Jon Lovitz

Jon Lovitz
Lovitz in 2008.
Born	Jonathan M. Lovitz July 21, 1957 Tarzana, California, United States
Occupation	Comedian, actor, singer
Years active	1984–present

Jonathan M. "Jon" Lovitz (born July 21, 1957)^[1] 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. He starred as Jay Sherman in the cult animated comedy series The Critic and has appeared in numerous other TV series and films.

Early life

Lovitz was born in Tarzana, California, the son of a doctor.^[1] His family is Jewish (they emigrated from Romania, Hungary, and Russia).^[2][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 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 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 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.

On February 15, 2015, on the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special, he was seen in the montage of deceased SNL members, with the camera cutting to him to show his 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.

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." He also performed on the Hit series Two and a Half Men singing " We Are 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

In 2006 he became the spokesman in an advertising campaign for the Subway restaurant chain.^[5]

Stand-up comedy

In 2003, Lovitz began his stand up career at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles, California.

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 was 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.^[6]

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

The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club & Podcast Theatre

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 Jon Lovitz himself, a 6-episode 'This Is Your Life' style biographical interview about Lovitz's life and career.^[7] 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 hosted other podcasts such as Rob Paulsen's Talkin' Toons (which subsequently left in October 2013). On June 15, 2013, Smith detailed the falling out in a podcast.^[8] The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club & Podcast Theater closed on November 5, 2014.^[9]

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	Brave Little Toaster, TheThe Brave Little Toaster	Radio	Voice role
1988	Big	Scotty Brennen
1988	My Stepmother Is an Alien	Ron Mills
1990	Mr. Destiny	Clip Metzler
1991	American Tail: Fievel Goes West, AnAn American Tail: Fievel Goes West	Chula	Voice role
1992	Buzz, TheThe Buzz	Unknown
1992	League of Their Own, AA 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	Great White Hype, TheThe Great White Hype	Sol
1996	Matilda	Mickey
1996	High School High	Richard Clark	Lead Role
1998	Wedding Singer, TheThe 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	Stepford Wives, TheThe Stepford Wives	Dave Markowitz
2005	Bailey's Billion$	Bailey
2005	Pancho's Pizza	Unknown	Short film
2005	Producers, TheThe Producers	Mr. Marks
2006	Farce of the Penguins	"My eyes are up here" Penguin	Voice role Direct-to-DVD release
2006	Benchwarmers, TheThe 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	Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie	The Mad Scientist
2014	Birds of Paradise	Skeeter	Voice
2015	A Mouse Tale	King of Mice	Voice
2015	Hotel Transylvania 2	The Phantom of the Opera	Voice
2015	The Ridiculous 6	Ezekiel Grant
2016	Mother's Day	Wally Burn

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	Paper Chase, TheThe 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	Simpsons, TheThe Simpsons	Various characters (including Jay Sherman and Artie Ziff)	Appeared in eleven episodes
1993	League of Their Own, AA League of Their Own	Ernie Capadino	Episode 1.1: "Dottie's Back"
1994–95	Critic, TheThe 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	Naked Truth, TheThe 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[10]
2011	Saturday Night Live	Himself (Cameo)	Episode 36.14: Host: Dana Carvey
2011-12	Hot in Cleveland	Homeless man/Artie	Recurring role
2012-13	Mr. Box Office	Bobby Gold	Main cast member
2013-14	New Girl	Rabbi Feiglin	Episode 3.05: "The Box"
2014	Sing Your Face Off	Himself	Contestant
2016	Animals.	Himself Old Ben (voice)	Episode 1.09: "Squirrels, Part II"

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

References

1. "Jon Lovitz Biography (1957-)". FilmReference.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
2. Jewishbiography.com > Jewish Biography --> Biographies --> List of Jewish Actors and Actresses > Jon Lovitz. Retrieved on 2012-02-03.
3. Jon Lovitz - Ethnicelebs.com. Retrieved 2012.
4. Zuckerman, Esther (15 February 2015). "SNL includes still-living Jon Lovitz in its 'In Memoriam' segment". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
5. Gianatasio, David (March 31, 2006). "Lovitz Makes His Subway Debut in MMB Effort". Adweek. ISSN 0199-2864. Retrieved 2011-02-12.
6. AdamCarolla.com (2011). Universal Live Show. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
7. http://silentbobspeaks.com/?p=415
8. Hollywood Babble-on - The Lovitz Situation on YouTube
9. Tillman, Christopher (November 5, 2014). "The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club Has Closed". Inside Universal. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
10. "World Wrestling Entertainment". Retrieved 5 December 2010.

External links

• Jon Lovitz at the Internet Movie Database
• Jon Lovitz at the Internet Broadway Database