Jon Lovitz
Appearances
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
Oh, I went to college at UC Irvine, and there was a professor of mine, William Needles, who taught me Shakespeare. And when he would do it, though, himself, he'd always go, he'd say, like, the opening speech from Henry V, the chorus, and it was, Oh, for the muse of fire that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
And he would say, like, Oh, for the muse of fire that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention. Like that, and I thought it was very funny. I thought it was very good, but very funny, too. And I used to imitate him, and then I kind of put it together with... You know, and then I wanted to be an actor, and an actor is a... You know, that's what a thespian is.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
So I was like the master thespian. You know, I would just joke around with my friends and say, I'm the master thespian, because I just wanted to be a great actor. That was my goal.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
No, Al Franken and Mike Myers wrote it.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
And, uh... But I based it on... They wrote it, and it was really funny. And then I based it on this actor, Ned Glass. Ned Glass, he talks like this. And he was the father on Bridget and Bernie. He was the Jewish father. He was in... He's probably the best West Side Story. He was Pops, and I guess he runs the drug store or the candy store. And when I was 15 years old... What's wrong with you kids?
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
Well, if you see these movies, you know who he is. When I was 15 years old, I was at my best friend's house, and his father is a doctor, and Ned Glass was one of his patients. And I was 15, and my friend's father says to Ned Glass, John wants to be an actor. And he says, you want to be an actor? He goes, what would you do if you hurt your toe? And I said, I'd say, ouch.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
He goes, would you say ouch if you were Hercules? And he goes, you know what you have to do? He goes, you know what you have to know to be an actor? You have to know everything. You think you could know everything? You have to know everything. So as if he knew everything. And he goes, you know, there was only... And he was literally, he was the same in everything he played.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
He was a good actor and he was funny, but he was just himself. He was exactly the same. And he says, you know... There was only two actors who were never typecast. Me and Paul Muni. Anyways, I never forgot him, so I... And he was good. He was a funny actor, you know. He's funny, but, you know, he never...
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
I guess he always thought he played all these different characters, and really he was just always, hello, how are you? I mean, in Julius Caesar, in the movie with Marlon Brando, he's in the opening market scene, and everyone's going, my lord, come here and hither, and he's in the market scene, you want to buy some oranges, my lord?
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
Yeah, he used to goof off and he used to make prank phone calls. I mean, the look for annoying man I got from him, he used to comb his hair forward and wear his glasses low. He didn't act like that, but that's where I got the look from. He used to come home and tell us he was his twin brother, Howard. We would be like seven or eight.
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
But he would play it so straight for like a half an hour and just insist on it. And then he would leave. And then like 20 minutes later, come back. I guess he'd just wait in his car. And then we'd say, Howard was here. He goes, he was?
Fresh Air
'SNL' Turns 50: Aykroyd, Franken, Zweibel & Lovitz
No, he didn't. Oh, he didn't? No, he just said he did.