Not impressed: Why Cher told Jim Carrey to “go to hell”

Posted On October 29, 2024October 29, 2024

The 1990s introduced us to many stars who would quickly become Hollywood icons, with actors like Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Julia Roberts, and Jim Carrey rising to significant prominence. It was a time of huge cinematic developments, with indie cinema gaining more mainstream attention and genres like action, comedy, and romance further developing.

While Carrey appeared in various movies like Finders Keepers and Peggy Sue Got Married in the 1980s, it was the early 1990s that saw him break through into Hollywood.

He co-wrote and starred in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, which made an impressive profit and proved to be incredibly popular. It helped to establish Carrey as a comedic star, and he soon followed the role with more successful movies that same year – Dumb and Dumber and The Mask. Carrey became a well-known figure in the industry, and he successfully divided his time between comedies and more serious roles, such as The Truman Show and Man on the Moon.

He further proved his talent for starring in a range of genres by leading Bruce Almighty just a year before appearing in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The following year, Carrey then featured in a crime comedy, Fun with Dick and Jane, alongside Téa Leoni, which saw the pair play a couple who end up committing various robberies. In one scene, the pair dress up as Sonny and Cher to commit a robbery, with Carrey donning a long dress and a dark wig to become Cher.

“We were supposed to be the opposite characters originally, but two days before we did the scene, I saw the Bob Mackie creations and went ‘Bing!’ This is right on and something they’ll love in the UK’,” the actor told IndieLondon. However, this wasn’t even the first time that Carrey had been involved in a gag about the iconic singer. He had previously starred in a sketch about her as part of In Living Color, a show created by Keenen Ivory Wayans. 

With Alexandra Wentworth playing Cher and Carrey as Lorie Daves, an obese blonde woman who gives beauty advice and sells her own line of products, the pair suggest that to feel more beautiful, simply surround yourself with people who are considerably uglier. It seems as though Cher wasn’t a fan of the joke, however, with Carrey revealing, “We did a sketch about her on [In] Living Color about her hair product infomercial and she sent us all boxes of the hair products and a letter that basically said ‘go to hell’.”

He continued, talking about dressing up as Cher, “But that was a bit of a shocker that one because I thought I’d look better as a woman, I was disappointed. We picked the very best stuff. But it was still pretty disgusting. My daughter came to see it during that day and she turned around and left. She’s seen some horrifying things over the years but she was really like ‘this is going to scar me for life, you’re hideous’.”

It seems as though Cher hasn’t commented on Carrey’s impression of her, but we have a feeling she would’ve liked it a lot more than the In Living Color sketch that poked fun at her over a decade earlier. If one thing is for certain, though, Carrey’s daughter was not a fan, with the actor also telling BlackFilm that she said, “Dad, this is gonna cause damage. You are the ugliest woman I have ever seen in my life.”

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