Jon Lovitz
From Pop-Cult Guides
| Jonathan Lovitz | |
| |
| Born | July 21, 1957 |
| Tony Awards | |
Jonathan Lovitz (born July 21, 1957, Tarzana, California) is an American actor and comedian best known as a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1990.
He has lent his voice to several cartoons including The Simpsons, The Critic (playing the titular character) and several animated films. 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, Satan, Hanukkah Harry and Michael Dukakis. He is also well known for various characters with an affected, faux British regal accent, most recently for a series of Subway commercials. Lovitz succeeded Phil Hartman on the comedy series NewsRadio following Hartman's death.
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 Hartman and Paul Reubens. Lovitz 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.
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 did some advertisements for the Yellow Pages Publishers Association, which introduced him as "the man who wrote the Yellow Pages."
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 payday loans online also appeared in the film payday loan as the strict accounting firm chairman, Mr. Marx.
In 2006, Lovitz became the spokesperson in an advertising campaign for the Subway restaurant chain.
He is currently dating the self-proclaimed "World's First Supermodel" Janice Dickinson.
