The Strange Prank Jim Carrey Pulled On Danny DeVito On Set

We all know Jim Carrey as a funny man. "Ace Ventura." "Dumb and Dumber." "The Mask." The comedy icon has been gracing the big screen for decades and has done so alongside many notable costars. From Jennifer Aniston to Steve Carell and Zooey Deschanel, Carrey has worked with some of the funniest names in comedy. One of those names is the incomparable Danny DeVito.

Carrey and DeVito partnered up for the 1999 film, "Man on the Moon," and according to Mashable, it wasn't the most, well, soothing set experience. That isn't a total shock– tales of hysterical pranks pulled on movie sets have been shared for decades, and Carrey has been the prankster behind more than one. But this particular prank left the film's writers, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, in stitches. In an interview with Mashable, Karaszewski shared, "Everyone was kind of supporting Jim, and this massive performance art ... it was incredibly crazy to be on the set every day."

The prank Carrey pulled on DeVito may leave you wondering exactly how wild the set experience truly was. 

According to the writers of "Man on the Moon" in their Mashable interview, Jim Carrey pranked Danny DeVito by locking him in his trailer. However, the prank wasn't a small feat. "[Carrey] found the key, locked Danny inside Danny's trailer, backed up a car against the door, then took the key to the car and threw it in the Los Angeles River. So now Danny DeVito can't get out of the trailer to get on to the set [to film]," writer Scott Alexander shared. 

The film's director, Miloš Forman, reportedly had a good sense of humor but struggled to keep the smile on his face when a tow truck was called in to move the car to get DeVito out of his trailer. "Danny's banging on the window, you know ... It's trying people's patience," Alexander shared as his co-writer Larry Karaszewski chuckled.

All of this, they held, was Carrey's attempt to channel the character he was playing in the movie itself — the late entertainer Andy Kaufman. In fact, according to Business Insider, Carrey stayed in character as Kaufman for four months during the filming experience. 

Interestingly enough, locking Danny DeVito in his trailer wasn't the only time that Jim Carrey pranked someone while filming "Man on the Moon." After Carrey's friend, fellow comedian and actor Norm Macdonald, passed away from a private battle with cancer, Carrey shared a funny video on Twitter honoring him. 

In the tweet, Carrey reminisced on how Macdonald came to Universal Studios to have lunch with Carrey on the porch at the famed "Psycho" house. As Macdonald walked up to the porch, Carrey (who was dressed up as Norman Bates from the film) raced out onto the porch with a prop ax, scaring his poor friend. "Long live Norm Macdonald!" Carrey wrote. 

While Carrey has also delved into an array of hard-hitting dramatic roles — like "I Love You Phillip Morris," "The Truman Show," and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" — his knack for comedy cannot be denied. And it seems that ability is one that extends behind the scenes, too.