It was Jim Carrey himself who took to Twitter to deliver the news that his Biden impersonating days were over. “Though my term was only meant to be 6 weeks, I was thrilled to be elected as your SNL President…comedy’s highest call of duty,” wrote Carrey. “I would love to go forward knowing that Biden was the victor because I nailed that $#@! But I am just one in a long line of proud, fighting SNL Bidens!”
It’s not a huge surprise that Carrey is departing. He isn’t an SNL regular. Carrey has always found far more success as a movie actor. In fact, recently, Carrey found enormous success in a surprising place — the Sonic the Hedgehog movie, in which he played the villainous Dr. Robotnik. It’s quite an achievement starring in a video game movie people actually liked! With that in mind, it doesn’t really make sense for him to spend much more time playing Biden on SNL.
Carrey is also right about the “long line of Bidens.” Both Jason Sudeikis and Woody Harrelson played Biden before Carrey did. It stands to reason that either actor could return, or that someone entirely new could take over. After all, multiple SNL actors have played political candidates before. Hillary Clinton, for example has been played by: Jan Hooks, Janeane Garofalo, Ana Gasteyer, Amy Poehler, Drew Barrymore, Rachel Dratch, Vanessa Bayer, Miley Cyrus, and Kate McKinnon — and she never even got elected president!
Carrey’s time as Joe Biden will certainly never be forgotten — he’s the man who played Biden at the moment of his greatest political victory — but a new SNL Biden was always inevitable, and now he’s surely on his way.
