A new actor played president-elect Joe Biden on Saturday Night Live, but why was Jim Carrey replaced in the coveted role? Ahead of the premiere of season 46, SNL garnered a lot of attention for its decision to choose Carrey as their Biden impersonator. Then the nominee of the Democratic Party, vying for the presidency against Donald Trump, Biden was a main component of the sketch show’s political cold opens. Despite his status as a comedy legend and a gifted movie star, Carrey’s take on Biden failed to resonate with many viewers.
The complaints of Carrey’s portrayal were varied. Minor critiques noted that Carrey, as Biden, had an odd habit of making guns with his fingers. More broadly, SNL fans complained that the portrayal of Biden lacked substance. Rather than critique Biden’s policies or his long record as a public figure, Carrey regularly appeared in humorless segments which failed to take advantage of the actor’s talents by depicting Biden as little more than a polite and long-winded old man. Most argued that, regardless of how SNL chose to present its version of Biden, the plum gig should have gone to a regular member of the NBC series. The new Biden, debuting in SNL’s December 19 installment, takes care of that last complaint.
Ahead of the episode, which featured Kristen Wiig and Dua Lipa as a musical guest, Carrey announced his resignation from the Biden role on Twitter. Referring to the gig as comedy’s highest call of duty, and pointing out that his involvement was only meant to last for six weeks, the actor seemed to hint that the part of the president-elect should go to someone else. In the show’s cold open, which centered around outgoing Vice-President Mike Pence (Beck Bennett) getting the COVID-19 vaccine, Alex Moffat made his debut as Biden. Moffat has been with SNL since 2016, and is known for celebrity impersonations that include Conor McGregor and Chris Hemsworth. Judging by the response on social media, Moffat made a strong first impression with his iteration of Biden.
Moffat didn’t get much to do in his first outing as Biden, as the relatively short sketch also featured appearances by other recurring characters. But it’s clear that Moffat already has Biden’s cadence figured out quite well, allowing him a clearer path to grow into the performance if it does turn out to be a long-term gig. One advantage that Moffat has is that, unlike Carrey, he isn’t associated with iconic characters on the big screen. While Carrey certainly wasn’t helped by SNL’s writing, there was always the risk that his version of Biden would bleed into past portrayals like Ace Ventura. In contrast, Moffat gets to start his run with a relatively clean slate.
Another potential strength is that Moffat will get the opportunity to portray Biden after Trump has already been defeated. There was the chance that, in the lead-up to the 2020 election, SNL was reluctant to criticize Biden out of fear that it would be minimizing the damage Trump has done during his time in office. Recent host John Mulaney found himself in a bit of hot water for precisely this reason. Now, as Biden looks ahead to four years as the U.S. president, perhaps the show will feel a little freer to be more pointed in their jokes and in their criticisms as well. If that’s the case, Moffat will have a big platform to grow his Saturday Night Live legacy.