Jim Carrey and his Letterman-like beard stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live to talk about I’m Dying Up Here, the new Showtime series that’s not-so-loosely based on the golden era of LA’s Comedy Store. Carrey, who produces the show, started his comedy career performing at Yuk Yuk’s in Toronto, eventually moving to LA and finding a home at The Comedy Store in the early 80s, where he shared the stage with legends like Robin Williams and Richard Pryor. I’m Dying Up Here aims to capture that magical time, when the comedy scene was a lot more like the wild west.
“To me it’s like the Big Bang of comedy,” Carrey says. “Nixon, Watergate, the impeachment, all that stuff that was happening back then – not unlike today… there was a need to tell the truth, and cut through the baloney, and so it created this phenomenon, these comedy clubs, and it was literally the Big Bang of comedy.”
I’m Dying Up Here premieres June 4th on Showtime.
If you’re wondering what else Carrey’s been up to – and where that beard came from – Kimmel was, too, and of course he asked about it:
