Who do you think would die first in a four-way battle royale between Seth Rogen, Will Ferrell, Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler? Who do you think has had the least inspiring film career between those four? Are both answers the same?
Look, anyone who has ever written and starred in a mid-budget comedy produced by a major studio is doing pretty okay from a career standpoint, so it would be ludicrous to suggest that any of the men mentioned above is somehow a failure, despite what their biggest haters may say. But speaking of haters, only one of those four funnymen has a large and devoted anti-stan movement on Twitter that relishes in taking every opportunity to snarkily reply to a picture of him lighting a giant fake bong at a Hollywood Bowl show and tell him, “We get it man.”
Earlier today, a viral Twitter post challenged comedy film fans to a hypothetical in which they have to choose one comedian between Rogen, Ferrell, Carrey and Sandler whose career and filmography would be wiped from our collective memory and from IMDb. The number one answer to the question was “Seth Rogen,” with the misspelled “Seth Rogan” coming in a close second.
To play Rogen’s advocate, I do think that the rabid anti-Rogen sentiment in the replies is seriously underrating his filmography and simplifying it to divisive-to-trashed projects like The Interview or The Green Hornet. Additionally, comedy fans seemed to forget about Judd Apatow's affinity for his archetypal leading man, who has been landing gorgeous women who are well out of his league in so many classics for decades. Erasing Rogen’s filmography would mean saying goodbye to films like Superbad, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up and even Step Brothers — people always seem to forget that Rogen was the guy on the other side of the desk in the famous tuxedo interview scene.
To that end, one Rogen defender fought hard for the Sausage Party creator’s filmography, writing, “Why the hate for Seth Rogan? No he’s not as talented as Jim Carrey. But Adam Sandler hasn’t made anything worthwhile since 1999. The same is true for the Wachowskis and Snoop Dogg.” He later added of The Sandman, “Seth Rogan has Pineapple Express. Adam Sandler has Jack and Jill, Grown Ups and That’s My Boy. I’m chucking Adam Sandler in the trash easily.”
Honestly, even getting pictured next to Carrey and Ferrell in the hypothetical death match is an honor for Rogen — at least he’s been compared to the greats, even if most comedy movie fans don’t think he deserves to be in that tier. If the original poster simply swapped out Sandler for someone like Rob Schneider, you’d bet your bearded, bong-ripping ass that the top answer would be closer to something like, “Can we just lose the entire cast of I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry?”