Jon Lovitz Biography

Jonathan M. "Jon" Lovitz (born July 21, 1957) is an American comedian, actor and singer. He is best known as a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1990.

Early life

Lovitz was born in Los Angeles, California. His father was a doctor. His family is Jewish (they immigrated from Romania, Hungary, and Russia). Lovitz graduated with a theater degree in 1979 from the University of California at Irvine and then studied acting with Tony Barr at the Film Actors Workshop. He became a member of The Groundlings comedy troupe, where he befriended his future SNL fellow Phil Hartman.

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 movie 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 the old catchphrase, "Yeah! That's the ticket!" as he, after visible effort, finally finished constructing his latest lie. The line was previously said by Humphrey Bogart. Some of his other recurring characters included Annoying Man, Master Thespian, Tonto, Mephistopheles, Harvey Fierstein 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.

Television series

Lovitzs first stint as a regular in a situation comedy was as Mole, an investigator for a New York City District Attorneys office, in the short-lived 1985-1986 series Foley Square, starring Margaret Colin.

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 (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

Jon Lovitz performed a duet with Robbie Williams on Williams' 2001 album Swing When You're Winning, in the song "Well, Did You Evah".

Film roles, 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 also appeared in ads for Subway

He had a cameo in the movie Matilda, as Million Dollar Sticky Man.

His first starring role was in Mom and Dad Save the World as the film's antagonist Emperor Tod Spengo. He later starred in the film High School High, this time as the protagonist.

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 was a supporting character in "Mr. Destiny" with James Belushi.

Lovitz also appeared on Friends twice. He first appeared in the Season 1 episode "The One with the Stoned Guy" as a restaurateur 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.

Lovitz guest-starred as himself in The Larry Sanders Show episode "Larry Loses a Friend."

He 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 1992, Lovitz portrayed crusty baseball scout Ernie Capadino in "A League Of Their Own".

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, socially inept man who publicly berates 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 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.

Lovitz played Randy in Rat Race. In 2003, he appeared in an episode of Just Shoot Me! as a man married to Nina. He appeared on Two and a Half Men in 2006 as a jingle writer named Archie. He had multiple guest appearances on Las Vegas as Fred Puterbaugh, up to the end of the second series. Lovitz also appeared in The Producers as Mr. Marks.

In 2010, he appeared as the Raw Guest Host on the May 24 episode of WWE Raw.

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

In 2006, he became the spokesperson in an advertising campaign for the Subway restaurant chain.

Stand-up comedy

In 1984, Lovitz entered stand-up comedy for the first time in his career.

The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club

On November 8, 2007, Lovitz had the grand opening for his new comedy club "The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club at Aubergine" in the Gaslamp District in San Diego, California, sponsored by RR-Ex. The club has played host to David Spade, Ralphie May, Carlos Mencia, Dana Carvey, Jo Koy, Eric Schwartz, Norm Macdonald, Joe Rogan, Russell Peters, Kevin Nealon, Jon Stewart, and Ryan Robinson.

There is also a second Jon Lovitz Comedy Club location on Universal CityWalk in Universal Studios Hollywood. A comic short film starring Ken Davitian ('Borat') and featuring Lovitz was filmed there, directed by Emmy nominee 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.

The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club in Universal Studios Hollywood is home to the first ever MMA Roast / MMA Roasted stand up comedy show in 2009. Admirable Mixed Martial Arts Fighters including UFC Legend Kimo Leopoldo were recognized with good-humor for their outstanding accomplishments while being ridiculed in a heartwarming fashion.

The Jon Lovitz Podcast Theatre

On May 29, 2011, the name was changed from The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club to The Jon Lovitz Podcast Theatre. A premiere was held, Podammit, 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 and Silent Bob Get Old with Jason Mewes, as well as The ABCs of SNL with Jon Lovitz himself, a 6-episode 'This Is Your Life' style biographical interview about Lovitz's life and career. On April 22, 2013, Smith announced through Twitter that the podcasts would no longer be recorded at the Club after a falling out with Lovitz. The Club still periodically hosts other podcasts such as Rob Paulsen's Talkin' Toons.

Filmography

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	'	Radio	Voice role
1988	Big	Scotty Brennen
1988	My Stepmother Is an Alien	Ron Mills
1990	Mr. Destiny	Clip Metzler
1991	'	Chula	Voice role
1992	'	Unknown
1992	'	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	'	Sol
1996	Matilda	Million $ Sticky Host	Uncredited
1996	High School High	Richard Clark	Lead Role
1998	'	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	'	Dave Markowitz
2005	Bailey's Billion$	Bailey
2005	Pancho's Pizza	Unknown	Short film
2005	'	Mr. Marks
2006	Farce of the Penguins	"My eyes are up here" Penguin	Voice role Direct-to-DVD release
2006	'	Mel
2006	Southland Tales	Bart Bookman
2007	I Could Never Be Your Woman	Rob	Direct-to-DVD release
2010	Casino Jack	Adam Kidan
2012	Hotel Transylvania	Quasimodo	Voice role
2013	Bula Quo!	Wilson
2013	Grown Ups 2	Squats Fitness Janitor
2013	Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie	The Mad Scientist

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	'	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	'	Various characters (including Jay Sherman and Artie Ziff)	Appeared in nine episodes
1993	'	Ernie Capadino	Episode 1.1: "Dottie's Back"
1994"95	'	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	'	Acer Predburn	Episode 2.8: "The Scoop"
1997"99	NewsRadio	Fred 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"
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
2011	Saturday Night Live	Himself (Cameo)	Episode 36.14: Host: Dana Carvey
2011-12	Hot in Cleveland	Homeless man/Artie	Recurring role
2012-	Mr. Box Office	Bobby Gold	Main cast member

Other work

• Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget (2008) - Himself
• Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen (2011) - Himself
• Cranium Command (1989) - Right Brain
• The Critic (webisodes) (2000"2001) - Jay Sherman

Awards

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