Jon Lovitz
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| Jon Lovitz | |
 Jon Lovitz |
|
| Birth name | Jonathan Lovitz |
| Born | July 21, 1957 (age 49) Tarzana, California |
Jonathan Lovitz (born July 21, 1957 in Tarzana, California) is an American actor and comedian perhaps best known as a cast member of Saturday Night Live and for his show The Critic.
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[edit] Biography
Lovitz attended and studied theater at the University of California at Irvine and graduated in 1979. He studied acting with Tony Barr at the Film Actors Workshop. He became a member of The Groundlings comedy troupe where he befriended Phil Hartman and Paul Reubens.
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 his first two years on Saturday Night Live.
One of his most notable SNL characters was "Tommy Flanagan, The Pathological Liar" that generated the catch phrase, "Yeah! That's the ticket!" Some of his other recurring characters included Master Thespian, Tonto, Mephistopheles, Hanukkah Harry, and Michael Dukakis.
Lovitz succeeded Hartman on the comedy series NewsRadio following Hartman's murder.
Lovitz has lent his voice to several cartoons and films. In the series The Critic he played the title character of Jay Sherman. On "The Simpsons" he played Marge's ex-prom date Artie Ziff, theater director Llewellyn Sinclair (and his sister, who runs a daycare center) on the season four episode "A Streetcar Named Marge", Jay Sherman from The Critic in the season six crossover episode "A Star is Burns", and paparazzo Enrico Irritazio in the season eighteen episode "Homerazzi".
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.
In the late 1990s, Lovitz was "the man who wrote the Yellow Pages." He also had a highly memorable cameo as a rival crooner to Adam Sandler in the movie The Wedding Singer.
On October 10, 2001, Lovitz sang a duet (with Robbie Williams) of the song Well, Did You Evah at the Royal Albert Hall in the UK. The recording can be found on the Swing When You're Winning album.
In 2005 Lovitz entered stand-up comedy for the first time in his career. He also appeared in the film The Producers as the strict accounting firm chairman, Mr. Marx.
In 2006 he became the spokesperson in an advertising campaign for the Subway restaurant chain. He speaks with an affected, faux British regal accent.
Lovitz has also appeared on Friends playing a man that was set up with Rachel by Pheobe
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Films
| Film | Year | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Hamburger The Motion Picture | 1986 | Security Guard |
| Last Resort | 1986 | Bartender |
| Jumpin' Jack Flash | 1986 | Doug |
| Ratboy | 1986 | Party Guest |
| ¡Three Amigos! | 1986 | Morty |
| The Brave Little Toaster | 1987 | The Radio (voice) |
| Big | 1988 | Scotty Brennen |
| My Stepmother is an Alien | 1988 | Ron Mills |
| Cranium Command (short subject) | 1989 | Right Cranium |
| Mr. Destiny | 1990 | Clip Metzler |
| An American Tail: Fievel Goes West | 1991 | T.R. Chula |
| A League of Their Own | 1992 | Ernie Capadino |
| Mom and Dad Save The World | 1992 | Emperor Todd Spengo |
| Loaded Weapon 1 | 1993 | Becker |
| Coneheads | 1993 | Dr. Rudolph, Dentist (uncredited) |
| City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold | 1994 | Glen Robbins |
| North | 1994 | Arthur Belt |
| Trapped in Paradise | 1994 | Dave Firpo |
| The Great White Hype | 1996 | Sol |
| Matilda | 1996 | Million $ Sticky Host |
| High School High | 1996 | Richard Clark |
| The Wedding Singer | 1998 | Jimmie Moore (uncredited) |
| Happiness | 1999 | Andy Kornbluth |
| Lost and Found | 1999 | Uncle Harry |
| Small Time Crooks | 2000 | Benny |
| Little Nicky | 2000 | Pepper |
| Sand | 2000 | Kirby |
| 3000 Miles to Graceland | 2001 | Jay Peterson |
| Cats & Dogs | 2001 | Calico (voice) |
| Rat Race | 2001 | Randall 'Randy' Pear |
| Good Advice | 2001 | Barry Sherman |
| Eight Crazy Nights | 2002 | Tom Baltezor (voice) |
| The Stepford Wives | 2004 | Dave Markowitz |
| Pancho's Pizza (short film) | 2005 | |
| Bailey's Billion$ | 2005 | Bailey (voice) |
| The Producers | 2005 | Mr. Marks |
| The Benchwarmers | 2006 | Mel |
| Southland Tales | 2006 | Bart Bookman |
| Farce of the Penguins | 2006 | My eyes are up here Penguin (voice) |
| I Could Never Be Your Woman | 2007 |
[edit] Television
| Show | Years | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday Night Live | 1985-1990 | various |
| The Simpsons | 1991- | Llewellyn Sinclair, Ms. Sinclair, Professor Lombardo, Enrico Irritazio, Artie Ziff, Aristotle Amadopoulos, and Jay Sherman. |
| The Critic | 1994-1995 | Jay Sherman |
| Newsradio | 1998-1999 | Max Louis, Fred[[1]], and Mike Johnson [[2]] |
