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By Bill Husted -- The Denver Post -- Monday, February 14, 2005 Aspen - Late-night talker Conan O'Brien introduced and interviewed Jim Carrey on Saturday night [2/12] at Aspen's U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. Carrey was in town to receive the American Film Institute's Star Award. O'Brien was in town to keep it moving. "I don't want to oversell this event," O'Brien said, "but prepare for the greatest hour of your lives." If it wasn't that, it was funny and pleasant to see Carrey onstage, tracing his career, singing and dancing. He broke into renditions from "South Pacific" - then headed into "Jesus Christ Superstar." He claimed to have bought the bones of Elvis - and went into an Elvis impersonation, singing a song he said he wrote for the King, "I Love a Pecan Pie." There were, of course, serious moments. Carrey said the secret of comedy is making the audience feel superior to the comic - adding that O'Brien did that so well. He later said the job of comedians is to fool you. "They want you to believe that they don't feel. They want you to believe that they think it through instead of feeling it," he said. O'Brien said Colorado law required that he ask one question: Did Carrey want to direct? "I want to settle down," Carrey said. "I want to do something completely different, to be totally honest with you. I want to do a talk show. I was thinking about taking over the 'Tonight Show."' O'Brien said that he was, er, planning on doing that. "I'll make a call down to NBC and see," Carrey said. "I just want to give them the option." Did he miss standup, the thrill of performing in front an audience? "Honest to God, I don't miss the audience at all," Carrey said. "Not a g------ bit. They're really judgmental." Not Saturday night, they weren't. It was a love fest, and Carrey was having such a good time, he stayed to answer questions and talk to the fans 20 minutes after the ceremony. Organizers finally had to close it down to prepare for the next event. |