In a coldly calculated ‘chat’ on The Five, Fox’s hosts sat around and mocked Jim Carrey’s spoof anti-gun video and subsequent press release, pretending they found it funny, and feigning indifference in a poorly executed ego retention mission.

Befitting the demeanour of five-year-olds, sitting around a table and engaging in a game of one-upmanship, The Five team (their names irrelevant) set out to impress each other and their viewers, but exhibiting a brand of fake triviality all the while. “Jimmy mocked Mr. Heston but won’t respond to me -- yet,” said host Greg Gutfeld with his patented smarm. “I guess Jimmy thought he couldn’t lose to a debate to a dead man. That’s what’s really funny. He did. And now Charlton Heston has a brighter future in films than Jim Carrey.” Gutfield continued to pick through Carrey’s press release, calling it “basically a complete meltdown,” adding: “This is a guy that insulted most of America and danced on the grave of Charlton Heston. Jim Carrey is, in this letter, threatening legal action -- something Charlton Heston can’t do because Charlton Heston is dead. That was the whole point, to stand up for somebody who couldn’t talk back to a fool like Jim Carrey."

Jim CarreyJim Carrey - still smiling

This transparent retort – and notice no concrete policies were discussed – was designed to fool viewers in to thinking these guys are the good guys. Ultimately, it likely succeeded, but any moral person will have been instantly hit by the irony of Gutfield’s opening line, because this wasn’t about Jim Carrey, this was about five egos vying for attention.