At the premiere, when asked what he would do if he could be God for a day, Jim Carrey said he would go to McDonald's, put Ronald out of his misery, and bring the McNuggets back to life.

We always hated clowns anyway.

'Bruce Almighty' L.A. Premiere

Our Encounter with Jim Carrey at Universal Citywalk

May 14, 2003

By Kelly, Entertainment Reporter
Photos © GoodTimes-LA

ho doesn't love a movie premiere, especially when Jim Carrey is in da house!? Janine and I went to catch the red carpet arrivals at the premiere of Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston's movie, Bruce Almighty, at Universal Citywalk. What a blast! Best of all ... we met Jim Carrey.

We arrived at Universal a good two hours early to check things out. We got primo spots next to the red carpet, across from the ET, Access Hollywood, and E! stages, and across from the KIIS-FM stage (where DJ Valentine interviewed most of the celebs live on the air). The news crews hadn't even arrived yet, but Valentine from KIIS-FM was wandering around and broadcasting live. There were maybe 20 of us just hanging out and having a good time. Valentine was giving away Wango Tango tickets, and he said that if anybody went out and danced the waltz in the central court, we would win tickets. Janine and I, being as hot as we are, started waltzing around. Valentine came over and gave us tickets. Well, that was easy! Then he put about eight of us on the radio as we said our name and where we're from. Big excitement.

About an hour before the arrivals began, security started milling about, and the crowd behind us and up above on the food court level grew considerably until there was a sea of people behind us. We schmoozed a little with our friendly security guard, Christian, whom we had chatted up at the Matrix Reloaded premiere. The three of us had a wonderful chat about the entertainment biz, and Christian promised to hook us up in the future. Attaboy!

We had fun killing time with Valentine and being our usual dorky selves, cheering for the camera crews as they walked by, making fools out of ourselves. The premiere was staged outside the cineplex and, well before 6pm, there was already a lengthy line of folks waiting to see the late showing of The Matrix Reloaded. What we couldn't figure out was the purpose of the geeks dressed in Star Wars gear, fighting with light sabers, including two guys dressed as Princess Leah. (Is there something I'm not getting here?)

A guy who was down the row from us, maybe five or six people down from me, brought two canvas paintings he had done; one of Jim and one of Jennifer. They were amazing. Members of the media came over and took video or snapshots of him and his daughter holding the paintings. He hoped to get Jim and Jennifer to sign them.

Sometime after 6:00, the first celebs started to arrive. Brian Dunkleman from the first season of American Idol wins the "I'm a massive tool because I'm the first one to arrive" award. What a dimwit. He wore a shirt that said 818.

Brian McKnight showed up with his kids. They looked surprised and in awe of the whole red carpet event. I think we may have frightened them.

Lance Bass from *NSYNC strolled down the carpet shortly after that. He stopped and talked to KIIS and all the entertainment news stations and he said that the group will be back in the studio in September. The girlies in the crowd went nutsville. Reluctantly, I snapped a photo of Lance as he was interviewed on the radio.

Some other celebrities that showed up early on included Beau Bridges, Hillary Duff, Catherine Bell from JAG, and a mess of people I didn't even recognize. Oh, and Shannon Elizabeth and her hubby. The dog from the movie came down the carpet and was being interviewed by all the media. Then, here's the kicker, Juan Valdez and his Columbian coffee mule. Good times all around. The mule was not having a good time. We were waiting for him to poop on the carpet. That would have been lovely.

And then there is Jim Carrey. Ahhhh yes, Jim Boy. Let it suffice to say, the man is awesome. He's simply mah-velous. Jim did his thing with Valentine on the KIIS-FM stage and made all of us laugh. Then, this is where it gets good.

Jim jumped off the KIIS stage and started walking in our direction. He stopped and took a drink out of a bottle of water. I noticed him look over at us and then it was as though he were walking in our direction in slow motion. Suddenly, he was right in front of us! I was so not expecting that! The people behind us started pushing and screaming for Jim. Poor Janine was being smushed into the barricade, so I turned around and screamed at the mom and two kids behind her, "Back OFF!"

Jim started shaking hands with everyone starting about five people down from us and he made his way towards us. When he reached Janine, he noticed that she was being shoved into the barricade and he got this look of horror on his face. He laughed and grabbed Janine's arms and said, "Are you okay?" Janine laughed and was like, "Yeah I'm fine," and Jim smiled big and laughed again and asked, "Are you sure? You gonna be all right?" How adorable and cute is that?! So precious. A guy behind me asked for an autograph, but Jim didn't have a pen with him. He asked if any of us had a pen. Unfortunately, mine was tucked away in my purse which I was not physically able to obtain at that moment without risking my life (or my arm which I love dearly).

Jim was shaking hands and when I held mine out, he grabbed it and held it for a while. I remember just smiling at him and seeing him all happy and bouncy and genuinely loving being there. I asked Jim if we could take a picture together. He didn't hear me so he said, "What was that?" and leaned into me, and I asked him again. He smiled big and said, "Well, I don't know if that's possible?!" as he gestured to the barricade between us. I pointed at Janine's camera and said, "She'll take our picture." Jim said, "A-ha! I see!"

Jim leaned in and put his arm around my back as Janine leaned back as far as she could to take our picture. Jim asked if she was ready. We thought she was taking the photo, but then Janine stopped and said she'd try again. Jim was so patient. He put his face against mine at one point, and I remember thinking, "Wow, I'm face to face with Jim Carrey, how cool is this." Janine finally got the shot and we thanked him. I then decided to snap some photos as he was signing. He shook hands with more people for maybe one more minute (he signed the guy's painting, but I didn't catch what he had to say), then turned and went to the Access Hollywood and ET stages.

Jim caught us completely off guard. What a swell guy! I totally did not expect that. Nobody else came over to the fans. Jim rocks like a bad beast. And he has lovely skin!

Rodney Dangerfield showed up. He looked like he had one foot in the grave. Wow. He told Access Hollywood that he's been cut up so much, he feels like he's back in his old neighborhood. Ho ho ho.

John Schneider showed up late in the game. Janine and I squealed and reminisced. He was Janine's first crush. His was my first fan club membership. I remember receiving my John Schneider fan club membership card, yearly calendar, and cheesy 8x10 glossy photo in the mail. I loved Mommy so much! (Still do, actually.)

When Jennifer Aniston arrived, everyone was wondering where Brad was. (As Janine can tell you, he's off in Europe filming a movie.) Jen stopped and chatted with Valentine from KIIS. She's so beautiful, especially in person. Jennifer saw the guy's painting and gave him a huge smile and a thumbs-up, but she never came over to sign for him. Bummer for him.

Eventually, the activity on the red carpet died down. Jenna Elfman strutted through on the other side of the carpet, managing to avoid the press, but Valentine spotted her and called her up on stage. She looked absolutely adorable with ringlets in her hair. We also spotted LeAnn Rhimes and her hubby who gave the crowd a small wave and a smile before bolting down the carpet.

Later on, Slash from G&R came and walked by at a quick pace. Aisha Tyler also showed up and worked the press lines. Sally Kirkland is an odd banana. She got up on the KIIS stage, took the microphone from Valentine, and proceeded to phone home to the mother ship. She's a nut that wouldn't shut up.

The press started tearing down and most of the press and the crowd around us had left when Will Ferrell showed up. Some guy behind me yelled, "Will, you're late!" We cheered very loudly for Will. He may have been spooked, but who can blame him really.

Soon everyone was inside so we decided to say goodbye to Christian. He was going to give us some of the gigantic posters, but he was being sent home early and they couldn't tear down the posters until after the movie was done. So, we came home and watched the American Idol results.

Bruce Almighty is in theatres May 23. Go see it! Or I'll hurt you.