Rick Moranis first started making a name for himself after joining the cast of SCTV in the early 1980s. During his stint on the show, Moranis was known for delivering memorable impressions of celebrities, including fellow comedians like Woody Allen and George Carlin. Once, Moranis gave viewers his take on Carlin playing Biff Loman in a parody of Death of a Salesman.
Honing in on Carlin’s tendency to analyze everyday things in his stand-up act, Moranis, as Carlin/Biff, constantly tries to make a bit out of what’s happening in the play, wondering out loud at one point, “How do you feel well? I can feel my arm, I can feel my hair, but how do you feel well?”
In another sketch, Moranis shows us what it would be like if a character with Carlin’s on-stage persona starred in a movie of his own:
For good measure, here’s a clip of Moranis imitating Carlin while talking about underrated vegetables:
That last segment got the attention of Carlin himself, who briefly touched on it in his posthumous memoir, Last Words. By Carlin’s own admission, Moranis’s imitation came at a time when he felt that his stand-up had grown stagnant. In particular, Carlin pointed to a bit that he was doing around then on the subject of peas:
The Rick Moranis Impression That Made George Carlin Rethink His Comedy
According to Carlin, that was what inspired Moranis to satirize him in a way that he said went to “devastating lengths” because of how truthful it was. “I did too much of that kind of s—t,” Carlin acknowledged. “I was over some kind of limit.”
For his part, Moranis insists that he was a big Carlin fan, and didn’t mock him with ill intent. While reflecting on the offending bit in 2023, Moranis recalled seeing Carlin sitting nearby at an award show afterward. “Brutal. Brutal, man. Brutal,” was the only thing Carlin had to say. All Moranis could do was shrug and gesture to Carlin about how much he loved him. The two never got a chance to speak again.
However, years later, Moranis heard from Carlin’s daughter, Kelly, who was looking to use the SCTV clips for a show she was doing. Moranis took that opportunity to make it clear to Kelly that his imitation of her father was done out of reverence. Kelly went on to tell Moranis that his parody had a profound effect on her dad, and that he apparently wasn’t aware of how lazy he’d gotten with his material.
“He was unhappy and wasn’t doing the kind of work that he wanted to be doing,” Kelly explained. “And your impression caused him to change his approach.”
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