Jonathan Michael Lovitz ( ; born July 21, 1957) and acted in other films such as Three Amigos (1986), Big (1988), Mom and Dad Save the World (1992), Coneheads (1993), Happiness (1998), Small Time Crooks (2000), Rat Race (2001), The Producers (2005), and Bula Quo! (2013). He also voiced roles in The Brave Little Toaster (1987), Hotel Transylvania (2012) and Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015). He played Alan Dershowitz on Saturday Night Live and George Santos on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Early life and education
Lovitz was born on July 21, 1957, in the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles, to Harold and Barbara Lovitz. His family is Jewish, and emigrated from Romania, Hungary, and Russia. His paternal grandfather Feivel Ianculovici left Romania around 1914 and Anglicized his name to Phillip Lovitz after arriving in the United States. He then studied drama at UC Irvine under Robert Cohen, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1979. He became a member of the Groundlings comedy troupe, where he performed alongside Lisa Kudrow and where he befriended his future SNL castmate Phil Hartman.
Lovitz's childhood best friend was David Kudrow, the brother of Lisa Kudrow.
1993–2008: Post-SNL, The Critic
From 1998 to 1999, he was cast to replace Phil Hartman on NewsRadio upon the latter's death. Lovitz has lent his voice to several cartoons and films. In The Critic, he played the title character Jay Sherman (using his regular speaking voice). He has made several appearances 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", and numerous other appearances, including the character of Jay Sherman in the episode "A Star Is Burns", a crossover with The Critic. He was also the voice of Radio in the Hyperion-produced, Disney-distributed animated film The Brave Little Toaster, and that of T.R. Chula the tarantula in Amblimation's An American Tail: Fievel Goes West.
In the 1990s, Lovitz voiced the Red M&M in commercials for M&M's. 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!'"
Lovitz performed a duet with Robbie Williams on Williams' album Swing When You're Winning (2001), in the song "Well, Did You Evah!". On October 10, 2001, Lovitz sang the song at the Royal Albert Hall. He also performed on the TV series Two and a Half Men singing "Save the Orphans" and beating Charlie (Charlie Sheen) out of the award for best jingle writer. 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.
Lovitz began his stand-up career in 2003 at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles. In 2006, he became the spokesman in an advertising campaign for the Subway restaurant chain.
2009–present: Stand-up
In 2009, The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club location on Universal CityWalk in Universal Studios Hollywood opened. A comic short film starring Ken Davitian and featuring Lovitz was filmed there, directed by Brent Roske and written by Aaron Davitian. The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club in Universal Studios Hollywood was home to the first MMA Roasted standup comedy show 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 six-episode This Is Your Life-style biographical interview about Lovitz's life and career. 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.
In 2020, Lovitz starred in commercials for Playology, a brand of toys for aging dogs. They featured him with disparaging puppies, asking for senior dogs to get their due. That same year he portrayed lawyer Alan Dershowitz on season 45 of Saturday Night Live with Adam Driver as the host playing Jeffrey Epstein. In 2023 he portrayed U.S. Congressman George Santos on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
Personal life
Lovitz resides in Beverly Hills, California. He is friends with Adam Sandler. He was also friends with Penny Marshall and Phil Hartman. He has described Hartman as "the big brother I always wanted".
Charity
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 sixth contestant fired, finishing in 11th place and raising $50,000 for his charity.
Feud with Andy Dick
Lovitz was involved in an intense feud with former NewsRadio costar Andy Dick concerning the death of their mutual friend Phil Hartman. According to Lovitz, Dick gave Hartman's wife Brynn cocaine at a Christmas party at Hartman's house in 1997. Brynn, a recovering addict, began using drugs again, 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 a heated argument in which Lovitz reportedly shouted "I wouldn't be here if you hadn't given Brynn coke in the first place." Lovitz later apologized to Dick for the remark.
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." On July 10, 2007, Lovitz got into a physical altercation 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.
In June 2021, Lovitz criticized cancel culture and compared it to McCarthyism. He opined that it makes comedians' jobs increasingly difficult, saying, "If you don't have the ability to laugh at yourself, don't go to a comedy club," and "If you're watching TV and you don't like the show, change the channel. It's very simple." He has regularly criticized antisemitism, including exposing children who bullied his friend's daughter and pro-Palestinian protestors at Columbia University.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|+ Film performances
|-
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Title
! scope="col" | Role
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
! rowspan="5" scope="row" | 1986
| Hamburger: The Motion Picture
| Security guard
|
|-
| Last Resort
| Bartender
|
|-
| Jumpin' Jack Flash
| Doug
|
|-
| Ratboy
| Party guest
|
|-
| Three Amigos
| Morty
|
|-
! scope="row" | 1987
| The Brave Little Toaster
| Radio
| Voice
|-
! rowspan="2" scope="row" | 1988
| Big
| Scotty Brennen
|
|-
| My Stepmother Is an Alien
| Ron Mills
|
|-
! scope="row" | 1990
| Mr. Destiny
| Clip Metzler
|
|-
! scope="row" | 1991
| '
| T.R. Chula
| Voice
|-
! rowspan="2" scope="row" | 1998
| '
| Jimmie Moore
| Uncredited
|-
| Happiness
| Andy Kornbluth
|
|-
! scope="row" | 1999
| Lost & Found
| Uncle Harry
|
|-
! rowspan="3" scope="row" | 2000
| Small Time Crooks
| Benny
|
|-
| Little Nicky
| Peeper
|
|-
| Sand
| Kirby
|
|-
! rowspan="4" scope="row" | 2001
| 3000 Miles to Graceland
| Jay Peterson
|
|-
| Cats & Dogs
| Calico
| Voice
|-
! rowspan="2" scope="row" | 2014
| Birds of Paradise
| Skeeter
| Voice
|-
! scope="row" | 2025
| Happy Gilmore 2
| Dapper Man
|
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|-
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Title
! scope="col" | Role
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
! scope="row" | 1984
| '
| Levitz
| Episode: "Billy Pierce"
|-
! scope="row" | 1985–1986
| Foley Square
| Mole
| Regular cast member
|-
! scope="row" | 1985–1992
| Saturday Night Live
| Various characters
| Main cast (92 episodes)
|-
! rowspan="2" scope="row" | 1991
| Tales from the Crypt
| Barry Blye
| Episode: "Top Billing"
|-
| Married... with Children
| Jeff Littlehead
| Episode: "Kelly Does Hollywood: Part 2"
|-
! scope="row" | 1991–present
| '
| Artie Ziff, Jay Sherman, <br/> Aristotle Amadopolis, Prof. Lombardo, Various characters
| Voice, 22 episodes
|-
! scope="row" | 1992, 1994
| The Larry Sanders Show
| Himself
| 2 episodes
|-
! scope="row" | 1993
| A League of Their Own
| Ernie Capadino
| Episode: "Dottie's Back"
|-
! scope="row" | 1994–1995
| '
| Jay Sherman
| Voice, main role (23 episodes)
|-
! scope="row" | 1995
| Seinfeld
| Gary Fogel
| Episode: "The Scofflaw"
|-
! scope="row" | 1995, 2003
| Friends
| Steve
| 2 episodes
|-
! scope="row" | 1997
| '
| Acer Predburn
| Episode: "The Scoop"
|-
! scope="row" | 1997–1999
| NewsRadio
| Ulysses S. Grant<br>Mike Johnson<br>Max Lewis
| 2 episodes; Main cast member in fifth season
|-
! scope="row" | 1997
| Saturday Night Live
| Host
| Episode: "Jon Lovitz/Jane's Addiction"
|-
! scope="row" | 2000
| Bette
| Himself
| Episode: "Polterguest"
|-
! scope="row" | 2000–2001
| The Critic (webisodes)
| Jay Sherman
| Voice
|-
! scope="row" | 2002
| Son of the Beach
| Father of B.J.'s Baby
| Episode: "Bad News, Mr. Johnson"
|-
! scope="row" | 2003
| Just Shoot Me!
| Roland Devereaux
| Episode: "A Simple Kiss of Fate"
|-
! scope="row" | 2004–2005
| Las Vegas
| Fred Puterbaugh
| 3 episodes
|-
! scope="row" | 2006
| Two and a Half Men
| Archie Baldwin
| Episode: "The Unfortunate Little Schnauzer"
|-
! scope="row" | 2008
| Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget
| Himself
| Television special
|-
! scope="row" | 2010
| WWE Raw
| Himself
| Guest host
|-
! scope="row" |2011
| Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen
| Himself
| Television special
|-
! scope="row" | 2011
| Saturday Night Live
| Himself (cameo)
| Episode: "Dana Carvey/Linkin Park"
|-
! scope="row" | 2011–2012
| Hot in Cleveland
| Homeless man/Artie
| 4 episodes
|-
! scope="row" | 2012–2015
| Mr. Box Office
| Bobby Gold
| Main cast member
|-
! scope="row" | 2013–2014
| New Girl
| Rabbi Feiglin
| 2 episodes
|-
! scope="row" | 2014
| Sing Your Face Off
| Himself
| Contestant
|-
! rowspan="2" scope="row" | 2015
| Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja
| Queen Gabnidine
| Voice, episode: "To Smell and Back"
|-
| Hawaii Five-O
| Barry Burns
| 2 episodes
|-
! scope="row" | 2016–2018
| Animals.
| Himself / Old Ben
| Voice, 3 episodes