Jim Carrey Reprises The Cable Guy Role for Super Bowl Ad

By Spencer Perry

The trend of iconic actors returning to their fan-favorite characters to sell ads during the Super Bowl continues in full force in 2022. In recent years Jeff Bridges has reprised his iconic "The Dude" role from The Big Lebowski while Bill Murray reprised his Groundhog Day role a few years ago. Mike Myers has turned it into a cottage industry, appearing as his Wayne's World character for an Uber Eats ad last year and is appearing as his Austin Powers character Dr. Evil for this year's event. Another actor has been confirmed to appear as one of their iconic characters as Jim Carrey will return to the role of The Cable Guy.

Adweek has details on the ad featuring Carrey, promoting Verizon's 5G Internet service, which will air during the game on Sunday. "[Carrey] was pretty psyched to do this and felt like this was the right time-you can't get a better moment than the Super Bowl to do something like this," Verizon CCO and SVP Andrew McKechnie told the outlet. "Hopefully, when the viewers see it, it will feel like a great story both from a cultural standpoint and, in terms of 25 years later, what The Cable Guy ultimately represents."

"This Sunday…he's back… and he just wants to connect!" Carrey wrote on Twitter. Shockingly this ad marks the first commercial that Carrey has ever appeared in, let alone one where he appears as one of his classic characters.

For those unware, The Cable Guy was a 1996 satire starring Carrey, Matthew Broderick, and Leslie Mann, and directed by Ben Stiller with appearances by George Segal, Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Charles Napier, Janeane Garofalo, David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, Andy Dick, and Kyle Gass. Carrey's character in the film is an obsessive...cable guy...who forms major attachments with customers, with the film following his latest obsession becoming Matthew Broderick's Steven.

The Verizon ad will bring Chip into the 21st century though, putting him in the modern era of streaming.

Carrey's next appearance after this Verizon commercial will be another reprisal, playing the part of Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Not only does his role in the hit Sega video game mark his latest time playing the same character in a sequel, it's the first time he's played the character back-to-back as Carrey hasn't appeared in another film since the 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog.

0comments
Start the Conversation

of