves a swimmer cleaves.
Toss your heart up with the lark, 5
Foot at peace with mouse and worm,
Fair you fare.
Only at a dread of dark
Quaver, and they quit their form:
Thousand eyeballs under hoods 10
Have you by the hair.
Enter these enchanted woods,
You who dare.
II
Here the snake across your path
Stretches in his golden bath: 15
Mossy-footed squirrels leap
Soft as winnowing plumes of Sleep:
Woodpeckers on a chuckle skim
Low to laugh from branches dim:
Up the pine, where sits the star, 20
Rattles deep the moth-winged jar.
Each has business of his own;
But should you distrust a tone,
Then beware.
Shudder all the haunted roods, 25
All the eyeballs under hoods
Shroud you in their glare.
Enter these enchanted woods,
You who dare.
Now, if Biden wants to show up, I am quite sure the entire cast and writers of SNL would gladly give him a public blowjob just like the press does.
Imagine an actor who could play a washed up small-state pol, whose drug-addicted son and brother have been trying to monetize their relationship, who unexpectedly becomes President. Difficult casting.
AA: "It's rough getting compared to Alec Baldwin, who's not just an excellent actor but who had the role of Donald Trump."
Baldwin may be an excellent actor but as far as I'm concerned is unwatchable in his portrayal of Trump. (Unwatchable means quickly switching the channel.)
I absolutely agree with Lurker21 that: "Darrel Hammond was a [far] better Trump than Baldwin. Heck, even Sudeikis was a better Trump than Baldwin."
Portraying a corrupt asshole as an earnest flapjacker is not going to be funny.
SNL couldn’t make fun of Barack because he was too black.
Now they can’t make fun of Joe because he’s too earnest.
Next will be Kamala because she’s too female.
Pack it in, Lorne.
Yeah, really; the difference in roles, Trump versus Biden. It's like the roles of "Hitler" versus "Eisenhower." One -- Hitler -- is far more colorful and weird. And we all have such strong feelings against him. We want the performance to mock the character. We want to make as much fun of him as possible. While Eisenhower is bland and dull, and we want the show to prop him up, not tear him down. A tougher role for an actor.
On the Althouse comments pages, the role of Chuck can be played by a dildo.
Or a steaming pile of dogshit.
Whuy not just show random clips of the real Swampy Joe--it would be hilarious, in a train-wrecky sort of way.
Jim Carrey is a grotesque. He hasn't been funny for decades.
I always thought Jason Sudeikis captured Biden's glad-handing numbskull bluster quite well. They'd do better to ask him to reprise the role.
President Trump broke SNL. To be fair President Trump hog tied all the so called comedians. The all sold out any principles they may have had, to kneel before their masters.
On Carrey, I am still quite fond of "Fire Marshall Bill". Now that was some funny shit.
Laslo Spatula makes a very creative point. Having Biden played by a black woman would be awesome.
"to capture the flapjack earnestness of the former vice president . . . deliberate, controlled and understated"
Sure. The earnestness of the guy who calls you a lying dog-faced pony soldier. The deliberateness of the guy who introduces his granddaughter as his dead son. The control of the guy who flies down to Georgia to call Ossoff Orsoff. The understatement of the guy who is the big guy in his son's Ukrainian/Chinese business operations.
And of course, the glamour of the husband of Dr. Jill, she of community college student retention fame.
to truly caricature biden, you would have to deal with his physical and mental deterioration.
I doubt anyone wants to see Jim Carrey or anyone else make fun of the handicapped, regardless of how richly deserved it might be.
The show that turned Gerald Ford into a famous clutz can't think of anything it wants to mock about Biden.
Kevin, 5:47:
"SNL couldn’t make fun of Barack because he was too black."
For the most part - but did you ever see the 2014 Schoolhouse Rock parody, "How A Bill Does Not Become a Law"? I think it's the one time SNL really made fun of Obama. It was understated, and brutal.
Chuck:
"Trump versus Biden. It's like the roles of "Hitler" versus "Eisenhower."
Wow, yes. It's just like that.
Actually, setting aside your total loss of perspective on Trump, Eisenhower was by no means bland or dull. He came off that way sometimes, quite deliberately, but it was a front.
The same way as they did during Captain Zeros years.
Also, what will Bobby Woodward do for the next 4 years?
Corrupt Biden is raised - by the hack press - to a stack of pancakes.
Who doesn't like pancakes!
More propaganda.
They need to bring back the skit where the character (Miles Copperthwaite) wears a cup around his mouth to catch all the drool.
Except it's Joe.
Don't eat paste, kids.
deliberate, controlled and understated?
More like demented, confused and under suspicion.
I agree with Lord Clanfiddle.
Just splice REAL Joe Biden clips of his gibberish - and viola - comedy.
The point of all mainstream TV is democrat Party TV - so it must be much less edgy. I think if Jim Carrey - who is a big time Trump hater - could actually mock Joe a bit, with a bit of meanness, it might be funny - but why would Carrey do that?
Yancey beat me to it at 5:35
WE all get it.
SNL is Democrat Party TV - like ALL TV. No way they cut into poor old workaday JOe.
His corruption alone no wait - there's more - Hunter - the stripper fucking crack whore - international money grubbing tax payer money laundering for Biden family profit - do that SNL!
yeah - never gonna happen.
I think this needs the "that's not funny" tag (or whatever it's called). We're at the beginning of a four years (plus) age, in which it is simply not acceptable to make fun of, or ask questions of, the Democratic leadership.
Have him played by Leslie Jones.
When was the last time you made a movie, Laslo?
Just have a crotchety old corrupt asshole who insults anyone and everyone who asks him a legit question. The comedy potential is enormous.
The Big Guy gets his 10% and no lying, dogface, pony soldier is going to get between him and HIS MONEY!
Show me the money! Say it Jerry. SHOW ME THE MONEY!
Just a reminder that Jim Carrey gave a woman 3 std's, lied about it, and then she killed herself because of it.
That guy is a scumbag.
It's rough getting compared to Alec Baldwin, who's not just an excellent actor but who had the role of Donald Trump.
As truly deranged and filled with hat as Alec Baldwin is, I've always thought he's a genuinely talented actor, both in dramatic roles and comedy. But I could never stand his Trump impression, and it's not because I voted for Trump. It's just way too broad-brush and emotionally shouty. Nothing skilled about it. Too much hate to make it work is my guess.
Still happy to watch him in anything else.
"That guy is a scumbag."
Truer words were never spoken...
>>Woody Harrelson did a great job playing Biden. They should have stuck with him.
Agree with that, from the ones I've seen. But I could never stand Jim Carrey in anything, going all the way back to In Living Color.
--gpm
How is "SNL" supposed to go about being funny with the Biden administration?
They aren't, obviously.
"Deliberate, controlled and understated." Biden challenging strangers to a pushup contest.
We can garner pieces of truth. Perhaps we want truth to be one thing. It seems that the pieces of truth fit into a mosaic. A piece here, a piece there. A puzzle? Collect the pieces...and put them together. What was it again, that Buddha said? What was Arjuna saying? Why did Jesus say 'He was the truth.'? The Christ?
Here's the truth: Young girls are going to wear short skirts.
Pro-marxist democratical LLR-lefty Chuck believes he is qualified to opine on Eisenhower's demeanor because once, when LLR-lefty Chuck was around 18 or so, he spent an agonizing 37 seconds, which to him felt like 3 and half years, struggling and struggling and struggling with the question of whether or not to join the military.
After completing his own seemingly interminable 37 second long Self Struggle Session, our intrepid "hero" decided his amazing potential could never reach full flower in the military....plus there would probably a pretty big number of actual conservative republicans there and LLR-lefty Chuck simply cannot abide such people, as LLR-lefty Chuck's posts over the last 5 years demonstrate conclusively and irrefutably.
Chuck once wrote a 15,000 word essay at Althouse blog about this 37 second struggle session.
I can assure all it fell quite short of "scintillating".
I think it's the one time SNL really made fun of Obama. It was understated, and brutal.
And never to be repeated.
>How is "SNL" supposed to go about being funny with the Biden administration?
Are you serious?
By making fun of whatever the Biden administration needs to mock, obviously.
Wild guesses: Border security, individual rights, kids being in school, putting criminals in prison, election integrity, and thinking that China is not on our side.
Why not have a conservative actor portray Biden, to be fair? Perhaps Jon Voight?
If he can do impressions, James Woods with creative control would be the subversive choice.
Never happen.
"When was the last time you made a movie, Laslo?"
Just finished "Electric Worms" last weekend. "Nausea Bay" and "Benjamin" -- the two before that -- just won "Best Comedy" and "Best Horror" Awards at a festival, respectively.
The last feature, "Mustango!" is still on the festival circuit, with six awards.
Fun, but Covid has cancelled most screenings.
I like to keep busy.
I am Laslo.
I don't think any politician will be treated with the love and reverence that was bestowed on Obama. It's just not possible.....They will be conspicuously more gentle with Biden than they were with Trump, but Biden's lapses and stumbles are just too blatant to ignore. Biden will not be loved but neither will he inspire the foam flecked spittle that characterizes their caricatures of Republicans.
Have to watch tonight.
I don't watch SNL and haven't for about 20 years, but i'll say they'll start making fun of Biden when the Heels up Harris administration is about to begin.
Jim Carrey is a complete s scum bag... Just Like Joe.
If you think Democrat TV SNL and the writers who are all controlled by the higher ups at NBC are going to mock Joe Biden -
hahahahaha.
Psota said...
to truly caricature biden, you would have to deal with his physical and mental deterioration.
I doubt anyone wants to see Jim Carrey or anyone else make fun of the handicapped, regardless of how richly deserved it might be.
While I would normally agree, I don't think that would be the case if it were Trump suffering from dementia instead of Biden. They would be merciless.
On the bright side though, it means less chance of me ever seeing anything with Jim Carrey in it. I can't stand him and the only thing I'd ever watch him in is a video where he gets fed to lions that have been starved for a couple of weeks.
More comedy material for NBC to ignore.
Joe Biden’s niece Caroline gets no jail time after DUI guilty plea
I don't want to falsely accuse - but she looks like Hunter would be very interested. If you know what I mean.
"deliberate, controlled and understated.'"
There's the comedy..
4 more years of George..the other Biden.
Endorsed by President my boss...for Senate.
William: ".. but Biden's lapses and stumbles are just too blatant to ignore."
LOL
The lefties/LLR-lefties just pulled a "antifa is a myth and never existed at all" ploy after 9 months of riots with entire city sectors burned and billions in damages with thousands of businesses affected simultaneous with a complete blackout on the corrupt 30 year Biden family corruption schemes as well as making Hunter disappear for months on end.
Bidens lies, stumbles and lapses will be as childs play fir them to memory-hole.
Remember, we are talking about a political party that now claims Lincoln was a racist and America was founded in 1619.
Mad as hell,
Great point. When are you going to make a sequel to Uncle Benny Comes Home?
I'd pay to see that.
John Henry
Everybody keeps saying that "the big guy" was Dr Joe.
I see speculation elsewhere the Dr Joe was "pop" in the emails.
Obama was "the big guy"
John Henry
I have to say, Joe seemed to have his juicing properly calibrated in a recent interview with Doc Jill recalling attending her defending her dissertation.
I mean, it wasn't to influence the outcome or anything.
Come on, man!
My fave comedic moments are Joe's million billion million moments.
Earnest as a flapjack...and as intelligent as one.
Maybe Jim Carrey is just too complete an asshole.
SNL should create a senile nursing home character named Flapjack Ernest who is always involved in silly shenanigans but inevitably gets saved by his humorous and right-thinking multicultural handlers. I could write skits for this show, it wouldn't hurt their ratings.
SNL should create a senile nursing home character named Flapjack Ernest who is always involved in silly shenanigans but inevitably gets saved by his humorous and right-thinking multicultural handlers. I could write skits for this show, it wouldn't hurt their ratings.
And his wife Shrilly Jilly does the talking while Flapjack just moves his mouth. Sometimes. When it occurs to him.
shenanigans and malarkey - like the vote totals.
Seinfeld has (had) a show on Netflix “comedians in cars” which was basically Jerry picking up said (lib) comics in nice old cars and going to breakfast or lunch. Most of them were dicks and not funny (Carrey, Colbert) but Alec Baldwin was actually quite funny (didn’t pretend that he wasn’t a dick). Did a great Nicholson “Five Easy Pieces” impression.
They don't have the guts to portray Biden as he really is; a bumbling, cognitively impaired, morally bankrupt, idiot.
Yeah. That's tough. Too bad, SNL.
Baldwin could do Biden. Just be a goofy, drunken, vicious, back-slappy jerk who is starting to lose his marbles. It would come easy to Baldwin.
Remember when Biden invited the guy in the wheelchair to step up to the mic? "Come up here, Denny. Come on, man. What are you waiting for?....Oh, man, God love you." Or when he challenged the guy he called Fatso--a Demmie voter-- to go outside? And the hair sniffing of little girls? Have him try it with Melania (played by Gal Gidot) on Inauguration Day and have her put her four-inch heel through his foot.
Jill (played by Julia Louis Dreyfus in a bad blonde wig) could get all huffy when Baldwin fails to address her as "Dr.", and he could punch her out when she fails to whistle "Hail to the Chief" when he walks into the room.
It would be as funny as the rest of their stuff.
Wait . . . SNL us still on TV? Huh. Who knew?
jvb
Welcome Rip van Winkle.
Woody Harrelson was a GREAT Biden on SNL. Why isn't he doing it?
If cornpone can be an adjective, so can flapjack.
I think cornpone would have fit better.
The new guy was even worse than Jim Carrey. Not that I care or will be watching, but BRING BACK WOODY HARRLESON.
--gpm
John henry said...
Obama was "the big guy"
12/19/20, 9:12 PM
Obama only avoids the level of traitor because he grew up as a foreigner, but I've don't usually ascribe stupidity to his malice. At least, not to the point where he would permit a cokehead like Hunter Biden to get involved in an operation that might be directly traced back to him. You don't have to be Gustavo Fring to have that level of sense.
flapjack earnest - like Dudley Do-Right?
Didn't Biden tell the "fat" guy in Iowa to "flap this jack"?
SNL will do what they did during their Messiahs administration...ignore the gaffes...ignore the truth, and pretend there is nothing funny they can do with the Bidens whilst protecting them
Nothing new under the sun. I remember back in 1992, when NPR informed me that there would be no political comedy for the foreseeable future, because who could possibly make fun of the ultra-competent, boring Clintons?
I wondered if this was just some city boy writer who thought "flapjack" sounded informal and homey. Perhaps he meant to use "flapsaddle"- as in someone whose saddle girth strap isn't pulled tight enough. It was a common term when I grew up in Madison - at least my mom used it. But, when I googled the term, I garnered no such term - just a Jack Benny reference. Sigh, I'm old.
"deliberate, controlled and understated."
What are three things Joe Biden is not Alex.
Somehow - like Tom Cruise being a dangerous cult leader - Jim Carrey being a devoted NewAge Nazi carries no weight with anyone.
But, if y'all say you love Jesus, I'm supposed to take you all VERY SERIOUSLY.
Believers, of any kind, are just hypocrites.
101 comments - question:
Why am I ALWAYS the only person to point out who the cultists are - like the guy behind the current dangerous anti-vaccine madness?
What's WRONG with you guys, that you only focus on superficial shit, like whether or not the NewAge Nazi who helped kill kids was funny on SNL??
Among other things, they left Obama alone for eight years, without a single sketch about him. Don't worry about SNL, they've got lots of experience leaving their friends alone.
Greg Gutfeld did very well just playing clips of the real Trump, who was much funnier than Baldwin's impersonation (and, though it pains me to admit it, actually funnier than Gutfeld's show).
He could get a lot of mileage out of Biden clips, especially the ones the mainstream media doesn't show. Also, Tom Shillue does an okay Biden on Gutfeld's show. He's funny and captures (and exaggerates) Joe's cluelessness, but it is a little one-note, like Baldwin's Trump.
I love ya, Crack. Great post!
I haven't watched SNL since...well, a damned long time ago. Lost in the mists of memory (mists = pea-soup FOGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG).
BidenFamilyTaxPayerFundedCrackPipe said...
I love ya, Crack. Great post!
Thanks - did you see the star of the video?
“How is ‘SNL’ supposed to go about being funny with the Biden administration?” I dunno, maybe by poking fun at his physical and mental weaknesses, at his propensity to wander and say stupid things?”
There is no way SNL would give McDonald a crack at that corrupt ole piece of shit.
boatbuilder said...
"Seinfeld has (had) a show on Netflix “comedians in cars” which was basically Jerry picking up said (lib) comics in nice old cars and going to breakfast or lunch. Most of them were dicks and not funny (Carrey, Colbert) but Alec Baldwin was actually quite funny (didn’t pretend that he wasn’t a dick). Did a great Nicholson “Five Easy Pieces” impression."
I was surprised that Chris Rock wasn't all that funny as well along with the current host of the Tonight show. Super Dave was funny. Norm McDonald was funny. The cars are the stars.
You are one serious cunt Chuck.
Remember all those hilarious skits satrizing Obama? well neither do i. Look, for the same attitude toward Biden. The most you'll get is gentle kidding of some harmless personal attribute. Oh Biden is sorta old. Oh Kamala, is a little too spunky.
Hahaha. Why would anyone except a braindead Leftist watch SNL?
Biden is stealing the election. He's a corrupt hack who has paid off by the Ukraine and China. But lets not talk about that, lets make believe he's harmless Uncle Joe. And well intentioned.
Wow. Laslo really is a filmmaker!
Carrey sucks. The documentary about him playing Andy Kaufman reveals what an insipid, pretentious dick he is. The highlight is Jerry Lawler not having any of Carrey's idiotic "method acting" and letting him know how much he truly, deeply hates him.
I live near a retirement home, and frequently see old men wandering around, looking lost and muttering incoherently. If SNL needs someone to impersonate Biden, they could get one of those guys.
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