Mark Jonathan Davis

Davis began his career in the early 1980s, performing call-in characters and contributing parody songs to Jonathon Brandmeier's morning show on radio station KZZP in Phoenix. Davis was hired by KZZP in 1985 and worked as an on-air personality, morning-show producer, and song parodist. Several of his parodies (many co-written with Rob Izenberg under the band moniker "Guns 'N' Moses") aired on The Dr. Demento Show,[1] including "We Love Barney Fife" (which reached #1 on the Dr. Demento Funny 25 for 1990), "They Drive Me Brady," "Eat Too Much," "Radio Shack", and "Rock Me Jerry Lewis" (which he co-produced in 1986 with Mike Elliott and Bud LaTour).

Davis worked as a morning-show writer and producer at Pirate Radio in Los Angeles in 1989, and then relocated to Los Angeles in 1990 to work at Premiere Radio Networks as a parody song writer and producer and as programming director of the syndicator's morning show comedy networks. While at Premiere, "Jeannie's Diner", his parody of Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner", was released on the Vega compilation Tom's Album and was used on Nick At Nite for an I Dream Of Jeannie promotional music video. "Rice Rice Baby," his parody of Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby", was featured on ABC-TV's "Into The Night with Rick Dees" in 1991.

In 1992, Davis joined the KROQ Kevin and Bean morning show as producer, where he portrayed characters such as Bob Hope, Shakespeare Man, Lt. Sulu, and Paul The 55-Year-Old Intern. As Paul, Davis recorded a single called "Paul On 45" – which was a medley of Sinatra-style versions of KROQ songs – and performed a live duet of the song "I'll Be Home For Christmas" with Tony Bennett at KROQ Acoustic Christmas in December 1993. Davis managed the morning show's live remote broadcasts, conducted celebrity interviews, and produced several of the station's Christmas albums. In 2003, Davis released an album of his KROQ Bob Hope phone-in impersonations, "This Is Bob: The Best Of Mark Jonathan Davis As Bob Hope On The 106.7FM KROQ Kevin & Bean Morning Show."

In 1997, Davis wrote, produced, and sang a parody song about Star Wars, sung to the tune of Barry Manilow's "Copacabana." His parody "The Star Wars Cantina Comedy Parody Song" received extensive airplay on radio stations and was a popular request on The Dr. Demento Show.

In 1994, Davis began work as a freelance copywriter and jingle singer for Nick At Nite, Fox, NBC, and CBS in their network on-air promo departments. Davis was the voice of NBC's "Johnny Chimes", an animated singing mascot for the network.

Davis also performed voices for various Warner Brothers cartoon series such as Batman Beyond, Superman: The Animated Series, and The Zeta Project, and movies Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker and Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. He also wrote and sang parody songs for The Disney Channel's House of Mouse.

In 1994, Davis appeared on NBC's Friday Night as an entertainment correspondent reporting from Woodstock '94 and Lollapalooza, and he performed a "Stupid Human Trick" on CBS's The Late Show with David Letterman. Davis appeared in an acting role as himself on NBC's Newsradio in 1997, and appeared on an episode of The Man Show as a Strip Club DJ in 2001.

In 1997, Davis worked as a freelance joke-writer for a political consulting firm, and several of his jokes were used by President Bill Clinton during remarks at the April 10, 1997 Radio and Television Correspondents' Association Dinner. Davis contributed comedy material to The Late Show With David Letterman, and wrote jokes for several of David Spade's "Weekend Update" appearances on Saturday Night Live.

From 1997 to 2001, Davis worked as a freelance copywriter, show writer, and concept designer for Walt Disney Imagineering during development of Disney's California Adventure theme park in Anaheim, California. Davis wrote copy for signs and displays, and helped create names for theme park attractions, retail stores, and restaurants. He performed voices for Disney attractions "It's Tough To Be A Bug," "Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin," and "Soarin' Over California."

In 2019, Davis released a book of photographs titled "Fonts In Paradise: Signs Of Mid-Century Hawaii," a collection of photographs of vintage motel and apartment signs in Honolulu.

Davis created the Richard Cheese band in 2000[2] and recorded the CD Lounge Against The Machine.[1] Davis launched an independent record label, Coverage Records, and subsequently released 20 more Richard Cheese albums. The band's most recent CD is Licensed To Spill, which was released October 16, 2017. The Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine band has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, MTV's Say What? Karaoke, NBC's Last Call With Carson Daly, ITV's The Jonathan Ross Show, The Leftovers, and in the movies Dawn of the Dead,[3] Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (both directed by Zack Snyder)[4] and The Lego Batman Movie.

In 2010, Davis created another lounge singer character, Johnny Aloha, and released the CD Lavapalooza in 2010. The Johnny Aloha band performed live shows in Anaheim and Honolulu.

In 2016, Davis worked as a freelance writer and lyricist for the Princess Rap Battles episode "Rapunzel & Flynn vs. Anna & Kristoff."

In 2017, an original song sung by Davis titled "(Let's All Do The) Rocktagon" (co-written with Richard Cheese musical director Noel Melanio) was included in The Lego Ninjago Movie DVD extras.

• Heavo: "Crack Up" parody song (KZZP Jonathon Brandmeier Morning Show) (1982) (Rock-Me Productions)
• Mike Elliott & Bud Latour: "Rock Me Jerry Lewis" (45 single) (Co-Producer/Voice of "Jerry Lewis") (1986) (Tri-Five Records/KZZP)
• Guns 'N' Moses: "We Love Barney Fife," "They Drive Me Brady," "7-Eleven," "Eat Too Much," "La Isla Gilligan," "Radio Shack" parody songs (1987-1990) (Screwball Productions)
• Mark Jonathan Davis: "Jeannie's Diner" parody song, Tom's Album (1991) (A&M Records)
• Paul The 55-Year-Old Intern: "Paul On 45" parody song medley (1992) (KROQ)
• Mark Jonathan Davis: "The Star Wars Cantina" parody song (1997) (Ideatown Records)
• Mark Jonathan Davis: "The Phantom Medley" parody song (1999) (Ideatown Records)
• Richard Cheese: Lounge Against The Machine (2000) (Oglio Records)
• Richard Cheese: Tuxicity (2002) (Surfdog Records – originally released by Ideatown/Coverage Records)
• Mark Jonathan Davis: This Is Bob: The Best of MJD as Bob Hope on KROQ (2003) (Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: I'd Like A Virgin (2004) (Surfdog Records – originally released by Ideatown/Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: Aperitif For Destruction (2005) (Surfdog Records)
• Richard Cheese: The Sunny Side Of The Moon: The Best Of Richard Cheese (2006) (Surfdog Records)
• Richard Cheese: Silent Nightclub (2006) (Surfdog Records)
• Phaser Rock: All Fired Up (2006) (Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: Dick At Nite (2007) (Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: Viva La Vodka: Richard Cheese Live (2009) (Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: OK Bartender (2010) (Coverage Records)
• Johnny Aloha: Lavapalooza (2010) (Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: Richard Cheese Live At The Royal Wedding (Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: A Lounge Supreme (2011) (Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: Back In Black Tie (2012) (Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: The Royal Baby Album (2013) (Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: Cocktails With Santa (2013) (Coverage Records)
• Mozzapella: "Gimmie That Nutt" (single, 2015) (Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: Bakin' At The Boulder (2015) (Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: The Lounge Awakens (2015) (Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: Supermassive Black Tux (2015) (Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: Live At Wayne Financial Tower In Metropolis (2016) (Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: The Lego Batman Movie Soundtrack (2017) (Warner Bros.)
• Richard Cheese: Licensed To Spill (2017) (Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: Lord Of The Swings: The Best Of Richard Cheese, Volume 2 (2018) (Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: Richard Cheese's Big Swingin' Organ! (2019) (Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: Live On Titan (2019) (Coverage Records)
• Richard Cheese: Numbers Of The Beast (2020) (Coverage Records)

• The Late Show with David Letterman (Stupid Human Tricks contestant) (July 8, 1994)
• Friday Night (Entertainment Correspondent, Woodstock/Lollapalooza) (1994)
• Newsradio (as himself) (1997)
• The Man Show (Strip Club DJ) (2001)
• Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker (Virtual Newscaster) (2001)
• Dawn Of The Dead (Richard Cheese) (2004)
• Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (Virtual Newscaster) (2009)
• The Lego Batman Movie (Richard Cheese) (2017)
• The Lego Ninjago Movie Extras ("Rocktagon" song vocalist) (2017)
• The Leftovers (Richard Cheese, opening title song "Personal Jesus") (2017)
• Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar (Richard Cheese) (expected July 2021)

• Mark Jonathan Davis: "Words And Pictures" (North Pacific Media) (2013)
• Mark Jonathan Davis: "Fonts In Paradise: Signs Of Mid-Century Hawaii" (World Art Supply) (2019)
• Mark Jonathan Davis: "Atlas Lounged: The Music, Movies, and Madness Behind Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine" (autobiography) (World Art Supply) (due 2020-2021)