Actor /comedian Jon Lovitz. You'd know me as the Liar from SNL ("That's the ticket!") and the cartoon The Critic and movies like A League of Their Own, The Wedding Singer and Rat Race. AMA.

Please, please, PLEASE make a Critic-style youtube series reviewing bad movies.

Please do this. For the children.

It's up to Al Jean and Mike Reiss who created the show!

Who wrote the Hitler scene in Rat Race? That sequence is by far the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life. I start laughing at "I'm not putting my mouth on it, I'm not suckin on the dashboard" and I dont stop. If anyone missed this movie, go see it immediately. Most underrated comedy of all time. Forgive the smash mouth, everyone was doing it back then.

Andy Breckman wrote the movie. He used to write on David Letterman and SNL and he created the TV show Monk. He is one of the few comedy writers who is also a very funny person. I love his sense of humor.

Hi Jon, no question here, but my brother and I once ran into you in a McDonalds in NYC, and you couldn't have been cooler.

There was also a family that was there, who asked you to eat with them even though you were clearly looking to be in and out, but you indulged them for a few minutes and sat down with them. Kudos to you for being a good dude.

well thank you very much!

what ever happened to the critic they need to bring it back

The show was a hit, but Fox cancelled it anyway. I would love to do it again.

Tartlets.

That's from my first time doing FRIENDS. Thanks for remembering.

Hey Jon, no question here, just wanted to say you were funny as hell in High School High.

Thank you! That was the first time I had the lead in a movie, and I got to a love scene, a fight scene, but they were all funny too. I met Tia Carrere working on that movie and we've become really good friends. Anyway I'm glad that you liked it. Thank you.

I've got a remodel project going on in the bathroom. What kind of tile do you see as being popular in the next 10 years?

White tile.

You were friends with Michael Jackson, weren't you?

No, my father was his family doctor. I met him 5 or 6 times briefly over the years since he was 11. I wouldn't say I was friends with him but one of my best friends worked for him and I got to stay at Neverland Ranch. The last time I saw him he recognized me. He was the most generous person I ever met in my life.

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Well I don't have 1 but he became an older brother to me and was just the nicest guy in the world. Whenever we worked together he always made me laugh and I looked up him and thought he was brilliant. He was also one of the nicest people I've ever met in my entire life.

Al and Tom Davis were producing the show and they hired me to do SNL. I was in the Groundlings theater and they came to see me and I was doing a Master Thespian sketch and nobody was laughing except for Al. I remember thinking thank god that guy from Saturday Night Live is laughing. He recommended I meet with Lorne Michaels.

when can we expect the return of artie ziff?

You have to ask Al Jean who runs the Simpsons! But I always have fun doing that character.

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Once in a while people recognize my voice as Radio.

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The cast accepted me but understandably, emotionally it was tough to do.

I don't even have a question to give you. Only my love! You are so amazingly quotable, every line, pure comedy gold. You help me seem funny sometimes. Thank you!

That's a huge compliment. Thank you!

i am so sexual attracted to you it's awkward in every way.

I loved you in the wedding singer and hope one day you can be my wedding singer.

Also, Rat Race. Hands down one of my favorite movies ever. Thank you for exploding my bladder.

Well that is very flattering, thank you. I am glad I attracted someone sexually. Finally, somebody who gets it!

So what's mr bean like in real life?

He's very nice. He's very reserved and very quiet. He doesn't tell jokes, he's very shy. He's very into his family. When he's doing a scene and working it out, he is very funny.

What was your experience like on Seinfeld?

I had a great time. It was the number 1 show on TV and I had known Jerry Seinfeld for a long time. I remember I kept making Jason Alexander laugh every time I said "You got that right Jack." And Julia Louis-Dreyfus was nice, Larry David was great, I was excited to be on it. I thought the idea of the character was very very funny.

Do you have any interest in playing a non-comedic role in a film or show? I was both impressed and creeped out when I saw Robin Williams in "One Hour Photo", and I could definitely see you playing a sleazy businessman or creeper in suburbia.

...No offense!

I did a movie Casino Jack that was kind of like that. You should watch that movie, it's a good one, with Kevin Spacey.

What work of yours do you feel is the most misunderstood or under-appreciated?

Mom and Dad Save the World. Only because it was only out for one week so hardly anybody got to see it, but I think if they had publicized it it could have been a hit, it was a very funny comedy.

Also the movie Rat Race. It was funny but the trailer to the movie was incomprehensible, so...

What is your best memory from your SNL days?

Just the camaraderie of all the comedians and every week getting to do scenes with the best actors in the country. I would always Master Thespian with John Lithgow and he was a great actor and just the nicest guy in the world.

Which Simpsons character was/is your favorite to voice? What's your best memory doing The Simpsons?

Llewellyn Sinclair the director in "A Streetcat Named Marge."

We used to record in the basement of a building called The Daryl Zanuck Theater. And the whole cast would be there all day, and in between takes there's a ping pong table, and we would play ping pong, and the cast would be very very funny and nice. It was always very entertaining to me to watch them do their voices.

Dang, I've missed you. How have you been?

I missed you too Red!

First of all, "Top Billing" was the best episode of Tales from the Crypt. You were so damn good in that.

Your scene in Happiness is one of the most unforgettable openings ever filmed. Is Todd Solondz someone you'd be interested in working with again?

Thanks for the compliments. Yes I loved working with Todd and would love to work with him again. He was very smart, very funny and very collaborative.

First off, thank you so much for spending time with us tonight. You did a couple of guest appearances on NewsRadio before the untimely death of Phil Hartman, after which you came on as a regular cast member. It sucked we lost Phil Hartman, but you did a fantastic job all things considered. One of the funniest shows I had ever seen was just as enjoyable with you on the cast.

My question is this: What was your favorite movie role and why?

A League of Their Own was a great part written for me. I love baseball and old movies and I had a blast, plus I had a lot of friends on the movie like Penny Marshall and Tom Hanks. And I had worked with Geena Davis and Madonna on SNL, got to meet Rosie O'Donnell for the first time and she was great. I love baseball, women and movies and that part combined all of it. I also liked my part in City Slickers 2, I thought it was a great part and working with Billy Crystal and Jack Parance was great.

1. Was there much (any) ad-libbing on The Critic, or was it all pretty much recorded and aired as scripted?

2. And what was your favorite episode? :-)

It was pretty much recorded as scripted but if I had an idea they would let me try and then keep it in. Pretty much close to 100% except for a few lines here and there that I made up was written.

My favorite episode was the one where he runs the New York Marathon.

I loved The Critic. I cannot hear "Beauty and the Beast" without hearing "Beauty and King Dork" instead. This is not a bad thing, I love it. Thank you for that and your other wonderful works.

Oh wait, I didn't phrase it as a question. OK, here goes:

Do you have any idea how awesome you are?

No! I don't think I'm awesome, but I appreciate you saying that, that's very kind of you.

Hi Mr. Lovitz. Let's not forget your excellent part in the movie Happiness.

What was it like starring in such a film, and what is your primary memory derived from working on that film?

Thanks, for the AMA; I'm a big fan of your work.

Todd Solondz wrote a great scene and it was a real challenge because I had to be funny and sad at the same time. It was a challenge but he wrote a great scene and was a great director to work with.

If there was a Jay Sherman/Jon Lovitz doll out there, I would carry him in my purse every day. Justssayin.

Do you have any upcoming projects with with Matthew Broderick again?

No, not right now, but he's a great actor and a good friend. I love working with him and hope I get to work with him again.

What's your very best life advice?

2 things.

One is happiness is a choice.

And the second is are you willing to do what you have to do to get what you want.

Who should I believe, you or Joe Isuzu?

Well, I would believe me.

Saw you perform once at the Comedy Club in LA, great show! Who are some of your biggest comedic inspirations/heroes? Also I miss The Critic :(

Woody Allen and Lenny Bruce. I saw Woody Allen's first movie when I was 13 years old and that's when I decided I wanted to be a comedian.

Jon: Your time at 'Saturday Night Live' is, definitively, the greatest era of the series. It was because of you that you saved the series from the brink of cancellation. Congrats.

What was the writers' room like? I mean, in your time at the show, you saw the three-headed powerhouse that was Robert Smigel, Bob Odenkirk, and Conan O'Brien churning sketch-after-sketch out like it was nothing. I've always been curious what you thought of those three.

Robert was there my first year so we started together. I became friends with all 3 of them. Bob is a great guy, he got the show because Robert recommended him. And Conan came on my second year, it took him 2 weeks to get the courage to introduce himself to me, but he knew Lisa Kudrow from The Groundlings theater so Lisa told Conan to say hi to me. They wrote sketches for me, but I was never in the writers' room. I wrote a Master Thespian sketch with Robert Smigel and he had an idea of having the Thespian be the Santa Claus at Macy's.

Thanks for doing this IAmA! It's nice of you to be doing this :) My question is how was it to work with a young Tom Hanks in Big?

Well by the time they shot Big we had become very good friends. I thought he was great in the movie, at the time he was a year older than me so I didn't think of him as "the young Tom Hanks" I just thought of him as Tom. He was fun and a great actor.

You're so much taller in real life. It's quite shocking, really.

I really, really miss News Radio. I felt that your character had just hit its stride, and was meshing well with the other cast, and that the writers had finally figured you out. Then -- BOOM!

How was your experience on the show?

Thank you! I think a lot of people think I'm 5' 6" and they are surprised when they meet me to find out that I'm 6' 10".

Hey JLO! You have a very distinct voice. Whenever I hear you in a cartoon I can immediately say, "Oh! That's Jon Lovitz!" I was wondering if this is because you have a particular inflection or character type that you work towards when doing voices. Also, being that your voice is so distinct, how do you typically get voiceover gigs? Do you audition when you see a part that looks right or do people usually come to you knowing that YOU are what they are looking for?

I get offered voiceover parts. The funny thing is, I never thought my voice was anything distinctive and when I was in college I asked a professor of mine if he thought I could be a professional actor. And he said I had everything going for me except my voice. I tease him about it today. I didn't think my voice had anything distinctive about it at all. So it surprised me when people said it did.

How much fun was it making Benchwarmers!?

I had a blast doing that movie. The guys were all funny and great. I thought the script was very funny and I knew David Spade and Rob Snyder and Jon Heder was great to work with, and I got to meet Reggie Jackson and that was a real thrill.

Greetings Jon! Big fan of The Critic. You even say that I...Lovitz. <_<

After doing The Critic, do you look at similar shows today and think they try too hard or do you enjoy them? What would Jay Sherman rate most of these shows?

I think a lot of these shows are hilarious. One of my favorites is Family Guy, I think it's one of the funniest shows I've ever seen. Sherman would rate it… it smells delicious.

What are your favorite books?

I don't read a lot of books, but 2 of my favorites were The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas and the Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer.

Grew up watching you on SNL. Who was your favourite host to work with on SNL?

I don't have just one, but I liked working with Robert Mitchum and William Shatner and Charlton Heston and my first show was with Madonna, that was fun. I liked Danny DeVito, he was a lot of fun, and Kevin Kline and Tom Hanks and Terri Garr hosted and I ended up becoming good friends with them.

Who are your favourite British comedians?

Peter Sellers, Monty Python, Richard Griffiths.

Hi , I'm Oded from Israel . Big fan, for like forever (Newsradio, actually) Have you been to Israel? Are you planning to be here in the near future? Would you do a Q&A with fans here?

I was in Israel in 1978 when I was 20 years old and I visited my cousins there that I had never met and I had an amazing time. But I don't really plan to go back right now.

I'm a fellow UCI Anteater...what were some of your favorite memories from your time at Irvine?

The drama department, there were only 90 people in it. I did 21 plays while I was there. I had great teachers and great friends. We all hung out together and partied together and did plays together and it was a very special time in my life. The last 2 years I was a block and a half from the beach and it was just terrific.

Some of the cutaway bits Family Guy does are similar to the Critic, except not as zany. Do you think the people behind that show were inspired by your show?

Ex:

"Come on my bloody amigos! We're taking Havana!"

Well according to Al Jean who created The Critic, Family Guy lifts whole scenes from The Critic but I think that Seth MacFarlane probably grew up watching the Simpsons and the Critic and were probably influenced by it but Family Guy is a very original show and one of the funniest I've ever seen. Everyone is influenced by somebody, including myself.

Thanks for doing this AMA Mr Lovitz. My question is how was your experience working for SNL? You were one of my favorites, alongside Dana Carvey. Did you love it?

It was very hard work but it was a lot of fun. And I love writing and performing my own material and I got to do that on the show, and that's why I love doing standup now, because I get to write and perform my own material again. I feel very lucky to have been on the show, I never thought I'd be on it in a million years. I had to audition and got picked and was very lucky.

Who is your favorite non comedy actor?

I have more than 1. John Barrymore, Basil Rathbone, Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole.

DUDE I just saw watched you in a City Slickers marathon I had with my buddies a few nights back. I loved the movie and there's something nostalgic about them that you just don't see anymore in comedy-movies these days.

What do you think could be missing? And if you could pitch ONE movie idea to bring back your old comedy styles, what kind of movie would it be, and who would it star?

The style of the movie always starts with the writers, so the only way to bring that back would be to have Billy Crystal and Babaloo Mandel and Lowell Ganz to write a sequel. Because they wrote it, you know. Comedies today I think are very funny but everything starts with the writers and that's why they styles change. I don't know how you could during it back.