Generous applause and a palpable wave of joy tinged with relief coursed through the audience. The pure delight at Steve Carell’s entrance to the auditorium during The New Yorker Festival was so overwhelming that it was hard to believe he was an actor. But Steve Carell is more than an actor. He is an American icon, if a modest one.
Carell never thought he would be a comedian. “I was the one laughing the hardest at the class clown, but I wasn’t him,” he explained. In fact, Carell thought he would be a lawyer. But when he couldn’t bring himself to finish his law school applications, he went to Hollywood. He credits his family with supporting him and debunks the myth that you have to be wounded to be a successful comedian.
If you think he’s a bit of a softy, you’re right. When he joined The Daily Show, it pained him to poke fun at unsuspecting subjects. He resolved the conflict by making a joke out of himself, conducting interviews in character. “If you come off as more foolish than they are, then you can make fun of them,” he reasoned.
Other misgivings arose when he starred in The 40-Year Old Virgin. “My natural inclination is not to go so dirty,” he explained. Which is not to say he’s too precious to be funny, but that he believes in comedic characters who are grounded and relatable. Indeed, relatability has become his trademark.
Today, Carell takes his fame with a grain of salt, guessing that this is the effect of becoming famous in his 40’s. “[By then] I’d already set my priorities-- my wife, my kids, my family,” he said. He spoke of them with a funny guy’s pride. “My kids are 6 and 9,” he gushed, “and they already understand irony!"
In sum, Carell isn’t a Perfect 10. He hasn’t demonstrated breathtaking range or impeccable dramatic skill. But he represents something simpler and perhaps more dear. He is a reflection in Hollywood of American values, intellect and heart. And his presence has been welcomed by the American public, and certainly the New Yorker audience, with a reaction that seems to say, “Finally. Finally. Here’s our man!”
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Amy King
Juliet Waters
Catherine Forsythe
Fay Paxton
Algis Kemezys
Kerry Lauerman
Salon.com
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