Jonathan M.
"Jon
" Lovitz
(born July 21, 1957) is an American actor, comedian and singer. He is best known for serving as a cast member of Saturday Night Live
between 1985 to 1990 and voicing Jay Sherman on The Critic
.
|
JON LOVITZ TICKETS
|
Early life
Lovitz was born in
Los Angeles, California,
United States.
He attended
Harvard School and studied theater at the
University of California at Irvine and graduated in 1979. He studied acting with Tony Barr at the Film Actors Workshop. He became a member of
The Groundlings comedy troupe where he befriended
Phil Hartman.
Career
{{
#ifexist:Category:Cleanup from January 2009
Saturday Night Live
Lovitz was a cast member of
Saturday Night Live
from 1985 to 1990. He later said in an interview for the book
Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live
that his time on
SNL
was the most memorable in his career. He went from having no money to being offered a
$500,000 movie contract. He was nominated for an
Emmy his first two years on
Saturday Night Live
. One of his most notable
SNL
characters was "
Tommy Flanagan, The Pathological Liar" who used the old
catch phrase, "Yeah! That's the ticket!" as he, after visible effort, finally finished constructing his latest lie. Some of his other recurring characters included
Master Thespian,
Tonto,
Mephistopheles, and
Michael Dukakis. In a 1986 episode of
Saturday Night Live
he played a virgin
Trekkie, who was scripted to hang his head when asked by
William Shatner if he had ever kissed a girl.
Hanukkah Harry, one of his most memorable roles, cast him in 1989 as a Jewish contemporary of
Santa Claus who lives on
Mount Sinai and travels the globe with a cart flown by three donkeys to give bland gifts to Jewish boys and girls. Harry is asked to fill in when Santa falls ill on
Christmas Eve.
Voiceover work
Lovitz has lent his
voice to several
cartoons and films. In the series
The Critic
he played the title character of
Jay Sherman. On
The Simpsons
he played
Marge's ex-prom date
Artie Ziff, theater director Llewellyn Sinclair (and his sister, who runs a daycare center) on the season four episode "
A Streetcar Named Marge", Jay Sherman again in the Season 6 crossover episode "
A Star Is Burns", as well as Professor Lombardo and Aristotle Amadopolous, and paparazzo Enrico Irritazio in the season eighteen episode "
Homerazzi". He played a brief role as Cheapo, the world's cheapest bad guy, in the short lived series
Stripperella
. He was also the voice of Radio in the Hyperion-produced, Disney-distributed animated movie,
The Brave Little Toaster
and he lent his voice for a
promo video for the
video game Banjo-Kazooie
.
Movie cameos and television guest appearances
In the late 1990s, Lovitz was "the man who wrote the
Yellow Pages", in a series of commercials and print ads for the American Yellow Pages industry. He has also appeared for ads for
Subway and in a cameo in the movie
Matilda, as Million Dollar Sticky Man.
He also had an uncredited
cameo as a rival
crooner to
Adam Sandler in the movie
The Wedding Singer
, and had a small role in another of Sandler's movies,
Little Nicky
. He also was a supporting character in "Mr. Destiny" with James Belushi.
Lovitz has also appeared on
Friends
twice. He first appeared in the Season 1 episode "
The One with the Stoned Guy" as a restauranteur who gets stoned on marijuana just prior to interviewing
Monica Geller for a job. He reappeared years later in the Season 9 episode "
The One with the Blind Dates", where it is revealed that he lost his restaurant due to a drug problem.
He also appeared on
Seinfeld
as Gary Fogel, a man who lies about having
cancer ("
The Scofflaw") and later dies in a car accident.
In 1991, Lovitz appeared in the season six episode of
Married With Children
entitled "Kelly Does Hollywood part 2" as sleazy hollywood producer Mr. Littlehead. In 1998, Lovitz made a dramatic turn when he appeared in a small but pivotal role in Todd Solondz's film
Happiness
as a depressed man who attacks his date for thinking of him as nothing. His insults set the tone for her character throughout the film.
Lovitz guest-starred twice on
Newsradio
as two separate characters (a mental patient in the hospital where
Phil Hartman's character was committed and a suicidal man threatening to jump off a window ledge outside the studio) before becoming a cast member in the show's final season. In the final season, he played Max Louis, the news radio announcer who replaced
Phil Hartman's Bill McNeal.
In 2003, appeared on an episode of Just Shoot Me as a man married to a Nina. He appeared on
Two and a Half Men
in 2006 as a jingle writer named Archie and has also had multiple guest appearances on the TV show
Las Vegas
as Fred Puterbaugh up the end of the second series.
Broadway theatre
He has appeared on
Broadway at the
Music Box Theatre in
Neil Simon's play
The Dinner Party
, taking over the lead role from
Henry Winkler. He sang at
Carnegie Hall three times (including Great Performances'
Ira Gershwin at 100: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall
) and sang the
national anthem at
Dodger Stadium and the
U.S. Open.
On October 10, 2001, Lovitz sang a duet (with
Robbie Williams) of the song "
Well, Did You Evah!"
[1] at the
Royal Albert Hall in the
UK. The recording can be found on the
Swing When You're Winning
album.
Stand-up comedy
In 1984, Lovitz entered
stand-up comedy for the first time in his career. He also appeared in the film
The Producers
as the strict accounting firm chairman, Mr. Marx. In 1996, he became the spokesperson in an advertising campaign for the Subway restaurant chain.
The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club
On November 8, 2007 Jon Lovitz had the grand opening for his new comedy club
"The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club at Aubergine" in the Downtown Gaslamp District in San Diego, CA, sponsored by RR-Ex. It currently presents one show a night at 9pm every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The club has played host to
David Spade,
Ralphie May,
Carlos Mencia,
Dana Carvey,
Jo Koy,
Eric Schwartz,
Craig Shoemaker,
Russell Peters,
Kevin Nealon,
Dennis Miller, and
Ryan Robinson.
There is also a second Jon Lovitz Comedy Club location on City Walk in Universal Studios, Hollywood.
Filmography
Films
Year
| Film
| Role
| Notes
|
1986
| Hamburger... The Motion Picture
| Security guard
|
|
Last Resort
| Bartender
|
|
Jumpin' Jack Flash
| Doug
|
|
Ratboy
| Party guest
|
|
¡Three Amigos!
| Morty
|
|
1987
| The Brave Little Toaster
| Radio
| Voice
|
1988
| Big
| Scotty Brennen
|
|
My Stepmother Is an Alien
| Ron Mills
|
|
1990
| Mr. Destiny
| Clip Metzler
|
1991
| An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
| Chula
| Voice
|
1992
| The Buzz
| Unknown
|
|
A League of Their Own
| Ernie Capadino
|
|
Mom and Dad Save the World
| Emperor Tod Spengo
|
|
1993
| Loaded Weapon 1
| Becker
|
|
Coneheads
| Dr. Rudolph
| Uncredited
|
1994
| City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold
| Glen Robbins
|
|
North
| Arthur Belt
|
|
Trapped in Paradise
| Dave Firpo
|
|
Hachi Machi
| Matt Landry
|
|
1996
| For Goodness Sake II
| Unknown
|
|
The Great White Hype
| Sol
|
|
Matilda
| Million $ Sticky Host
| Uncredited
|
High School High
| Richard Clark
|
|
1998
| The Wedding Singer
| Jimmie Moore
| Uncredited
|
Happiness
| Andy Kornbluth
|
|
1999
| Lost & Found
| Uncle Harry
|
|
2000
| Small Time Crooks
| Benny
|
|
Little Nicky
| Peeper
|
|
Sand
| Kirby
|
|
2001
| 3000 Miles to Graceland
| Jay Peterson
|
|
Cats & Dogs
| Calico
| Voice
|
Rat Race
| Randall 'Randy' Pear
|
|
Good Advice
| Barry Sherman
|
|
2002
| Eight Crazy Nights
| Tom Baltezor
|
|
2003
| Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star
| Sidney Wernick
|
|
2004
| The Stepford Wives
| Dave Markowitz
|
|
2005
| Bailey's Billion$
| Bailey
|
|
Pancho's Pizza
| Unknown
| Short film
|
The Producers
| Mr. Marks
|
|
2006
| Farce of the Penguins
| "My eyes are up here" Penguin
| Direct-to-DVD release
|
The Benchwarmers
| Mel
|
|
Southland Tales
| Bart Bookman
|
|
2007
| I Could Never Be Your Woman
| Rob
| Direct-to-DVD release
|
Television
Year
| Series
| Role
| Notes
|
1984
| The Paper Chase
| Levitz
| Episode 2.18: "Billy Pierce"
|
1985
| Foley Square
| Mole
|
|
1985-1992
| Saturday Night Live
| Various characters
| Main cast member; appeared in 92 episodes
|
1991
| Tales from the Crypt
| Barry Blye
| Episode 3.5: "Top Billing"
|
Married... with Children
| Jeff Littlehead
| Episode 6.10: "Kelly Does Hollywood: Part 2"
|
1991-2007
| The Simpsons
| Various characters
| Appeared in nine episodes
|
1993
| A League of Their Own
| Ernie Capadino
| Episode 1.1: "Dottie's Back"
|
1994-1995
| The Critic
| Jay Sherman
| Appeared in all 23 episodes
|
1995
| Seinfeld
| Gary Fogel
| Episode 6.13: "The Scofflaw"
|
1995, 2003
| Friends
| Steve
| Episodes 1.15: "The One with the Stoned Guy" and 9.14: "The One with the Blind Dates"
|
1997
| The Naked Truth
| Acer Predburn
| Episode 2.8: "The Scoop"
|
1997-1999
| NewsRadio
| Fred Mike Johnson Max Lewis
| Episode 3.20: "Our Fiftieth Episode" Episode 4.1: "Jumper" Main cast member from fifth season onwards
|
2002
| Son of the Beach
| Father of B.J.'s Baby
| Episode 3.14: "Bad News, Mr. Johnson"
|
2003
| Stripperella
| Cheap-o
| Episode 1.2: "Crime Doesn't Pay... Seriously, It Doesn't"
|
Just Shoot Me!
| Roland Devereaux
| Episode 7.15: "A Simple Kiss of Fate"
|
2004-2005
| Las Vegas
| Fred Puterbaugh
| Appeared in three episodes
|
2006
| Two and a Half Men
| Archie Baldwin
| Episode 3.17: "The Unfortunate Little Schnauzer"
|
Other work
- Cranium Command (1989) - Right Brain
- Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget (2008) - Himself
- The Critic (webisodes) (2005) - Jay Sherman
References
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af6TYmIXBcQ