44 | MARCH 12 • 2020 

J

on Lovitz is having a ban-
ner first few months of 
2020. He returned to his 
home turf of Saturday Night 
Live to play Alan Dershowitz 
Jan. 25. He’
s the wise-crack-
ing voice behind a new game, 
Little Diablo, and he returns to 
Mark Ridley’
s Comedy Castle 
in Royal Oak to perform his 
stand-up act on Sunday, March 
22.

JN: A few weeks ago, the world 
was introduced to Little Diablo, 
a built-in sequence memory 
game marketed as “un-shut-
up-able.
” It features your voice. 
How did that come about?
Jon Lovitz: Andy Breckman, 
who I worked with on Saturday 
Night Live and who created the 

TV series Monk and wrote the 
movie Rat Race that I was in, 
developed it when he started a 
toy company. He’
s very inven-
tive. You play it like the game 
Simon with the colored lights. 
And, as you’
re playing it, you 
hear my voice heckling you 
and you can’
t shut it off. It’
s 
very funny. It’
s pretty dirty and 
extremely annoying.

JN: That’
s really cool. How 
many people can say they’
ve 
had a toy created for them?
Lovitz: I know. It’
s very 
exciting. I’
ve had figures made 
of some of my characters from 
the Simpsons, but this is so fun. 
It makes me laugh; it’
s so ridic-
ulous. And it’
s definitely for 
adults only. 

JN: Like the two shows you will 
be performing at Mark Ridley’
s 
Comedy Castle? They’
re being 
advertised as for the 18-plus 
crowd.
Lovitz: Yes, It’
s rated R for 
adults. It’
s not like it’
s filthy-
dirty or anything; it’
s just that 
the audience is coming to hear 
my sense of humor, so that’
s 
what I’
m presenting.

JN: Would you say you have a 
particular style of comedy?
Lovitz: I just decided I 
didn’
t want to limit myself to 
one genre, so I do a little bit 
of everything. My act ends up 
being more about me and my 
opinions. I talk about what’
s 
going on in the election and 
being Jewish. I feel like we’
re 

going through a huge social 
change again in society, like 
the hippies in the ’
60s. So 
now I talk about what we’
re 
going through — and trying to 
understand it all — from my 
perspective at age 62.

JN: When did you start doing 
stand-up?
Lovitz: I left Saturday Night 
Live when I was 32 and start-
ed doing stand-up 14 years 
later. I would get onstage 
and be so nervous. It was so 
nerve-wracking. I started at the 
Laugh Factory once a week for 
three months, but I stopped 
because it was very difficult. 
Then the next year, I started 
up again and I stuck with it. At 
age 46, it was really like starting 
over. It was tough, but I did it. 
It was really hard. It was like 
learning a whole other craft.

JN: Who gave you tricks of the 
trade?
Lovitz: Dana Carvey is one 
of my best friends. He’
s a great 
stand-up. He said the most 
important thing for being on 
stage is to have fun and set up 
the topic in as few words as 
possible. Then stay on topic 
and do a lot of jokes before you 
switch to another topic. Those 
tips made a giant difference — 
they literally saved me years 
because, otherwise, you’
d have 
to figure that out on your own.

JN: How many shows do you 
do a year?
Lovitz: Usually two to three 
weekends a month. 

Arts&Life 
 
 
 
 

comedy

An interview with the wise-
cracking comedian who got 
his break on SNL.

Lovitz on

JULIE SMITH YOLLES CONTRIBUTING WRITER

details
To read more from Jon 
Lovitz, especially about his 
recent return to SNL as Alan 
Dershowitz, go to the full 
version of this story at 
thejewishnews.com.

COURTESY JON LOVITZ 

A
c
h
Lovitz