 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
JON LOVITZ - June 19, 2006
GUY MACPHERSON: I understand that you're fairly new to
standup comedy.
JON LOVITZ: Yeah, well I've been concentrating on it
the last couple of years. I always wanted to do it for
years. I used to do, like, Woody Allen and Lenny Bruce
routines in my college dorm. At various times I was
going to try it after college. And a guy teaching a
workshop at the Comedy Store said they're not hiring
standups for sitcoms. And I said, "Really? You think
they would. You guys are funny." And he goes, "Ah,
you'd think they would, but they're not." Years later
I realized they weren't hiring him. I was about to do
it when I was in the Groundlings theatre right before
I got Saturday Night Live. I started doing it for like
five minutes there but then I got the show. Dennis
Miller used to say, "You could do it" and he'd bring
me to Catch A Rising Star. But I just was too... I'd
get up a few times for a minute or five minutes. It's
a very frightening thing to do. My heart was just
pounding in my chest. Finally a couple of years ago
I'd get little jobs hosting. Kevin Nealon and Norm
Macdonald and Victoria Jackson, they all were standups
and so there'd be like a Saturday Night Live[-themed]
and they'd be like, "Do you want to host it?" So I'd
just do like five minutes. So I started off like that.
And then I slowly worked on an act. And then I went to
the Laugh Factory in Hollywood a couple years ago and
the owner, Jamie Masada, I said [to him], "Just push
me on stage. I gotta do this." Because it was
something I just always wanted to do since I was in
college, but I just... I don't know. I just didn't
have the guts. And they have the Friars Roasts in New
York. This is before I was on television. It was a
private function. So I would go and they'd go, "Do you
want to get up and roast somebody?" I'm like, "No, no,
I'm no good." And the first one I went to I saw Milton
Berle and he was hosting the roast for Bruce Willis,
and he was just amazing, you know? And you see that
and you go, "I can't do that." So one time they were
roasting Danny Aiello, who I'm good friends with so he
asked me to do it. But thing with the roast is you're
supposed to be, like, really dirty if you can, but
funny. For some reason I go that's a guideline so I
was able to think of jokes. And it's hard to think of
jokes. You have to learn how to do that. So I went,
"Well, I did that. That went funny." So I did it at
the Laugh Factory and then I got up to 20 minutes. And
then I got to half an hour and I started opening for
Norm Macdonald. And then one time they go, "You got an
offer but you'd have to do 45 minutes." I just said
yes, okay. So then I just did it anyway. I just did
everything I had. I was able to do it. So I started
doing that. And then I started co-headlining with
Norm. But I wasn't working much. I wasn't getting jobs
so I left the booking agent I was with. This all
happened within the last couple of months. I did a
show [at the Laugh Factory] with this comedian Jo Koy.
He opens for me now. He's hilarious. He just did the
Tonight Show in January. He got a standing ovation.
GM: That's rare.
JL: Yeah, it's very rare. They say there's been like
three in the history of the show. It's very rare.
GM: Must be tough having him open for you.
JL: No, it's not, because he's really funny. I don't
want someone bad opening for me. Also because people
are paying money to see a good show, I want the whole
show to be good. I don't want to have someone that's
not good. He's hilarious. It's just better for the
show. Anyway, the host was a guy named Frazer Smith.
Anyway, so what's been happening, Frazer knows a guy
named Gary Propper and Gary used to manage Gallagher
and Carrot Top and he's going to promote me in Vegas.
Anyway, Gary got me this new booking agent, Steve
Levine, who's like the top booking agent. He works
with Jay Leno and George Carlin and Chris Rock. I
mean, everybody. So I said, "Well, you better see my
act before you say you want to represent me." So he
saw it and he goes, "Yup, you're ready. Let's go." So
that was exciting to get that approval because he
represents these guys and he said, "Yeah, I want to
work with you." So then he got me all these jobs. I
started in St. Louis and did great there. I was just,
a couple weeks ago, in Regina, Canada, at the casino
there. And I just did the Improv at Irvine. Just going
all over. Wednesday I go to a theatre in Modesto. And
I'm doing a club in San Francisco. And then after that
I'm doing [the casino] up there in Vancouver.
GM: And it's been going well?
JL: Yeah, it's been going really well. The funny part,
when I started doing it and I would get to 20 minutes,
you know... I mean, It's hard just getting to ten
minutes. Or five. I mean, it's tough. In fact, I
remember one woman said, it was a corporate date, and
she said, "You gotta do ten minutes." I'm like, "Oh
man." You go, "What's ten minutes?" But it's a lot.
And then I got to 20 minutes finally. And then I kept
coming up with more jokes but it kept ending up being
at 20 minutes. I couldn't get past it no matter how
much material I got. But the problem now is I have too
much material (laughs).
GM: Meaning what?
JL: Meaning like I'll go over. Like, I start off to do
an hour and they go, "You just did an hour and a
half." I'm like, "I did?" But it's too long. It's too
long for the audience.
GM: There's a limit for the audience, you're saying,
no matter how good it is?
JL: Yeah, right. So they'll give me a light at 40
minutes and I'm like, "What?!" It's like the opposite.
I thought like 15 minutes went by. It's so weird. It's
very difficult because it's hard to get a sense of
time up there.
GM: So you've been getting lots of encouragement not
just from the industry professionals but also your
peers and old standup friends.
JL: Oh yeah. Years ago I got Saturday Night Live and
I'd meet everybody. I'd say to Eddie Murphy, "Do you
think I could do standup?" and he goes, "Yeah, you
should do it." Robin Williams: "Yeah, you should do
it." Jay Leno: "Yeah, you should do it." And Dana
Carvey and Dennis Miller. So the last couple of years
I started doing it. And Dana's one of my best friends
and he's one of the best standups I've ever seen. He's
been doing it since he was like 18. He really helped
me a lot. He's been saying for years, "Jon, you can do
it. You already have an act. I'm telling you. You
don't even know it." He would give me little tips but
that would make a giant difference. And I really think
that's what accelerated me forward. He would say stuff
like, something simple, like, "The most important
thing is to have fun." Just have fun. Two words. And I
can't tell you what a giant difference that makes in a
show.
GM: Because the audience senses it.
JL: Oh yes. Oh yeah, absolutely. And they just go with
you. Like, I notice if I'm just kinda stone-faced,
they laugh. But if I'm happy and they sense it, they
laugh twice as much. It makes such a huge difference.
Like, we saw a tape of a comedian and he goes, "See
this guy is making the classic mistake. He's doing a
long set-up, like five minutes, and then doing one
joke, and then he goes to another topic for five
minutes and one joke." Dana said, "See, that's a
recipe for exhausting the audience." So he goes, "Just
do as short of a set-up as you can and stay on topic
and do a lot of jokes." So that, of course, meant a
huge difference. The hard part, too, is how do I come
up with more material? Because I got like 20 minutes
but I'm like, "How do you come up with an hour?" It
just seemed impossible. He said, "Look at whatever you
have and then just say, 'How can I expand on this?'" I
went, oh, okay. I don't think if I'd been doing it
forever - I mean comedy and writing - I'd have been
able to pick it up so quick. But I knew what he meant.
But if he hadn't said that, it would have taken longer
to figure out. I'd have had to discover it on my own.
Eventually. I guess. I don't know. And another huge
thing that helped was when I started doing it, someone
said, "Jerry Seinfeld said when you first start doing
standup, comedians would learn their material and
repeat it like a monologue. And he said, 'It's not a
monologue; it's a dialogue between you and the
audience.'" When they said you do it like a monologue,
in my head I thought, "Yeah, isn't that what you're
supposed to do? And then you just act it out like
you're doing a speech in a play? Just like one big
long thing." And they said "No, he said it's like a
dialogue between you and the audience." And I thought,
"How could it be a dialogue? I'm the only one
talking." I'm thinking it's a play. And then I realize
it's conceptual. And then I realize it's exactly the
way I'm talking to you. It's like, I'm talking and
you're going, "right", and I go, "Do you ever do
this?" and you go, "Yeah". It's like that. And then I
realized that's what I'm always telling people in
acting. People will go, "Do you have any advice about
acting?" It's simple things that make a giant
difference, you know? After doing it for years you
learn these things. Like, if you're seeing a movie
that seems like bad acting, it's because the actor's
attention is on himself, which I learned in college.
It's basically, don't talk at the person, talk to
them. Just that concept. It stops you from performing
and just makes you real. In film, people have got to
really believe it's happening. That's what acting is.
Don't talk at them; talk to them. And all of a sudden
you become very natural and real and all the stuff
that you're trying to do. So that's the same thing.
It's not a monologue, it's a dialogue. You're talking
to people and they're listening and responding back.
GM: Do you think you've progressed so quickly because
it's been ruminating in your mind for so many years
that you want to do standup without having done it?
Rather than just going up the first time you thought
you might like to give it a try?
JL: Yes. Absolutely. Learning those monologues of
Woody Allen and Lenny Bruce and then performing them,
that, of course, helped tons. Because they're like two
of the best ever. So that helped, even though it was
years ago. Or at a friend's engagement party, they'd
go, "Jon, get up and say something." So I would do
that. I just kinda knew how to talk and give a little
speech that's funny, you know what I mean? So it's
that and also having performed in front of an audience
for years, so of course that helped. And I know comedy
and I know how to tell a joke and timing and all that.
But that's far different than, say, putting together a
whole act for an hour. Because then you're not just
telling one joke or talking on one topic. You've got
all different topics and you've got to figure out what
order to put the show in and you're going, "Cut out
the fat, cut out the fat." It's fascinating art.
GM: When you go on stage, do you have your order set
in stone? Or do you let the audience dictate that?
JL: I know what order I'm going in. Every comedian's
like that. Sometimes you forget some bit and you go
back to it, you know what I mean? I'm friends with
Kevin Pollak and I said, "Do you always know the order
you're going to do it?" And he goes, "No, if I have,
like, two shows in a row, though, I do because
otherwise I'll forget." Or three shows.
GM: Forget what you've done already?
JL: Yeah. I go in order otherwise I can't remember.
And there's a certain flow to the show that makes
sense. You try it in different orders and go, "Well,
that didn't work." It just makes sense, you know?
Because I talk about all different things. The one
thing I realized I want to do is I don't want to limit
myself to a certain style of standup or certain
topics. You know, like some comedians will go, "I'm a
political comedian", or "I'm observational" or "I talk
about myself". I said I'm just going to do everything.
Whatever I feel like doing.
GM: Just whatever you think is funny.
JL: Yeah, that's what I'll do.
GM: So we can't pin a style on you.
JL: Well, if there's a style, it's me. You know what I
mean? (chuckles) It's me being funny the way I'm
funny.
GM: And not doing characters.
JL: No. I'll imitate some people but I'm not doing
what I did on Saturday Night Live. I talk about
myself, my sex life, women. And I talk about Democrats
and Bush and Kerry. And I talk about what's going on
in gay marriage and religion, Jewish and Catholics.
And I end the show playing funny songs. I'm just
trying to be funny, so I end up with a whole thing at
the end, a tribute to Bob Saget.
GM: I saw some of that on Youtube.
JL: It makes you laugh. It's like, why would you sing
for 20 minutes about Bob Saget? It's ridiculous. And
I'm like, yeah, exactly.
GM: Are people always coming up to you doing your
characters?
JL: Yeah. Not as much. But yeah, that'll still happen.
It's flattering. I mean, people come up and they'll
go, "I watch The Critic!" or "I love this or I love
that". Even movies that didn't do well: "I love Mom
and Dad Save the World. Can you sign this?" That's why
I left Saturday Night Live and it was a huge bomb and
people come up and say, "Can you sign my DVD? I loved
that movie." And now it's kind of like, "Oh, great!"
GM: How many years were you on Saturday Night Live?
JL: Five.
GM: And you left to do this movie?
JL: Yeah.
GM: Did you feel like you didn't want to stay too
long? Or did you really want to go?
JL: I didn't want to leave. I wanted to do the movie
and come back. But Lorne [Michaels] said you can't
miss shows. I understand his point now but back then I
was, like, mad and I felt like, "Well, I did five
years. My contract's up. I really want to do this
movie so just let me do it and I'll make up the shows
later on in the year." But he said no.
GM: Do you still watch the show?
JL: No, I haven't seen it recently. Sometimes I watch
it. Now I'm performing at night.
GM: Your era has to be one of the greatest casts ever.
JL: Oh, well thank you. Me, personally, I think the
greatest cast ever was the original cast because
that's who created the show and invented it. I know
that for four years - not my first year but the next
four - it was just eight of us. It wasn't like a huge
cast. It was myself and Phil Hartman and Dana Carvey
and Dennis Miller and Kevin Nealon. And then the women
were Nora Dunn and Jan Hooks and Victoria Jackson. I
do know when we were there that we all respected each
other's talents. We were all impressed by each other.
And I still am. Like Phil, I idolized Phil from the
Groundlings theatre. He was like my older brother. He
was amazing. And I'd see Dana do stuff and be like,
"My God, he's fantastic." And I'd see Dennis do his
standup and his [Weekend] Update and think, "Geez,
this guy is brilliant." And Victoria was like, "God,
you're like this great actress. You're so vulnerable
and funny." Jan could do anything and Nora was very
funny and clever. Kevin was, like, really funny.
Everyone was kind of fans of each other and admired
each other's talents a lot. I remember we would do
sketches and Phil would go, "God, did you see Jan in
that one sketch? My God, she was amazing!" It would be
like that. And Dana's Johnny Carson... I remember I
was in the make-up room and he was imitating Johnny
Carson and it was like spooky. I go, "My God, it's
like you're him!"
GM: What a great, supportive atmosphere.
JL: Yeah. It was competitive, too. You had to fight to
get stuff on the air.
GM: But you're only fighting among eight of you.
JL: But it's you and the writers who are trying to get
stuff on the air. There'd be like 30 to 40 sketches
and there ended up being like eight on the air. But I
do remember we used to say to each other, we would do
the sketches but we'd go let's try to do the acting...
like play the people really real and make it really
great acting, too. Not cartoonish and caricatures. We
were consciously striving for that.
GM: Do you miss it?
JL: Uh, yeah. I do. A lot. It was an amazing time. But
honestly, there'd be times when I'd be there and call
up my manager and go, "Get me off this fucking show!"
Because it was just very cut-throat and brutal. But
the last six shows of my last year was great and I
really did want to come back. And so that year, if you
noticed, I kept coming back. I'd be in New York and
they'd call me up and go, "You wanna do this sketch?"
And they kept calling me. So I'd do it. I didn't know
what to do with my life. I even wrote about it. It was
a sketch where they'd show people thinking and they'd
go to me and you'd hear me go, "I gotta get a life." I
just didn't know what to do. I loved it. I always
wanted to put out an ad: Actor, can do a 3-camera live
comedy show.
GM: Do you know what you want to do with your life
now? Is it the standup?
JL: Well, that's what I'm doing now. I'll tell you
another reason I sound enthusiastic about it, which I
am, [is] because I get to write my own material and
perform it. Because that's what I've always wanted to
do. And that's what I was doing on Saturday Night
Live. So I haven't done that again in years. It's just
really fun to be able to do it again. And the other
thing is I know that I've got the job. Like, on
Saturday Night Live it was great but you always felt
like you were auditioning every year. Or if you do a
movie, they're fun but you never know what scenes
they're going to leave in and when they're going to
cut you. You have no control over your timing.
Hopefully the director has good comedic timing and
doesn't mess it up. And a lot of them do, but a lot of
them don't. I've seen scenes in movies where I'm
saying something and I go, "Oh, that was funny but the
audience didn't know it because that's the punchline
and they cut out the set-up." They have no idea why
I'm saying what I'm saying and why I'm dressed the way
I'm dressed. If they knew it was a choice that I'm
making. They just go, "Oh, there's him on the phone."
They don't know that I'm talking to this guy and I'm
lying and making everything up because they cut out
the scene before which showed what happened.
GM: Ever think of making your own films?
JL: Yeah, I have. I have always wanted to do that,
too. You know, Woody Allen, I saw his movie Take the
Money and Run when I was 13. And I said, "I want to be
like Woody Allen." That's what I've always wanted.
GM: And you finally got to work with him.
JL: Yeah, that was amazing. I couldn't believe it. I
had this one scene with him and it was just the two of
us. It was so much fun. And it was so weird because he
really influenced me and I used to do his routines in
my dorm. And when I was doing the scene with him, it
felt like I had been working with the guy forever. I
never had. I'd met him through a friend of mine, Brian
Hamill, who is his still photographer on all his
movies. So Brian introduced me to him like five years
before I did the movie. He was very nice to me and
said I could hang out on his set, which he doesn't let
people do. But he let me hang out and watch. And then
he cast me in this movie. He kept laughing and I'm
thinking, "I'm making him laugh!" And then, like,
three days later he said to me, "I've been watching
the dailies of our scene and you're really funny. But
you could see I kept laughing on the screen." I said,
"Yeah, I remember." He goes, "But I just kept laughing
at the dailies. It's really funny." I go, "Aw,
thanks." He goes, "No, no, no. You don't understand. I
never laugh at dailies. And you were making me laugh.
I just want you to know that you're really funny in
the movie. You're really fantastic." I can't tell you
what that meant! I was, like, over the moon. So then I
went up to his cameraman, who I know, when I was
hanging out on the set. I said, "Is that true, he
never laughs at dailies?" He goes, "Hardly ever." I
go, "All right, well how many times?" He goes, "Well,
in 17 years, like three." You know what I mean? I
almost felt like I could quit. When I was 13 years old
I wanted to be a comedian. And later my dad would give
me a hard time by going, "Who do you think you are,
Woody Allen?" And now I'm on a movie with Woody Allen
and I was trying out this character. Because all the
three guys, Michael Rapaport and Woody Allen and Tony
Darrow, in the scene with me, they're all from New
York and they have these really thick New York
accents. And I'm from Tarzana in California. So I
wanted to do a New York accent and I wanted to ask
Woody Allen and they go, "No, he doesn't like
questions." And I would hear he would fire people if
he doesn't like their performance. So I was dreading
that. I can't get fired because that'll just kill me.
Because the producer said, "Don't ask any questions."
I go, "Where is he?" And they go, "He's making a
movie." And I go, "Well, I'm in the movie! I can't ask
him a question?" I mean, I'd never heard that in my
life. Directors, they want you to ask them questions.
That's their job is to answer questions. That's all
they do. So anyway, I saw him on the set and I said,
"Listen, can I just ask you one question?" I was
desperate: "Please, can I just ask you one question?"
And he was, like, very nice. He was like, "Yeah,
sure." So, "They're from New York and can I do this
character?" And he goes, "Yeah, as long as it's real.
And I'll tell you what I told the other guys. If you
want to add anything or change it, go ahead." I'm
like, "Really?" Because I thought, "Why would I want
to change your script?" Because he's such a great
writer. But that is what he tells people. So anyway,
I'm finally doing the scene and I'm doing this
character and I'm imitating a guy that I met from New
York and he has a really distinctive way of talking.
"He tawks like dis," you know? "How ya doin'? Nice ta
see ya." That's really how this guy talks, which is
why I remembered it. So I'm doing that and Woody goes,
"Stop." Then he pulls me aside and he goes, "Listen, I
think it's better if... It doesn't sound real." And it
was real! That's the way this guy talks. If you met
the guy, you'd go, "Oh, someone actually talks like
that?"
GM: But you didn't argue with him.
JL: No. But he said, "Listen. I think it's better if
you just do your stuff." I wasn't sure if I should do
a character or just talk the way I'm talking now. He
goes, "I think it's better if you just talk the way
you talk and be yourself." He goes, "Lookit, I tell
people I put Jon Lovitz in the movie. It's going to be
me and Jon Lovitz, and they go, 'Oh, that's fantastic.
He's so funny.'" Then he goes, "You know, guys like
us, we're already funny, so you don't really have to
do a voice." And I was relieved because I didn't want
to get fired. So I go back to my mark and I started
crying. I had tears in my eyes. I was going to lose it
because he said "guys like us". And I'm thinking back
to when I'm 20 in college and my father screaming,
"Who do you think you are, Woody Allen?" And now I got
Woody Allen saying "guys like us."
GM: You're in the club!
JL: Yeah. You have to understand, that's my whole
life. I said at 13 I'm going to do that. And now I got
the guy saying "guys like us", the guy that I aspired
to be. It was such a vindication of my life. Not that
I needed his approval. I started crying. It's like,
"Oh my God. It happened. Twenty-nine years later."
GM: Any other movies with him in the works?
JL: No, I mean, you know, he writes what he writes and
then he casts it. I would love to, you know, of course
work with him again. But you know, I don't know,
whatever happens, happens. The point is I finally got
to work with him and it was just... oh, it was so much
fun. And making him laugh.
GM: Do you have a myspace account? Is that you?
JL: Yeah.
GM: Oh, that is you. Because you never know.
JL: Yeah, there are a lot of fake ones out there.
GM: It's very helpful.
JL: My blog on career advice?
GM: Yeah.
JL: Yeah, that's me. Yeah.
GM: Are you that helpful in person when someone comes
up to you?
JL: I try to be, yes. I'll go on and on, you know? But
people helped me so I just feel like, you know, why
not? There are no secrets? It's not like, "Why did you
tell them? Now they'll take your job." I'm like, "No,
they won't."
GM: If people aren't already funny, that advice is not
going to help them.
JL: But even if they are, that's just how I am. When I
got on the Groundlings, Laraine Newman, who I'd never
met, she met me, she saw me there, and she recommended
me to Lorne Michaels. Then I got this movie with
Charles Grodin, and I didn't know him. And he
recommended me to Lorne Michaels. So here are these
two people helping me. My God, they're so nice. And my
first two weeks on Saturday Night Live, Penny Marshall
is hanging out on the show and the next thing you
know, she's helping me with advice.
GM: Do you find that it's the biggest talents who are
the most generous?
JL: I guess so. They're just super nice. I mean,
Charles Grodin helped me a lot and I'd call him up for
advice. I thought he was great and hilarious. I know
when I was trying to make it in acting and I'd see
some actor and go, "Hey, do you have any advice for
me?" And some of them would go, "No." And I'd go,
"Well, that wasn't very nice." And I always said,
"God, if I ever was in that position and somebody
asked me, I'd try to help them." But the myspace thing
is, first of all, it's free and it's an amazing thing.
It helps you and tells people where your shows are and
what's going on. So I thought I should do something to
give back. So that's what I thought of. It's the one
thing I know about and it's fun trying to help people.
I don't know. I enjoy it. I've given people advice and
they'll come in and go, "I got five jobs! You met me
four years ago and I asked you for advice and you
talked to me. And now it's four years later and I just
want you to know I'm actually doing it and I'm booking
jobs." And I go, "Really?!" And I'm like, "Oh, you
listened to me?" (laughs) I go, "Oh, good." It makes
you feel good, you know what I mean? I don't know,
it's like why not? I mean, I can't give people work.
I'm not in that position. But I give advice.
GM: That's great. I just know that some people don't
know if that's really you on myspace.
JL: It really is me. I know, there's a lot of...
There's one I saw on David Spade. So I looked it up
and I read it and I go, "Boy, it sounds just like
David." Then I saw pictures of me from the set, behind
the scenes of The Benchwarmers. And I went, "Oh, well,
it's David." Then I had lunch with him about a week
later and I said, "Hey, I saw your site on myspace."
And he goes, "No, that's not me." I said, "Are you
serious?!" I go, "It fooled me! And I know you." There
are pictures of me on there. I don't know how anyone
else could get these pictures. Dane Cook told me about
it. I met him at the Laugh Factory. His album came out
and it was huge. I go, "How did you do it?" And he
goes, "Well, have you ever heard of myspace?" And I
said no. This was like last August. So he told me
about it and how he used it to help sell his album.
Now I don't know how I didn't hear about it. When I
was on it in August, there was like 24 million people
on it. Now there's like 80 million. It's just
unbelievable.
GM: His success is really dividing people.
JL: Not that I know of.
GM: You get too big then all of a sudden you get the
naysayers. At a certain level people go, "This guy's
great, you should check him out." And then you get too
big and people want to chop him down.
JL: But that's not him. First of all, he's not too
big. That's just somebody's opinion. Let's just say
that he's successful to the point that people who are
insecure are now jealous and want to bring him down.
It's just stupid. Somebody gets popular and then the
people that cut him down are, you know, like critics
in newspapers and nobody knows who they are. And it
intimidates them. Then they want to start bringing him
down to make them feel better about themselves. It's
just low self-esteem. There's no reason to cut... Just
because somebody's popular... The guy's very funny.
You could say, "Well..." I'm not going to talk
about... I like Dane very much and I'm not going to
say anything negative about him. At all. The guy's
been working on it for years. He works tremendously
hard. For fifteen years he's on stage every night. The
guy works, works. And he deserves it. And he's built
his audience over 16 years. It didn't just happen.
GM: Oh, I know. I saw him before it all happened and I
liked him. But what I've heard is not from the critics
but from comics talking with other comedians on
message boards around the country.
JL: Oh, the other comedians! Yeah, they're just
jealous. They're just jealous, period. I mean, I
remember in 1979, I met Robin Williams, actually, in
my college. In '79 I was doing this thing called Solar
Energy Day and I wrote this short story. And they
wanted it performed so I did this at UC-Irvine on the
library steps. There were about 350 people and I read
this story and my friends acted it out. And this guy
comes up to me and goes, "I'm next." He goes, "Could
you introduce me?" I go, "Yeah, what do you want me to
say?" He goes, "Just say, 'And now here's the first
standup comedian from Russia, Nikki Lenin.'" So I go,
"Okay." So I introduce the guy and then sit down to
watch him and the guy does like 45 minutes and he's
like brilliant. I went, "God, this guy is so funny."
I'm like, "Who is this guy?" Anyway, it was Robin
Williams. But this is like before Mork & Mindy. Like
in May, and the show came out in September. And he was
very nice. And I went, "Do you have any advice?" I
didn't know who he was. He hadn't even been on TV but
the guy was so great I go, "I gotta ask this guy for
advice." He goes, "Yeah, you know, first you imitate
other people but then you find your own style." I
said, "Okay." And he says, "Do you know where the
improv classes are?" And he went to this improv class.
My roommate was in the class and did improv with him.
And actually I just saw my roommate in Irvine. He came
to the show and we were talking about that. And the
teacher was saying, "Well, I don't know if we can let
outside people come in." But then he said to my
friend, "But from one to ten points, you've gotten ten
points on every single exercise we've done. So I don't
let people in, but if you're saying he's good, okay,
he can come in the class." So he came in and my
teacher came up to [my friend] and went, "Who is this
guy?!" He said, "I told you, he's amazing." But
anyway, nine months later Mork & Mindy's on the air.
And then I graduate and go into the Comedy Store and
Robin Williams was like the biggest comedian in the
country. Huge. He's on Mork & Mindy and he's gigantic.
And now all the comedians are all bitter and "why him?
Why isn't it me?" It's the same old crap. Comedians
writing about him on the internet, that's just
bullshit. They're just jealous. They're just jealous,
period. That's what it is: jealous and low
self-esteem. Just sheer, utter jealousy. Period.
GM: Robin Williams films a lot in Vancouver and he
always comes down to this small independent room every
week almost and puts on, like, a half-hour show and
the people just love him.
JL: Listen, you work really hard and stuff and you try
to perform and be entertaining and make people laugh,
but the audience picks the, quote, stars, you know?
The audience makes you popular. You put it out there
and if they all want to see it, you're popular.
GM: But are all laughs equal?
JL: Yes.
GM: So you wouldn't go, "Oh, that's a cheap laugh" or
"I don't want to get my laugh that way"?
JL: No. Are all acts equal? Yes. The point is, though,
not everything is funny to everybody. It's like music,
you know? Some people go, "I love country music" or "I
like rock music" or "My favourite band is the Beatles"
or "I think it's the Rolling Stones." Just because you
have a favourite doesn't mean the other one's no good.
That's the problem: They're always making art compete
against itself. And that's not what it is.
GM: It's just different.
JL: It's different. Like some people don't think I'm
funny. I'm like, all right. So? That's fine. It
doesn't bother me. Because enough people do. And they
say, "Does it bother you?" And I go, "No, because not
everything is funny to everybody. Not everyone has the
same sense of humour." You can't appeal to every
single person on the earth, you know what I mean?
Everyone likes different kinds of stuff.
GM: It's only a problem if nobody thinks you're funny.
JL: If no one thinks you are, yeah, you can't make a
living.
GM: Are you a jazz fan?
JL: I don't know. Some stuff I like.
GM: Just because one of your characters, Tommy
Flanagan, is the name of a famous jazz pianist and I
always wondered if you knew that.
JL: Oh, I've never heard that, but that's very
complimentary.
GM: Was the Groundlings sketch or improv?
JL: Both.
GM: Do you still do improv at all?
JL: No, I haven't done it in a long time. It's fun to
try to do it in your standup act, though. Like, an
idea'll pop into your head and then you just say it.
"Ah, that worked! I'll keep that for the next show."
GM: Are you a trained singer? I know you sing a bit.
JL: Well, not really. My father was a doctor but he
wanted to be an opera singer. So he was always playing
opera music and singing all the time. So we all grew
up singing. So I was always singing. And then you hit
puberty and your voice changes and I couldn't sing at
all. So I had to, like, relearn how to sing. I took
like ten lessons in college and then after college I
had like four lessons with this one woman. But that
was it. Not enough to make me a singer but I just like
to sing so I'm just always singing and practicing.
GM: And you play the piano?
JL: Yeah. I had lessons from when I was like eight to
thirteen. I play okay. Good enough. But I sing in the
shower and I go, "Boy, this sounds good to me." But
everyone thinks they sound good in the shower. And one
day I asked a guy, "Can I sing the national anthem at
Dodger Stadium," because I was playing a celebrity
game there. "I know it sounds crazy but here, I'll
sing for you on the phone just so you can hear." So I
did and he goes, "Okay, yeah, that sounds good." And
then I never heard anything and the day before the
game they called and said, "Okay, you're going to sing
the anthem." I said, "I am? I thought..." "Yeah, the
girl dropped out." So I got to do it. And the next
thing you know I was doing it every year. And then
what was fun on July 4th, it wasn't like a Hollywood
stars game, it was just like a regular game. They go,
"Could you sing the national anthem for July 4th?" I
was like, "Oh! Now you like me for my singing!" So
that was neat. And then I sang at Carnegie Hall. I did
this show in their smaller theatre. It was a musical,
Very Warm For May. It was a staged reading. And it was
like an old-fashioned play by Jerome Kern and it was a
musical family and the daughter runs away to play in a
barn theatre. I played the eccentric director in the
barn theatre play. And I have to sing. And the guy who
was directing it, John McGlinn, he makes a record with
opera singers singing Broadway songs. So I go, "Well,
I can kinda sing. It's like fake opera, you wanna hear
it?" And he goes, "Okay." He was at my house working
with me with the music. So I started singing for him
and he was like, "Oh my God, you can sing!" And he
called up the assistant director and he goes, "Listen
to this. Jon Lovitz can actually sing. Listen to this.
It's amazing." And so I was singing for him. And this
guy's name was Bill Hicks, the assistant director. And
Bill Hicks is the guy who taught Pavarotti all the
songs, right? So I met him in New York. I was working
with him on the music and I said, "Do you think I
could actually be an opera singer?" And he goes,
"Yes." And I go, "Really?" "Well," he goes, "you'd
have to work at it every day like an Olympic athlete,
but yeah, you could do it if you wanted." I said, "So
how long would it take me? Like five years?" He goes,
"No, not that long." But I mean, you know, I'm not
saying I'm as good as an opera singer, but I can sing.
But those guys are amazing. That's like saying, "You
have a nice build. You could be a world-class
body-builder but you gotta start working out." You
know what I mean?
GM: Is your dad still around?
JL: No, he passed away in like '93.
GM: That would make him proud to know what this guy
said.
JL: Yeah, so then they had a thing a couple years
later at Carnegie Hall. It was Ira Gershwin's 100th
birthday celebration. They asked me to sing in that.
And the guy doing that said, "Yeah, I saw you at the
other show two years ago at Carnegie Hall so that's
why I wanted you in it." And then a friend of mine got
me a job singing with Robbie Williams. You know who he
is?
GM: Yeah.
JL: So I got to sing on his album, called Swing While
You're Winning. He just trusted my friend. She
recommended me, which was, like, thrilling. And then I
got to perform a show at the Royal Albert Hall. I go,
"What do you think?" He goes, "Yeah, you can sing." I
go, "Like professional?" He goes, "Yeah." But I don't
know. It's exciting to hear, you know what I mean?
GM: What's a typical day for you?
JL: (laughs) Oh, I just get up and putt around the
house. I like to play tennis a lot.
GM: That's a nice life.
JL: Yeah, it's nice. And then at night I get to go
make people laugh. Yeah, I'm enjoying it very, very
much. A lot.
GM: Any plans to release a CD or DVD of your show?
JL: Not right now. Not yet.
GM: You could be the next Dane Cook and sell millions.
JL: I don't know about that. He's got over a million
people on his myspace account. It's amazing. Dane's
amazing. He told me about myspace. You see his picture
up there [on my site]? I go, "Is it okay if I put your
picture up?" He goes, "Yes!" But yeah, he was very
encouraging to me. It's great, because I'd go back to
the Laugh Factory and I'm like 15 years older than all
the guys there. I felt kinda strange at first. All the
guys were in their late twenties and thirties and I'm
46. I never felt old but then you see these guys. But
they're all very nice and supportive and they go, "You
know what? You're a name but..." They were very nice.
They go, "We respect the fact that you're here and
you're not just going on the road right away and just
taking the money. You're working on your act."
GM: You're putting in the time. Like an Olympic
athlete.
JL: A couple years ago, Bob Saget, who I'm friends
with - I got his permission. I go, "Can I just make
these songs about you?" They were about my manager,
but no one knows who he is, so I said, "Bob, can I
make it about you?" He, unfortunately, has had a tough
life. He has, like, two sisters who passed away. And
one of them passed away from this disease called
scleroderma. So he started a charity event every year
called Cool Comedy-Hot Cuisine. It's all these chefs
making all this great food and then he gets his
friends, these comedians, to do a show. So a couple
years ago he asked me to do it. And I'd just started
at the Laugh Factory. I go, "Bob, I just started!" He
goes, "Well, just get up and sing the songs about me."
He goes, "It'll be you and Tim Allen and Robin
Williams." And me. I'm like, "But Bob, I just started
doing this." "Just do the stuff about me." "All
right." He goes, "Don't worry, I'll introduce you.
You'll go up first. You won't have to follow them."
And then he goes, "Oh, listen, right before you Rodney
Dangerfield's going to do like three minutes." Oh
great! I gotta follow him? He's known as, you know,
one of the greatest standups ever. So Rodney does his
three jokes and he's very funny. And I did my thing.
And then after it, Rodney was like, "Hey, that was
really good. Good job." "God, thanks! Coming from
you." I do a show at the Laugh Factory on Wednesdays.
And after the show they go, "Jon, Robin Williams is
here." And I'm like, "He is?" So I saw him and he
goes, "Yeah, I saw your name on the marquee and I
wanted to come in." And he goes, "You were hilarious.
I remember two years ago you said you were doing
standup. Now you're really doing it!" He goes, "It's
unbelievable." He goes, "It's really something." It's
just so encouraging. I've known him and I met him in
college and met him on SNL when he hosted, and met him
over the years. But it's just so supportive and nice.
Seeing this guy perform in my college dorm and doing
standup, and now it's like 30 years later and he's
coming by to see me. "Hey, you're really funny!" And
they go, "Jon, he was laughing at everything, he was
laughing hysterically." And he goes, "You're so funny
and you do this and that..." And he goes, "But you did
it! Remember you told me you were thinking about doing
it?" He goes, "And now you're actually doing it." I
go, "Yeah, I know." I go, "Remember, you told me to do
it years ago."
GM: It's great to have all this support from people
you respect and who are successful in the business.
JL: Yeah. It's very encouraging. Now I'm actually
doing it. It's just thrilling. And I've got the top
booking agent, I got all these jobs.
GM: And travelling around. You're coming up to Canada.
Have you been to Vancouver before?
JL: I have, yeah. I think it's a beautiful city.
GM: What were you doing here?
JL: I was doing reshoots on this movie I did. And I
was there again for something, I forget what. I
remember going there. What was that, Stanley Park?
GM: Yes.
JL: Yeah, I just thought it was beautiful. I rode my
bike. What is that, Third Beach? And I just remember
sitting on that going, "Oh my God." I thought it was
amazing because behind me was a forest. You never see
a forest and then the sand. And then water. So it's
like trees, the beach and then you see the city lights
across the way, and then there was snow on the
mountains. It was like five different things. The
environment is all right next to each other.
GM: I look forward to seeing your show.
JL: I will say this: You should say the show is rated
R. It's not like the cleanest show. I don't do what I
do on Saturday Night Live. It's like you'd be in a
club. It's pretty risque. I don't want people to come
and be offended, but I'm not going to change my act,
either. It's rated R. Stress that. I'm not filthy.
It's not G, it's R.