Jon Lovitz Net Worth 2023, Wife, Is he married? Twin Sister, Parents

Jon Lovitz Bio

Jonathan Michael Lovitz (born July 21, 1957) is a comedian and actor from the United States. From 1985 to 1990, he was a member of the Saturday Night Live cast. Lovitz previously played Jay Sherman in The Critic and a baseball scout in A League of Their Own. He has appeared in 20 Simpsons episodes.

Early years, Parents

Lovitz was born on July 21, 1957, in Los Angeles’ Tarzana neighborhood to Harold and Barbara Lovitz. His ancestors are Jewish and came from Romania, Hungary, and Russia. Feivel Ianculovici, his paternal grandfather, left Romania around 1914. He changed his name to Phillip Lovitz after moving to the United States.

Lovitz described his comedic influences in a 2011 interview:

“I saw Woody Allen’s film Take The Money and Run when I was 13 and decided I wanted to be a comedian. Then, when I was 16, I saw the film Lenny, starring Dustin Hoffman and based on the life of Lenny Bruce. I thought the movie was fantastic, and I’d never heard of Lenny before, so I went to the record store to hear the real thing. Then I noticed that Woody Allen had a record out. I had no idea he was a standup comedian. So I purchased Woody Allen: The Nightclub Years, 1964-1968. I learned and performed their routines in my college dorm. That happened at U.C. Irvine. I majored in drama there. I learned a lot about writing by imitating their routines. You learn how to make up a joke. They had a big influence on the way I said things, the timing, and so on. Or Jack Benny, and I’ll say, ‘Well….'”

Lovitz was friends with David Kudrow, Lisa Kudrow’s brother, in college and went on a backpacking trip across Europe and Israel with him in 1978. He earned a bachelor’s degree in drama in 1979 and then went on to study acting with Tony Barr at the Film Actors Workshop. He joined the Groundlings comedy troupe, where he met his future SNL castmate Phil Hartman.

Saturday Night Live (SNL)

From 1985 to 1990, Lovitz was a member of the Saturday Night Live cast. In an interview for the book Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, he stated that his time on SNL was the most memorable of his career. He went from having no money to being offered a $500,000 film contract in a matter of months.

During his first two years on Saturday Night Live, he was nominated for an Emmy. One of his most well-known SNL characters was “”The Pathological Liar” Tommy Flanagan, who used an old Humphrey Bogart line “Yeah! That’s the deal! “as a catchphrase to punctuate painfully elaborated implausible lies.

Annoying Man, Master Thespian, Tonto, Mephistopheles, Harvey Fierstein, and Michael Dukakis were among his other recurring characters and impersonations. In an episode of Saturday Night Live in 1986, he played a virgin Trekkie who was scripted to hang his head when William Shatner asked if he had ever kissed a girl.

Hanukkah Harry, one of Lovitz’s most memorable roles, cast him in 1989 as a Jewish counterpart to Santa Claus who lives on Mount Sinai and travels the world in a cart pulled by three donkeys to give bland gifts to Jewish boys and girls. When Santa becomes ill on Christmas Eve, he is asked to fill in.

On the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special on February 15, 2015, he was named by Steve Martin as one of many SNL cast members who had died over the years, with the camera cutting to show Lovitz’s reaction. Later, his image appeared in a montage of deceased SNL cast members, with the camera cutting back to his now “outraged” reaction.

a television show

Mole, an investigator for a New York City district attorney’s office, was Lovitz’s first regular role in a situation comedy in the short-lived 1985-86 series Foley Square, starring Margaret Colin.

Lovitz appeared on The New Celebrity Apprentice (also known as Celebrity Apprentice 8) as a charity player for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He was the sixth contestant to be eliminated, finishing 11th and raising $50,000 for his charity.

Work with the voice

Lovitz has provided his voice for a number of cartoons and films. He portrayed the title character Jay Sherman in The Critic (using his regular speaking voice).

He has appeared on The Simpsons 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 characters, including Jay Sherman in “A Star Is Burns,” a crossover with The Critic.

In addition, he provided the voice of Radio in the Hyperion-produced, Disney-distributed animated film The Brave Little Toaster, as well as T.R. Chula the tarantula in Amblimation’s An American Tail: Fievel Goes West.

Music

Lovitz collaborated with Robbie Williams on the song “Well, Did You Evah” from Williams’ 2001 album Swing When You’re Winning. He also appeared on the TV show Two and a Half Men, singing “Save the Orphans” and defeating Charlie (Charlie Sheen) for best jingle writer.

Theatre on Broadway

He took over the lead role in Neil Simon’s play The Dinner Party at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway, replacing Henry Winkler. He performed three times at Carnegie Hall (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.

Lovitz performed a duet of “Well, Did You Evah!” with Robbie Williams at the Royal Albert Hall on October 10, 2001. The recording is available on the album Swing When You’re Winning.

Work for a living

He was the voice of Red in M&M’s commercials in the 1990s.

Lovitz appeared in a $33 million advertising campaign that featured a series of television commercials promoting the Yellow Pages between 1999 and 2000.

The comic’s premise was to portray Lovitz as the author of the Yellow Pages. One of them quoted Lovitz as saying, “The most difficult task is to come up with a simple but excellent idea. And all I could think was, ‘Oh, the alphabet!'”

In 2006, he was hired as the spokesperson for the Subway restaurant chain’s advertising campaign.

Lovitz appeared in commercials for Playology, a brand of toys for aging dogs, in 2020. They mocked him with puppies and demanded that senior dogs be given their due.

improvised comedy

Lovitz began his stand-up career at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles in 2003.