The Real Reason Jim Carrey Stopped Playing Joe Biden On SNL
Jim Carrey is out as Joe Biden on Saturday Night Live! A few hours after Carrey tweeted on Dec. 19, 2020 that he was leaving his gig as the future POTUS, People reported that cast member Alex Moffat appeared as President-elect Biden. According to People, SNL's Biden character was played by three other actors besides Carrey. Jason Sudeikis, Woody Harrelson, and John Mulaney all played Biden. Carrey's tweet declared, "I am just one in a long line of proud, fighting SNL Bidens!"
Why exactly did Carrey stop playing Biden on Saturday Night Live? We guess that he didn't like the criticism he was receiving from fans. Also, The Washington Post and multiple media outlets gave him bad reviews about his Biden performance. The SNL political characters have to hit the bullseye for the humor to work. For example, Maya Rudolph is hilarious as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Tina Fey was brutally funny as Sarah Palin, and Alec Baldwin rules in his over-the-top portrayal of Donald Trump.
Twitter user @ModerateCa summed it up perfectly: "I think it sucks this year because real life is too whacked out on it's [sic] own to parody." Keep reading to learn more reactions to Carrey playing Biden on SNL.
Alex Moffat got praise for his version of 'SNL's Biden
After Jim Carrey announced he would no longer play Joe Biden on Saturday Night Live, cast member Alex Moffat stepped in to portray President-elect Biden. Moffat only has a few minutes under his belt in his new gig, but Deadline seemed to like the new Biden. Entertainment Weekly liked Moffat's version too, reporting that the SNL cast member made a "memorable entrance as the president-elect."
Moffat's debut as the future POTUS was part of SNL's cold open on Dec. 19, 2020, per People. In a sketch showing VP Mike Pence getting his coronavirus vaccine, Maya Rudolph busts in on Pence, reprising her stone-cold killer impression of VP-elect Kamala Harris. Moffat's Biden joined in, and the sketch was funny. (If you missed the new (and improved Biden) on Saturday Night Live, watch the cold open video featuring Moffat and Harris here.)
Entertainment Weekly weighed in on why SNL fans and media pundits were adamant that Carrey's impression of Biden was bad: "Carrey portrayed the mostly low-key Biden with a manic approach better fit for, well, a Jim Carrey character." Ouch! The Daily Mail reported that critics had "lambasted Carrey" for his version of Biden because "he mimicked some of his mannerisms but failed to land punch lines."
Per critics and fans, Carrey's impression looked weaker compared to former SNL member Rudolph's portrayal of Kamala Harris.