“Who Is The REAL You?” – Jim Carrey on Who He Was and Who He Really IS

“You can fail at what you don’t love, so you might as well do what you love.  There’s really no choice to be made.  What do you want to be?”

Over the last couple months, I’ve posted a few videos (click here or here) from Jim Carrey.  I’m fascinated by what’s happened to the comedian over the last 15 years.  He was the biggest star in the world and, as it turns out, he was utterly miserable being it.  A lot of the things he’s been so candid about since “Bearded Jim” emerged on the scene have really resonated with me.  The notion that you have to take a chance on people liking you for who you really are or kill yourself and walk around wearing a mask particularly hit me, because I’m quite the mask forger and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned how toxic that can be.


Most of these clips have come from an outstanding Netflix documentary called Jim & Andy, which I could not recommend more.  Universal finally gave Carrey the behind-the scenes footage he shot on the set of The Man in the Moon while he stayed in character as the late comedian Andy Kaufman for months.  Universal was terrified it would get out and the likable Carrey would be seen as a lunatic.  Netflix weaves the footage with Carrey talking about his transformation, and it’s mesmerizing stuff.  I don’t think there’s ever been a movie star like Carrey who’s gone through this kind of transformation, and I like him more NOW than I did when he was making me laugh as a kid.
Jim Carrey in Jim and Andy