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Introducing funny-man Jim Carrey

Broadcast Date: March 17, 1982

When Jim Carrey landed his first gig at the Hay Loft club in Scarborough, Ont., he was paid just $20. Some twenty years later, Carrey would become a major film star and would command an average of $20 million US per film. In this CBC Radio interview, a 20-year-old Carrey discusses working the comedy club circuit in Toronto and he performs from his repertoire of 105 impressions. On this day in history, Jan. 17, 1962, James Eugene Carrey was born in Newmarket, Ont.

Introducing funny-man Jim Carrey

• James Eugene Carrey is the youngest of Percy and Kathleen Carrey's four children.
• Carrey routinely made his classmates roar with laughter with jokes and impressions. In third grade, the young jokester portrayed Santa dance during a Christmas pageant and did a silly, funny, enthusiastic dance. "I just remember seeing Sister Marie-Jean in her habit on her hands and knees pounding on the floor," he told the Globe and Mail. "And then she got up afterward and said, 'Jim wants to be a comedian when he grows up.' And that was it." (July 27, 1990)

• After ninth grade, Carrey dropped out of school when his father, an accountant, lost his job. The Carreys, including Jim, went to work at the Titan Wheels Factory as security guards and janitors. For a while, they lived in their Volkswagen camper. Later, they slept in a tent.
• At 15, Carrey landed his first gig as a ventriloquist at Yuk Yuks Comedy Club in Toronto and was booed off the stage. At 17, he returned to the stage with a stand-up act and was a hit with his celebrity impressions.

• In 1983, Carrey starred in Introducing Janet, also known as Rubberface. Carrey portrayed struggling comic Tony Moroni who develops a friendship with a chubby, young girl.
• Carrey moved Los Angeles and started acting lessons. He landed small television and film roles while honing his comedy act. In 1990, he joined the ensemble sketch-comedy show In Living Color and created off-beat, enduring characters. In 1994, Carrey starred in Ace Venutra: Pet Detective which was universally panned by critics but beloved by audiences.

• Carrey followed up with The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, Batman Forever, The Truman Show and more. In February 2004, Carrey appeared on the Conan O'Brien show filmed in Toronto and led the audience singing Ontari-ari-ari-o.
• Carrey is twice-divorced and has one daughter, Jane.

Also on January 17:
1961: Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower sign the Columbia River Treaty in Washington. In return for building three dams (Duncan, Keenleyside and Mica) on the Columbia, Canada receives half of the electricity generated.
1974: Pauline McGibbon becomes Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, the first woman appointed to a vice-regal post in the Commonwealth.
2004: Hollinger International fires Conrad Black as chairman, and files a $200-million US suit against him, alleging breach of fiduciary duty.

Introducing funny-man Jim Carrey

Medium: Radio

Program: Don Harron's Morningside

Broadcast Date: March 17, 1982

Guest(s): Jim Carrey

Host: Don Harron

Duration: 8:52

Photo: CBC Design Library

Last updated:
Jan. 17, 2011