INT: Jon Lovitz

Jon
Lovitz was always one of my favorite cast-members from the halcyon days of
late 80s/early 90s “Saturday Night Live”. But like so many
veterans of the show, he never really did find his niche in the post-SNL
world. His greatest triumph was the short-lived animated series “The
Critic”, which enjoyed some success before Fox pulled the plug and
relegated it to cult classic status.

This
week he returns to the big screen with THE
BENCHWARMERS,
the latest wacky offering from the Happy Madison crew. A few weeks ago
Lovitz talked about his experience working with fellow SNL alums David Spade
and Rob Schneider. Check it out.

Jon
Lovitz

So
you and baseball movies, huh?

Yeah.
Well, I…I like balls.

What
was the particular attraction of Benchwarmers for you?

I
actually read the script, and when they sent it to me, they said, “Look at
the role of
Clark
.” And then we were negotiating for the part and then my agent said,
“All right, so you’ll be playing Mel.” I’m like, “What? That’s
not what you said in the letter you sent me.” And I got really angry and I
just said, “You tell me to look at the wrong role? I’m negotiating for
the wrong part?” And they totally messed up. So then they go, “Read it
again and if you want to play Mel, let us know.” So I said yes, but then I
think, I don’t know how I’m going to play this guy, cause it’s a very
odd character. But I figured it out. I didn’t think the character was
particularly – he wasn’t outright funny, because he’s kind of the heart of
the movie, where I’m doing all this, having a baseball tournament, I’m
really doing it all for my son. So he doesn’t have to go through hell like
I did. So I think he was the heart of the movie.

Could
you relate to this guy? Could you relate to the experiences of this guy?

Could
I relate to it? Well no, because he’s a billionaire…and I’m a
trillionaire! I had to come down to his level I felt bad for the guy. Well
you can’t play a billionaire if you’re a millionaire. You don’t know
what it’s like. But you have to at least be there or above. So I had to
go, “What was it like five years ago when I was poor?”

Do
you collect anything?

Yeah,
I like watches and memorabilia and cars. I’m into that. The stupid thing
about cars is I started working and I met Eddie Murphy and he had all these
cars. Jay Leno had all these cars. So I said, “All right, I’m gonna get
cars. That’s what you’re supposed to do.” So then I did and Jay Leno
made fun of me. He said, “Yeah, but Jon, I buy old cars. You’re buying
new ones. Mine are going up in value. Yours are going down.”

Was
it cool to drive K.I.T.T. (the car from “Knight Rider”)?

Well
that was neat. It was neat meeting George Barris, because he’s the guy who
designed that car and the Batmobile. And he’s a really nice man. And you
know, he’s like a legendary car designer. He’s been designing cars for
movies for, I don’t know, 50 years or more. All the most famous cars
you’ve seen are his.

Was
everyone on the set excited to see the Batmobile and K.I.T.T.?

Yeah,
I was. I grew up in Encino and Tarzana, and when I was in like fifth and
sixth grade, I went to this school, Wilbur Avenue in Tarzana. And Adam West
who played Batman, his kids went to that school. So at Halloween we’d have
the Batmobile. So I was thrilled. I loved Batman. I had my Bat Ring.
(laughs) I was 8 and I go to my mom, “I want the Bat Ring!” You know,
with the big bat. So it was fun driving it, to actually get in it. But,
they’re just old cars. I mean there wasn’t actually…there was no jet.
I couldn’t eject anybody. It’s all fake.

Is
your love of baseball why you’ve done a couple of movies about the sport?

No,
honestly, it’s not like I say, “What movies are they making this
year?” And I’ll pick: “I’ll do this, this and this!” It’s just
you get offered stuff and then you go, “Do I like the part? Is it a good
script? How much money are they paying me?” Frankly, that’s part of it.
Well it really is. And people go, “Why? Is it always about the money?”
You go, “Well, most of it.” Because they’re buying a slot of time for
three months. So you have that time to do something. And you can’t do
anything else while you’re doing that project. So you say, “Well then
you gotta pay me what I’m worth.” And the reason why is because they
say, “Well we can’t pay you. We don’t have the money. You know,
you’re only playing a small role.” And then the press junket comes
around and they go, “Can you do the publicity? You’re a big star!”
That’s happened to me a lot. And I finally said, “Okay, sure, I’ll do
it for no money and I won’t do any press. It’s up to you.” You know,
you can’t have it both ways.

Is
it fun for you to reunite with guys like Rob Schneider and David Spade from
the SNL days?

Oh
yeah. Well I was never on the show with them, but Rob I knew. And then David
Spade I was in Lost & Found and Dickie Roberts, so you know, I’m
friends with David. But Rob I know and I’m friendly with. And I knew
Dennis Dugan. Adam Sandler’s the one who produced the movie and he’s
hired me a lot of times. We all say thank god for Adam. He hires his friends
and keeps us working. He’s very generous that way. But then he’ll go,
“Well, I don’t just do it because you’re my friend. I think you’re
great.” I say, “I know. I just wanted to say that to make you feel
good.”

You’re
doing standup every week. Is that where you feel most comfortable?

Well,
no. I only started doing it the last two years. Yeah, I do a show at the
Laugh Factory on Wednesdays at 8 in Hollywood. I really started doing it
because, well, I’ll just be honest with you. I wasn’t working as much
and one of my other ex-agents says…I say, “I gotta make money.” And he
says, “Well, sell your house.” And I go, “Oh, I’ll sell my house. In
the meantime, you just bought a new mansion above me! Okay, that’s a good
idea. How about getting me work, not sell what I own?” He says, “Sell
some of your cars.” And I go, “No. Eat me! Get me a job!” So I needed
the money. I always wanted to do it, but I was too afraid to do it. And
also, even if you’re not afraid to do it, you still have to know how to do
it.

You
have to know how to construct jokes and come up with material. And I never
really felt ready. And then for some reason I finally felt ready. And then
Dana Carvey is one of my best friends and he’s been doing it for years, so
he gave me some great tips. And so somehow I was able to pick it up quickly.
I did like my fifth show and I was doing maybe 20 minutes at the Laugh
Factory. And the owner there is named Jamie Masada. He’s been really
generous to me and gave me the night at the Laugh Factory. I just thought,
well I’m just starting. So he said a friend of his said, “How long’s
he been doing it? 20 years?” He goes, “No, this is his fifth show.”
He’s like, “What?” I go, “Jimmy…” He goes, “No, Jon, you’re
that good!” I go, “Well that’s impossible! This is like my fifth time
doing it.”

Do
you write new stuff every week or does some of it carry over?

No,
it’s like an act. Because then you get hired out to do your show. I love
it because, well first of all, it’s another source of income. Which, you
know, I need. It’s just great. You can say anything. It’s like a total
expression of who you are. No one’s giving you notes, no one’s editing
you. You can just totally be funny the way you’re funny. If you think of
something on the spot, you can say it.

What
kinds of things do you talk about?

God,
everything. Well, politics….I’m not astute, but it’s just my opinion.
Women. I have a lot of opinions on that. Sex. Like premature ejaculation, I
do stuff about that. I say, “That’s just a disease that women made
up.” Which it is.

So
it’s all the truth.

Yeah,
it’s basically all true. The way I come up with material is I’ll see
something and if it makes me in my head go, “What?!” Like that kind of
reaction or makes my mind go, “That’s ridiculous!” Or, “What did he
just say? That doesn’t make any sense.” Then that makes me think of
stuff and then Dana taught me that then you have an idea like that and you
try to expand it. That’s how you come up with more material. Just little
stuff. That’s what I think helped me do it well…it’s very exciting.
It’s like a whole new career.

It’s
nice of Adam Sandler to put you in the supporting roles in the movies.

It’s
unbelievably nice. I always say, “Thank you!” And this time he goes,
“Look, look, look. You’re my friend, but I’m not just doing it because
I like you. I think you’re great.”

But
when is Sandler giving you your own Happy Madison project?

I
know, right?! That’s what I keep saying. I said, “I think it’s
time!” But you know, it’s business… I think it would be good business
for him! He said, “It’s none of my business.”

Do
you still develop characters for yourself?

No,
you still think of stuff, but there’s nowhere to do them. Actually though,
now there is. The standup. So that’s what’s fun. Although I don’t
really do characters in my standup. I mean I’ll imitate some people, but
it’s more of just me expressing myself. I mean you can do whatever you
want. You know, I talk about politics, I talk about women, I make fun of
myself. I sing songs. I used to sing all these songs about my manager being
gay. Just to bug him. And then I started doing them in my act and I realized
nobody knew who he was. So Bob Saget’s there, and I say, “Bob, can I
make it up about you? Because no
one knows who Mark Gerbitz is.” He goes, “Yeah, go ahead.” So now
it’s like 20 minutes of these songs about Bob Saget.

What
role do you play in Southland Tales?

I play
this psycho cop. Richard Kelly who wrote and directed Donnie Darko, this is
his next movie. So he cast a lot of comedians in the roles because he said,
“If you can do Saturday Night Live and different comedy, I know you can do
drama.” He goes, “I think comedic actors can do anything.” So he cast
me, Cheri O’Teri, Nora Dunn, people like that. The main people in the
movie are The Rock, you know, Dwayne Johnson, and Sarah Michelle Gellar and
Seann William Scott. But then all these other roles… Kevin Smith is in it.
I saw a picture of him and he’s unrecognizable. He plays this old man.
Justin Timberlake is in it. It’s the strangest cast.

Who
do you interact with in the film?

Oh,
with Cheri O’Teri. But I play just this psycho cop. I look different. I
saw some of the movie and I go, “Well, that’s my walk.” I can’t get
rid of that. I look different, I talk different.

Was
it fun to do?

Yeah
it was. He said, “You always have the same hair.” And I said, “Well
yeah, I can’t grow it out any differently.” So he goes, “Well I want
your hair to be different.” So I had to dye it like platinum. So then I
said, well if I’m gonna look different, I’m gonna act different, I’m
gonna talk different. And so that’s what I did. And then, I play this cop,
and I’m supposed to intimidate The Rock. Well he’s huge! So I had to
figure out how am I gonna intimidate him? The only way you can intimidate
someone who’s bigger then you is if they think you’re insane. And then
they’re like, “That guy’s crazy! Who knows what he’ll do!” So I
tried to do that. He’s a good actor, so it looks like I intimidate him,
but I don’t think he was at all. He’s the nicest guy, I’ll tell you
that. He’s such a nice guy.

Do
you think they’ll ever resurrect The Critic?

No,
The Critic, they’re not gonna do it again. That was disappointing. First
it was on ABC. And ABC goes, “We love it! It’s the best! We love it! we
love it!” And then seven shows later it’s gone. They cancelled it. And
then Fox picked it up, and it aired after The Simpsons. This was, I don’t
know, ten years ago. And it held 90% of The Simpsons audience, which is
huge. And then they cancelled it anyway.

And
Jim Brooks went to the head of the network and he goes, “What are you
doing? The show is a
hit, and you’re canceling it.” And they couldn’t figure out why they
cancelled it. And then they said, well, the only reason maybe, is because we
had a show where we made fun of short, bald gay men and the guy running the
network is a short, bald gay man. I mean, that’s really all we could
figure. I go, “Jim, why would they cancel it if it’s a hit?” He goes,
“I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s insane.”

Are
you doing any more animated voices?

Well
I’ve gone back and done some Simpsons. I like doing it. I mean, let’s be
honest, when I did The Simpsons, it’s me going, “Hello, I’m Artie
Ziff!” I’m The Critic, Jay Sherman. “Hello, I’m Jay Sherman!”
It’s the same guy. I know that. But Al Jean and Mike Reiss wrote The
Critic and they were running The Simpsons. And originally it was going to be
a live show, and I said, “Well, is there a script?” And then Jim Brooks
says, “Well we’re not gonna audition for you.” I go, “Well I know,
but I don’t know what it is. You’re describing it to me. It sounds
funny. Can I read it?” So I left and then Jim said, “You better write a
script.” So they did and then I read it. And usually you don’t laugh out
loud at comedy scripts, but this thing was hilarious. I laughed out loud ten
times, like really hard. I was just dying. And then they said, “We’re
gonna make it animated now.” So I said all right.

Questions?
Comments? Manifestos? Send them to me at [email protected].