“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.
Poor poor man. At the end of Jim and Andy he talks about floating, disconnected, and balancing on tectonic plates. And while there is something beautiful about giving yourself over to God, or the Force, and surrendering, getting rid of your ego, recognizing that you are not in control, I am not sure it is the right way to deal with trauma. You have to be in control to surrender control.
Every time I hear him talk in recent years I worry. In the last clip you posted, some time ago, he sounded like he might have been having a manic episode, or something close. I wish he were working more. He did an episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, and showed Jerry Seinfeld some of his paintings. Guy’s no Rembrandt, but he has a style, definitely has something going. Creative people gotta create.
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