With Jim Carrey, there are always plenty of laughs

In Jim Carrey’s newest release, “Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” out today, Carrey brings his comedic fanfare down to a family-friendly level in order to play the title character of the beloved book that has resonated with children over the last seven decades.

That’s all good and fun, but what makes Jim Carrey Jim Carrey is his berserk, obnoxious, out-there characters that he perfected early on in his career. Yes, Carrey has done some wonderful dramas over the years — “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004), “The Truman Show” (1998) and portraying the complicated Andy Kaufman in “Man on the Moon” (1999) — but when you hear the name Jim Carrey, you automatically think of comedy. The two are just synonymous with each other, from his days on “In Living Color” to his bizarre MTV Movie Awards appearance in 1999.

And so, here are my top 5 comedic performances (in no particular order) by the one-and-only Jim Carrey.

“Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” — Ace Ventura (1994) — “Alrighty, then.” For Carrey’s first major movie role, he played the dumbfounded pet detective with a big heart who must solve the case of the missing football mascot — a dolphin — after it was stolen just before the Super Bowl. With classic one-liners, talking butts and even an appearance by Dan Marino, Carrey cemented himself as one of Hollywood’s leading funny men with this breakout role.

“The Mask” — Stanley Ipkiss (1994) — “S-s-s-s-smokin’!!” When under-appreciated banker Ipkiss mistakes an old wooden mask for a person drowning in a river, he thinks nothing of it. Until he takes the mask home, puts it on and is transformed into a confidant, lovable man of mystery — in cartoon form. “The Mask” is just a whole lot of fun — especially the scene where he tricks all the cops into dancing and forming a giant conga line to the song “Cuban Pete” as a distraction for him to get away.

“Batman Forever” — Riddler / Dr. Edward Nygma (1995) — “Riddle me this…” Carrey added a lot of fun to an otherwise cheesy film with his Riddler character. Otherwise known as Dr. Edward Nygma, a former employee of Bruce Wayne’s (aka Batman, played by Val Kilmer), the Riddler creates a device that will drain information from the human brain, including Wayne’s, which contains the knowledge of his other identity. Teaming up with Tommy Lee Jones’ Two-Face character, these two put on one solid show that managed to outshine the debonair Kilmer.

“Liar Liar” — Fletcher Reede (1997) — “I CAN’T LIE!” Carrey brings his usual eccentric best to “Liar Liar,” where he plays a lawyer who can’t lie for 24 hours after his son makes it his birthday wish. Having built his career on lying, you could see where this wish could create quite a snag for Reede, but it’s all the funnier for us to watch. Carrey was also nominated for a Golden Globe for this performance.

“Dumb & Dumber” — Lloyd Christmas (1994) — “Mock! Yeah! Ing! Yeah! Bird! Yeah!” Just as it states, “Dumb & Dumber” is dumb … but it’s still hilarious. Lloyd is a limo driver in Rhode Island who develops a crush on one of his passengers (Lauren Holly). After she leaves a briefcase in the airport (on purpose that is), Lloyd puts all his effort into returning the briefcase — which happens to be full of ransom money — back to her in Aspen, Colo. Joining him for the ride is his buddy Harry (Jeff Daniels), a pet groomer. Along the way a few — OK a lot of — hijinks ensue. It’s the ultimate slapstick buddy comedy that gets funnier the more you watch it. And just last week, Carrey made it known that a sequel is in the works.

HONORABLE MENTION:
“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” — Grinch (2000) — “Oh, the Who-manity!” Based on the beloved Dr. Seuss character, Carrey’s real-life Grinch may end up with a big heart, but before he turns his life around the Grinch is a nasty creature who hates Christmas. And although Carrey may be covered in green makeup and fur, he does a great job at bringing out his signature style of comedy to a more lovable, less-obnoxious character. Despite the heartwarming nature of the story, his comedy still works well within the film. So much that it’s the highest grossing Christmas film of all time.

Wind down a summer night with these not-so-boring shows

When it comes to summer, I know TV isn’t the first priority on your list — it may not even be on the list, and that’s OK. We New Englanders need to soak up as much sun as we can before it disappears on us. And with cookouts and camping and kayaking taking up the summer hours, why waste it with TV, right? Well, in case of a dreary day (as was yesterday) or if you’ve been fried to a crisp and just need some relaxation, here’s my top four choices for what’s coming to TV this summer.

“Franklin and Bash” (TNT — Wednesday — 9 p.m.)

TNT has done well with their original series so far — medical drama “Hawthorne” starring Jada Pinkett Smith, police fare “Memphis Beat” starring Jason Lee and the midlife-crisis dramedy “Men of a Certain Age” with Ray Romano, among others. And they continue their consistency for solid drama with their newest show “Franklin and Bash,” which premiered this Wednesday.

Peter Bash (Mark-Paul Gosselaar of “Saved By the Bell” fame) and Jared Franklin (Breckin Meyer, you’ll recognize him, I promise) are the goofballs of the attorney world — not always playing by the rules and in most cases, making a scene in the courtroom. But it works for them. They’ve got a pretty good track record and they’ll do anything for their clients to guarantee a win.

When asked to join a bigger firm, led by Malcolm McDowell, the two cave-in and bring their offbeat way of practicing law to the big leagues. Now it’s just a matter of whether they can continue to stay best buds while their new place of work takes them each in different directions.

“Franklin and Bash” is slightly reminiscent of “The Defenders” starring Jim Belushi and Jerry O’Connell, but Gosselaar and Meyer make the buddy thing more believable, the dialogue is better and the laughs aren’t as forced.

“Love Bites” (NBC — Thursday — 10 p.m.)

It has taken a long time for “Love Bites” to hit the screen (it has been in development for what seems like forever) but it premiered last night, with eight more episodes to come. It may already be set for cancellation, as all the main players have moved on to other projects and series that debut in the fall, but it’s still something to check out while it’s here.

“Love Bites” centers around Annie (the fabulous Becki Newton from “Ugly Betty”), a single girl looking for “Mr. Right,” and Coleen and Judd (Constance Zimmer and Greg Grunberg), a happily married couple, whose stories connect with each other.

With an array of guest stars, including Jennifer Love Hewitt, Craig Robinson, Lindsay Price, Krysten Ritter and Charlyne Yi, it’s sure to be a fun show.

“Wilfred” (FX — Thursday — June 23 — 10 p.m.)

“Wilfred” has quite a bizarre premise but it stars Elijah Wood, whom I’ve always liked as an actor, even before his “Lord of the Rings” stardom. Plus FX’s has a solid track record when it comes to producing original material, so I’m more than willing to give “Wilfred” a shot.

Based off an Australian series of the same name, “Wilfred” centers around Ryan, who struggles with everyday life, until he forms a friendship with Wilfred, his neighbor’s dog. To him Wilfred (Jason Gann — who co-created and starred in the original Australian version) is a talking man in dog suit who gives Ryan honest advice; to everyone else Wilfred is just a regular dog. Wilfred ends up leading Ryan on a series of adventures to help turn his life around.

“Wilfred” is intriguingly odd, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it pans out.

“101 Ways to Leave a Gameshow” (ABC — Tuesday —June 21 — 9 p.m.)

“101 Ways to Leave a Gameshow” is exactly what it sounds like. And it sounds quite fun. In a chance to win $50,000, contestants answer multiple choice questions, with one contestant eliminated each round. The catch is: Rather than simply being dismissed off the show, eliminated contestants are, for example, shot out of a cannon, dragged underwater by an anchor or pushed off the top of a moving semi-truck. How could you not watch this show?