Saturday Night Live: Jim Carrey Debuts His Joe Biden for Presidential Debate Parody

‘Imagine if science, and karma, could somehow team up to send us all a message about how dangerous […]

October 3, 2020, 11:57pm

“Imagine if science, and karma, could somehow team up to send us all a message about how dangerous this virus can be…..I’m not saying I want it to happen….but imagine if it did.” @JimCarrey #SNLPremiere pic.twitter.com/RqbxcunZFl
— Austin (@rondarouseyszn) October 4, 2020

Saturday Night Live has returned to its fall time slot and it raced to the scene with a massive opening. As one might expect with the current news cycle, Saturday’s opening skit featured Alec Baldwin’s return as Donald Trump and Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris. The bit also featured Jim Carrey‘s debut as former vice president Joe Biden, a role he’s boarded for the duration of the season.

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Earlier this fall, SNL creator Lorne Michaels explained that Carrey had previously expressed interest in the role. The fan-favorite funnyman then met with head SNL writer Colin Jost, talks that eventually led to Carrey deciding to board the show, at least for the duration of election season.

“There was some interest on his part. And then we responded, obviously, positively. But it came down to discussions about what the take was,” the executive producer explained. “He and Colin Jost had a bunch of talks. He and I as well. He will give the part energy and strength, and … [Laughs.] Hopefully it’s funny.”

“Look…here’s the deal!” I’m playin’ @JoeBiden Live From NY on Saturday Night with @AlecBaldwin, @MayaRudolph, the amazing cast, Megan Thee Stallion and The Great @ChrisRock! “COME ON, MAN!” https://t.co/VWYc5l16AW
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) October 3, 2020

He added that even though Season 45 ended with a handful of remotely produced episodes, the show would return to Studio 8H at 30 Rock for the new season, explaining the need for a live studio audience for the sketch comedy show.

“We need the audience, obviously. With comedy, when you don’t hear the response, it’s just different. With the kind of comedy we do, which quite often is broad, timing gets thrown off without an audience,” Michaels explained. “And for me, what is most important is when you’re absolutely certain of some piece on Wednesday, and then the dress-rehearsal audience sees it on Saturday and tells you you’re wrong. . . .I think us coming back and accomplishing the show will lead to — I hate to use the word normalcy — but it’s a thing that is part of our lives coming back, in whatever form it ends up coming back. So the physical problems of doing it — number of people who can be in the studio, number of people who can be in the control room, how you separate the band so that they’re not in any jeopardy — all of those are part of the meetings we’ve been having”