Jim Carrey's First Appearance: Why It Was So Painful

Jim Carrey and the Tonight Show Moment That Haunted Him for Years On Thanksgiving night in 1983, Johnny Carson introduced an unknown young comedian to America — a 21-year-old named Jim Carrey. See Jim Carrey first appearance on The Tonight Show in 1983. Watch his early stand-up comedy and impressions that launched a legendary career. But when the act was over, Johnny never waved him over to the couch, and Jim never forgot it. Long before Ace Ventura, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber made him a movie star, Jim Carrey walked onto The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for his very first appearance on American television. He filled his set with impressions — Leonid Brezhnev, Jack Nicholson, Clint Eastwood, James Dean, even Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy — and had the whole studio laughing. But on Carson's stage, the laughs were only half the verdict. The other half was a small gesture every young comic dreamed of: the wave over to Johnny's couch. That night, it never came. Almost eight years later, Carrey came back — now one of the stars of In Living Color on Fox — and something remarkable happened. Johnny admitted, right there on the air, that he'd forgotten this had been Jim Carrey's American television debut. And Carrey, finally sitting in the chair he'd waited eight years for, told Johnny exactly what that missing invitation had meant to him. This is the story of the night Johnny Carson forgot — and the comedian who never did. ▶ Subscribe to The Late Desk for more unforgettable stories from vintage Hollywood 0:00 A Star's First Big Break 0:49 The Hard Road to Hollywood 2:11 A Master of Impressions 6:33 Returning to the Scene 10:35 The Cost of Fame #JohnnyCarson #JimCarrey #TonightShow #ClassicTV #ComedyLegends