Jon Lovitz

Jon Lovitz
Lovitz in 2008
Birth name Jonathan Michael Lovitz
Born (1957-07-21) July 21, 1957
Tarzana, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Medium Stand-up, film, television
Years active 1984–present
Genres Sketch comedy, observational comedy, improvisational comedy

Jonathan Michael Lovitz[1] (born July 21, 1957)[2] is an American comedian, actor, and singer. He is best known as a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1990. He starred as Jay Sherman in The Critic and has appeared in numerous other television series and films.

His film credits include roles in The Brave Little Toaster, Rat Race, Big, A League of Their Own, The Wedding Singer, High School High, and The Benchwarmers.

Early life

Lovitz was born Jonathan Michael Lovitz on July 21, 1957 in Tarzana, Los Angeles, California. His father was a doctor.[2] His family is Jewish (they emigrated from Romania, Hungary, and Russia).[3]

Career

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 film contract. He was nominated for an Emmy Award his first two years on Saturday Night Live. One of his most notable SNL characters was "Tommy Flanagan, The Pathological Liar" who used an old Humphrey Bogart line "Yeah! That's the ticket!" as a catchphrase to punctuate painfully elaborated implausible lies. Other recurring characters included Annoying Man, Master Thespian, Tonto, Mephistopheles, Harvey Fierstein, and Michael Dukakis. In a 1986 episode of Saturday Night Live, he portrayed 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 Lovitz's 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.

On February 15, 2015, on the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special, he was named by Steve Martin as one of the many SNL cast members who had died over the years, with the camera cutting to show Lovitz's reaction. Later, his image was seen in a montage of deceased SNL members, with the camera once again cutting to his now "outraged" reaction.[4]

Television series

Lovitz's first stint as a regular in a situation comedy was as Mole, an investigator for a New York City district attorney's office, in the short-lived 1985–86 series Foley Square, starring Margaret Colin.

Lovitz was a contestant on The New Celebrity Apprentice (also known as Celebrity Apprentice 8), playing for the charity St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He was the 6th contestant fired, finishing in 11th place and raising $50,000 for his charity.

Voiceover work

Lovitz has lent his voice to several cartoons and films. In The Critic, he played the title character of Jay Sherman (using his regular speaking voice). He has made several appearances on The Simpsons, including as Marge's prom date Artie Ziff in "The Way We Was," the art teacher in "Brush with Greatness", theater director Llewellyn Sinclair and his sister who owned a daycare center in "A Streetcar Named Marge", Andre in "Homer's Triple Bypass", and numerous other appearances (including the character of Jay Sherman in the episode A Star Is Burns, which was a crossover with The Critic). 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.

Music

Lovitz performed a duet with Robbie Williams on Williams' album Swing When You're Winning (2001), in the song "Well, Did You Evah." He also performed on the hit series Two and a Half Men singing "Save the Orphans" and beat Charlie (Charlie Sheen) out of the award for best jingle writer.

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!" at the Royal Albert Hall. The recording can be found on the Swing When You're Winning album.

Commercial work

Between 1999 and 2000 Lovitz appeared in a $33 million advertising campaign that featured a series of television commercials promoting the Yellow Pages. The comic premise was to present Lovitz as the Yellow Pages' author. One of them featured Lovitz saying, "The hardest thing to do is to come up with a simple idea that is also great. And I just thought, 'Oh, the alphabet!' " [5][6]

In 2006, he became the spokesman in an advertising campaign for the Subway restaurant chain.[7]

Stand-up comedy

In 2003, Lovitz began his stand-up career at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles.[8]

The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club & Podcast Theatre

In 2009, The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club location on Universal CityWalk in Universal Studios Hollywood opened.[9] A comic short film starring Ken Davitian ('Borat') and featuring Lovitz was filmed there, directed by Brent Roske and written by Aaron Davitian. Weekly episodes of The Adam Carolla Show, a podcast hosted by comedian Adam Carolla, have been recorded at the City Walk location since early 2011.[10]

The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club in Universal Studios Hollywood was home to the first MMA Roasted standup comedy show[11] in 2009.

On May 29, 2011, the name was changed to the Jon Lovitz Comedy Club & Podcast Theatre. A premiere event called Podammit was held, in which Kevin Smith hosted a variety of six podcasts, including Plus One 3D with his wife, Jennifer Schwalbach, Hollywood Babble-On with Ralph Garman and Jay & Silent Bob Get Old with Jason Mewes, as well as The ABCs of SNL with Lovitz himself, a 6-episode 'This Is Your Life' style biographical interview about Lovitz's life and career.[12] The Club periodically hosted other podcasts such as Rob Paulsen's Talkin' Toons (which subsequently left in October 2013). The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club & Podcast Theater closed on November 5, 2014.[13]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1986 Hamburger... The Motion Picture Security guard
1986 Last Resort Bartender
1986 Jumpin' Jack Flash Doug
1986 Ratboy Party guest
1986 Three Amigos Morty
1987 The Brave Little Toaster Radio Voice role
1988 Big Scotty Brennen
1988 My Stepmother Is an Alien Ron Mills
1990 Mr. Destiny Clip Metzler
1991 An American Tail: Fievel Goes West Chula Voice role
1992 The Buzz Unknown
1992 A League of Their Own Ernie Capadino
1992 Mom and Dad Save the World Emperor Tod Spengo
1993 Loaded Weapon 1 Becker
1993 Coneheads Dr. Rudolph
1994 City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold Glen Robbins
1994 North Arthur Belt
1994 Trapped in Paradise Dave Firpo
1996 For Goodness Sake II Unknown
1996 The Great White Hype Sol
1996 Matilda Mickey Uncredited
1996 High School High Richard Clark Lead Role
1998 The Wedding Singer Jimmie Moore Uncredited
1998 Happiness Andy Kornbluth
1999 Lost & Found Uncle Harry
2000 Small Time Crooks Benny
2000 Little Nicky Peeper
2000 Sand Kirby
2001 3000 Miles to Graceland Jay Peterson
2001 Cats & Dogs Calico Voice role
2001 Rat Race Randall "Randy" Pear
2001 Good Advice Barry Sherman
2002 Eight Crazy Nights Tom Baltezor Voice role
2003 Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star Sidney Wernick
2004 The Stepford Wives Dave Markowitz
2005 Bailey's Billion$ Bailey Voice role
2005 Pancho's Pizza Unknown Short film
2005 The Producers Mr. Marks
2006 Farce of the Penguins "My eyes are up here" Penguin Voice role
Direct-to-DVD release
2006 The Benchwarmers Mel
2006 Southland Tales Bart Bookman
2007 I Could Never Be Your Woman Rob Direct-to-DVD release
2010 Casino Jack Adam Kidan
2012 Jewtopia Dennis Lipschitz
2012 Hotel Transylvania Quasimodo Voice role
2013 Bula Quo! Wilson
2013 Grown Ups 2 Squats Fitness Janitor
2013 Jungle Master Mula Voice role
2013 Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie The Mad Scientist
2014 Birds of Paradise Skeeter Voice role
2014 Coffee Shop Frank Miller
2015 A Mouse Tale King of Mice Voice role
2015 Hotel Transylvania 2 The Phantom of the Opera Voice role
2015 The Ridiculous 6 Ezekiel Grant
2016 Mother's Day Wally Burn
2017 Killing Hasselhoff Barry

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1984 The Paper Chase Levitz Episode 2.18: "Billy Pierce"
1985–1986 Foley Square Mole Regular cast member
1985–92 Saturday Night Live Various characters Main cast member; appeared in 92 episodes
1991 Tales from the Crypt Barry Blye Episode 3.5: "Top Billing"
1991 Married... with Children Jeff Littlehead Episode 6.10: "Kelly Does Hollywood: Part 2"
1991–present The Simpsons Various characters (including Jay Sherman and Artie Ziff) (voices) Appeared in eleven episodes
1992, 1994 The Larry Sanders Show Himself Episode 1.03: "The Spiders Episode" and Episode 3.11: "Larry Loses a Friend"
1993 A League of Their Own Ernie Capadino Episode 1.1: "Dottie's Back"
1994–95 The Critic Jay Sherman (voice) Appeared in all 33 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"
1997–99 NewsRadio Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States
Mike Johnson
Max Lewis		 Episode 3.20: "Our Fiftieth Episode"
Episode 4.1: "Jumper"
Main cast member in fifth season
1997–2003 Just Shoot Me! Roland Devereaux Episode 7.15: "A Simple Kiss of Fate"
1997 Saturday Night Live Host Episode 23.5: "Jon Lovitz/Jane's Addiction"
2000 Bette Himself Episode 1.15: "Polterguest"
2002 Son of the Beach Father of B.J.'s Baby Episode 3.14: "Bad News, Mr. Johnson"
2004–05 Las Vegas Fred Puterbaugh Appeared in three episodes
2006 Two and a Half Men Archie Baldwin Episode 3.17: "The Unfortunate Little Schnauzer"
2010 WWE Raw Himself Guest Host[14]
2011 Saturday Night Live Himself (Cameo) Episode 36.14: Host: Dana Carvey
2011–12 Hot in Cleveland Homeless man/Artie 4 Episodes
2012–15 Mr. Box Office Bobby Gold Main cast member
2013–14 New Girl Rabbi Feiglin Episode 3.05: "The Box"; Episode 3.16: "Sister"
2014 Sing Your Face Off Himself Contestant
2015 Hawaii Five-O Barry Burns Episode 5.17 "Kuka'awale"; Episode 5.21 "Ua helele'i ka koku"
2016-18 Animals. Himself
Old Ben (voice)		 Episode 1.09 "Squrriels Part I"; Episode 1.10 "Squrriels Part II"; Episode 2.04 "Squrriels"
2016 The $100,000 Pyramid Himself/Celebrity Guest Episode: Jon Lovitz vs. Deion Sanders
2017 The New Celebrity Apprentice Himself/Contestant 11th place
2017 Funny You Should Ask (2017 game show) Himself/Celebrity Comic
2017 Justice League Action Kid Sharp (voice) Episode 1.35 "Superman's Pal, Kid Sharp"
2018 The $100,000 Pyramid Himself/Celebrity Guest Episode: Jon Lovitz vs. Bobby Moynihan
2018 Insatiable Father Schwartz Episode 1.09 "Bad Kitty"

Other work

References

  1. ↑ https://www.abc.ca.gov/datport/LQSdata.asp?ID=19404481
  2. 1 2 "Jon Lovitz Biography (1957-)". FilmReference.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  3. ↑ Jewishbiography.com > Jewish Biography --> Biographies --> List of Jewish Actors and Actresses > Jon Lovitz. Retrieved on 2012-02-03.
  4. ↑ Zuckerman, Esther (15 February 2015). "SNL includes still-living Jon Lovitz in its 'In Memoriam' segment". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  5. ↑ Landwehr, Rebecca (Feb 13, 2000). "Lovitz returns as the face of the Yellow Pages". Denver Business Journal. Retrieved 2017-01-10.
  6. ↑ "Jon Lovitz's Yellow Pages". Youth'n Up!. Retrieved 2017-01-10.
  7. ↑ Gianatasio, David (March 31, 2006). "Lovitz Makes His Subway Debut in MMB Effort". Adweek. ISSN 0199-2864. Retrieved 2011-02-12.
  8. ↑ Rotter, Joshua. "Jon Lovitz Loves Stand-Up, Acting, and Singing — But Not in That Order". SF Weekly. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
  9. ↑ "Hollywood Docket: Jon Lovitz's Dispute With Comedy Club Manager Ends". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
  10. ↑ AdamCarolla.com (2011). Universal Live Show Archived 2011-05-01 at the Wayback Machine.. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
  11. ↑ Administrator. "History". www.mmaroast.com. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
  12. ↑ http://silentbobspeaks.com/?p=415
  13. ↑ Tillman, Christopher (November 5, 2014). "The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club Has Closed". Inside Universal. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  14. ↑ "World Wrestling Entertainment". Retrieved 5 December 2010.
Preceded by
Will Smith		 MTV Movie Awards host
1995 (with Courteney Cox)		 Succeeded by
Janeane Garofalo and Ben Stiller
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