Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
JIM’S IN A PICKLE
In his first major TV role for 34 years, Jim Carrey plays grieving children’s TV host Mr Pickles, who’s struggling to put on a happy face for his fans
Mr Pickles has been the beaming face of American children’s TV for more than 30 years – but behind the jolly public persona lies a terrible family tragedy. Mr Pickles, or rather his alter ego Jeff Piccirillo, is reeling from the death of his teenage son, Phil, in a car crash and struggling to deal with the break-up of his marriage to the boy’s mother, Jill.
‘He’s troubled but determinedly on the front foot,’ explains Jim Carrey, who plays Jeff/ Mr Pickles in bittersweet ten-part comedy-drama Kidding, which is definitely made for grown-ups. ‘Rather than bottle up his misery, he wants to share it. He’s keen to raise the subject of grief with his young audience in an episode of his popular show, Mr Pickles’ Puppet Time.
‘He sees it as a way of helping them understand the loss of someone close to them and possibly help himself too. Sadly, not everyone agrees it‘s a good idea.’
Especially unhappy at the prospect of a serious, laugh-free episode is Seb, the show’s controller and Jeff’s father. He allows his son to make the programme, but then refuses to broadcast it.
‘You’re a man in a box, a trusted brand,’ explains Seb, who wants his son to instead promote one of America‘s major greetings card manufacturers.
The conflict between father and son is at the heart of Kidding, which features Seb’s daughter Deirdre, mother of his granddaughter Maddy, as the head puppet maker on Mr Pickles’ Puppet Time.
‘Mr Pickles and Jeff represent the conflict between commerce and art,’ says Jim Carrey, who was persuaded to play his first major TV character since 1984’s US comedy The Duck Factory because of the inspiration for Kidding.
‘The show’s creator, Dave Holstein, was fascinated – and I, too – by a reallife American children’s presenter called Fred Rogers, who hosted Mister Rogers’ Neighbourhood for many years.
‘Dave was intrigued by clips of Rogers never breaking character outside of his show and wondered what a person like him would be like if they were forced to confront a family tragedy, to break character. So Mr Pickles was born.’
Jim admits the character isn’t so far removed from himself. Tragedy struck the star of the Ace Ventura movies in 2015 with the suicide of his ex-girlfriend, Cathriona White, and a wrongful death lawsuit filed against him by her family. The lawsuit was dismissed but the sequence of events prompted the star to take a step back from showbusiness.
Jim says, ‘It’s true there’s not a lot of acting required by me in Kidding. This is kind of me. Mr Pickles wants to spread
happiness, I’m hoping viewers of the show will rediscover their innocence, become free from concern.’
In the puppet show episodes we see Mr Pickles take rides in his pickle barrel to the town of Pickle Barrel Falls and onwards to the worlds occupied by creatures such as Snagglehorse, an enormous shaggy blue steed; Ennui Le Triste, a sad-faced French baguette; and Uke-Larry, a musical instrument that sings along to its own tunes. He even gets turned into a puppet himself, for a special Mr Pickles On Ice show.
‘The parts where we see Mr Pickles interacting with the puppets are to be enjoyed at face value,’ says Jim. ‘He entertains children watching his show, and the viewers watching Kidding.’ Kidding, Thursday, 10.40pm and 11.20pm, Sky Atlantic.