John Paragon

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John Dixon Paragon was born on December 9, 1954 in Los Angeles, California. He is an actor, writer, and director. Paragon is probably best know for his work on children's show Pee-wee's Playhouse where he played Jambi the Genie and voiced Pterri the Pterodactyl. In addition to writing many of the regular season episodes of Playhouse, he also co-wrote (with Paul Reubens) the acclaimed Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special in 1988. Some of his other memorable roles have been Cedric, one half of the gay couple Bob and Cedric on the television series Seinfeld, the title character in the children's movie The Frog Prince, the sex shop salesman in the cult favorite Eating Raoul, the owner of a Strip-o-gram business in the 1986 film Echo Park. Paragon got his start in the Los Angeles based improvisation group The Groundlings alongside Reubens and Phil Hartman. He also collaborated with fellow Groundling, Cassandra Peterson on numerous Elvira projects, including the recurring role of The Breather, an annoying caller, for her first television series on KTLA-Los Angeles. In recent years, he has worked with Walt Disney Imagineering on ways to incorporate improvisational performance into attractions at Disney parks. In this capacity, he performed as the keeper of Lucky the Dinosaur during the test runs of the animatronic figure.