Jon Lovitz

Jonathan Michael Lovitz (/ˈloʊvɪts/; born July 21, 1957)[1] is an American actor, comedian 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.

For the LGBT activist, actor, and senior vice president of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, see Jonathan Lovitz.

Jon Lovitz
Lovitz in 2014
Birth name	Jonathan Michael Lovitz
Born	(1957-07-21) July 21, 1957 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up film television
Education	University of California, Irvine
Years active	1984–present
Genres	Sketch comedy observational comedy improvisational comedy

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

Early life

Lovitz was born Jonathan Michael Lovitz on July 21, 1957 in the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles. His father was a doctor.[1] His family is Jewish (emigrated from Romania, Hungary, and Russia).[2]

"When I was 13, I saw Woody Allen’s movie, ‘Take The Money and Run’ and I wanted to be a comedian. Then when I was 16, I saw the movie ‘Lenny,’ about Lenny Bruce, starring Dustin Hoffman. I thought the movie was so great and I’d never heard of Lenny, so I went to the record store, because I wanted to hear the real guy. Then I saw that Woody Allen had a record. I didn’t know he had been a standup. So I bought ‘Woody Allen: The Nightclub Years, ‘64-’68.’ I learned their routines and performed them at my college dorm. That was at U.C. Irvine. I was a drama major there. In imitating their routines, I learned a lot about writing. You learn how to write a joke. I was influenced by them a lot, the way I say something, the timing or whatever. Or Jack Benny, sometimes, I’ll go, ‘Well...."[3]

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.[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, along with T.R. Chula the tarantula in Amblimation's An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, 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 TV 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]

Personal life

Lovitz has had an ongoing dispute with former NewsRadio costar Andy Dick concerning the death of their mutual friend Phil Hartman. According to Lovitz, Dick had given Hartman's wife Brynn cocaine at a Christmas party at Hartman's house in 1997; Brynn, a recovering addict, fell back into drug use, culminating in her killing Hartman and herself on May 28, 1998. When Lovitz joined the cast of NewsRadio as Hartman's replacement, he and Dick got into an argument in which Lovitz reportedly said "I wouldn't be here if you hadn't given Brynn coke in the first place." Lovitz later apologized to Dick for the remark.[9]

In early 2007, Dick approached Lovitz at a restaurant and said "I put the Phil Hartman hex on you—you're the next to die."[10] On July 10, 2007, Lovitz got into a physical confrontation with Dick at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles. Lovitz demanded an apology from Dick, who refused and accused Lovitz of blaming him for Hartman's death. Lovitz then smashed Dick's head into the bar.[10]

The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club & Podcast Theatre

In 2009, The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club location on Universal CityWalk in Universal Studios Hollywood opened.[11] A comic short film starring Ken Davitian 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.[12]

The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club in Universal Studios Hollywood was home to the first MMA Roasted standup comedy show[13] 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.[14] 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.[15]

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)
1988	Big	Scotty Brennen
1988	My Stepmother Is an Alien	Ron Mills
1990	Mr. Destiny	Clip Metzler
1991	An American Tail: Fievel Goes West	T.R. Chula (voice)
1992	A League of Their Own	Ernie Capadino
1992	Mom and Dad Save the World	Emperor Tod Spengo
1992	The Buzz	Unknown
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
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)
2001	Rat Race	Randall "Randy" Pear
2001	Good Advice	Barry Sherman
2002	Eight Crazy Nights	Tom Blazer (voice)
2003	Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star	Sidney Wernick
2004	The Stepford Wives	Dave Markowitz
2005	Bailey's Billion$	Bailey (voice)
2005	Pancho's Pizza	Unknown	Short Film
2005	The Producers	Mr. Marks
2006	The Benchwarmers	Mel
2006	Southland Tales	Bart Bookman
2006	Farce of the Penguins	"My eyes are up here" Penguin (voice)	Direct-to-DVD release
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)
2012	A Mouse Tale	King of Mice (voice)
2013	Jungle Master	Mulla (voice)
2013	Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie	The Mad Scientist
2013	Bula Quo!	Wilson
2013	Grown Ups 2	Squats Fitness Janitor
2013	Almost Sharkproof	Max	[16]
2014	Birds of Paradise	Skeeter (voice)
2014	Coffee Shop	Frank Miller
2015	Hotel Transylvania 2	The Phantom of the Opera (voice)
2015	The Ridiculous 6	Ezekiel Grant
2015	Bark Ranger	Ranger (voice)
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	Artie Ziff, Jay Sherman, Aristotle Amadopolis, Professor Lombardo, Llewellyn Sinclair, Enrico Irritazio, various characters (voices)	Appeared in 17 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[17]
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, 2018	The $100,000 Pyramid	Himself/Celebrity Guest	Episode: Jon Lovitz vs. Deion Sanders; Episode: Jon Lovitz vs. Bobby Moynihan
2017	The New Celebrity Apprentice	Himself/Contestant	11th place
2017-18	Funny You Should Ask (2017 game show)	Himself/Celebrity Comic	3 episodes
2017	Justice League Action	Sid Sharp (voice)	Episode 1.35 "Superman's Pal, Sid Sharp"
2018	Insatiable	Father Schwartz	Episode 1.09 "Bad Kitty"
2019	The Goldbergs	Jimmie Moore	Episode 6.11 “The Wedding Singer“
2019	The Cool Kids	Kip Samgood	Episode 1.19 “Kip Samgood’s Biggest Fan”
2019	Jackie and the Next-Neighbor Girls	Johnny Bodine	41 episodes
2019	Historical Roasts	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Netflix series
2020	Saturday Night Live	Alan Dershowitz	Episode 45.11: January 25 cold opening skit
2020	Holey Moley	Himself/Captain Long Jon Lovitz	Episode 2.01 "Literally Jumping the Shark"; 2.05 "Where the Herd At?": 2.06 "Don't Attempt This in Clogs"

Other work

• Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget (2008) - Himself
• Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen (2011) - Himself
• Cranium Command (1989) - Right Brain
• Banjo-Kazooie Nintendo Power Promotional Video (1998) - Narrator
• 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. Paul Freeman (2011-10-15). "Jon Lovitz: Standing Up For Himself". PopCultureClassics.com. Archived from the original on 2011-10-15. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
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. Johnson, Caitlin (July 17, 2007). "Dick and Lovitz Fight over the Dead". CBS News. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
10. Faber, Judy (July 18, 2007). "Jon Lovitz Speaks Out on Dustup with Andy Dick". CBS News. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
11. "Hollywood Docket: Jon Lovitz's Dispute With Comedy Club Manager Ends". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
12. AdamCarolla.com (2011). Universal Live Show Archived 2011-05-01 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
13. Administrator. "History". www.mmaroast.com. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
14. "My Boring Ass Life » SModcastle Pulls Up The Drawbridge".
15. Tillman, Christopher (November 5, 2014). "The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club Has Closed". Inside Universal. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
16. "Almost Sharkproof". Alibris.
17. "World Wrestling Entertainment". Retrieved 5 December 2010.

External links

• Jon Lovitz on IMDb
• Jon Lovitz at the Internet Broadway Database

Preceded by Will Smith	MTV Movie Awards host 1995 (with Courteney Cox)	Succeeded by Janeane Garofalo and Ben Stiller