November '07 Entertainment—Tony Sacca Column

From Actor to Stand-Up Comic and a whole lot in between. You may remember Jon Lovitz as a cast member of “Saturday Night Live.” He was on the show from 1985 to 1990 and 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!"

Lovitz was born in Tarzana, California to a Jewish couple. He is the only boy of five children and also has a twin sister. His father, a doctor, was an immigrant from Albania who lived in Jacksonville, Florida, and later moved to California.

Jon attended and studied at the University of California at Irvine and graduated with a B.A. in 1979.

While pursuing his acting career, as most aspiring actors, he worked several jobs…. as a waiter, in a clothing store, a messenger, in a xerox shop, shoe store, and as a hospital orderly. Jon states that his time on “Saturday Night Live” was the most memorable in his career. He went from having no money to being offered a $500,000 movie contract.

Lovitz voice can be heard in 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 day care center) on the season’s four episodes.

In the late 1990’s, 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.” Lovitz has also appeared on “Friends” twice, “The One With The Stoned Guy” playing a man who came to see how Monica cooks, and then "The One With The Blind Dates” playing a man that was set up with Rachel by Phoebe. He appeared on “Seinfeld” as Gary Fogel, the man who lies about having cancer (The Scofflaw) and later dies in a car accident.

He has appeared on Broadway at the The Music Box Theater 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. 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.

Jon Lovitz has just completed his second successful stand up appearance at the Orleans Hotel and Casino, where I had an opportunity to interview Jon for my television and radio show. He is truly a very talented and hard working performer. "Yeah! That's the ticket!