I suppose the key word was “had” when comedian Jon Lovitz bragged to theRadio Happy Hour earlier this month about his baseball skills, because when he had his chance to prove it throwing out the first pitch at Wrigley Field today, he delivered with Oliver Perez like control.
Tossing the ceremonial first pitch before the Sunday afternoon match up between the visiting New York Mets and the Chicago Cubs, Lovitz missed so badly the first time, they gave him another pitch to redeem himself. The righty’s second attempt at least reached the plate.
If you’re hesitant about shelling out 20 bucks to catch Jon Lovitz riff onstage at his new comedy club, rest assured the money’s going to a good cause – namely upkeep on the funnyman’s abode.
Rest assured, too, that he won’t have been toking in the green room.
Interviewed on The Radio Happy Hour, Jon discusses why he made the leap from screen actor to owner of the Jon Lovitz Comedy Club in Universal City, Calif., which opened last week, and where he regularly performs live.
“When I was on Saturday Night Live, I’d ask Robin Williams, I’d ask Eddie Murphy, Dana [Carvey], ‘Do you think I could be a standup?’ And they all said, Yea, you can do it,” he tells host Dr. Blogstein.
“So that was encouraging. But it was always the fear of just getting up there I had to overcome.
“And because the movie roles were drying up, it kind of forced me. It just happens. I did a lot of [movies], and then you get older and people go, Ah, we want somebody new. It’s rare that someone is just constantly working,” Jon continues.
“I had an agent and a manager and I said, ‘Listen, get me work. I have money, but if don’t work, I’m gonna run out of money in five years.’
“And one said, ‘Sell your house,’ and one said, ‘Move to a smaller house.’
“It made me really mad, so I fired them. And I just said, ‘I’m gonna do the standup. I’m not selling my house.’ So that motivated me.”
Jon, who spent the past two years developing his act, also wants would-be patrons to know that he’s not sparking anything but laughs at his establishment.
“I could’ve just said right away, ‘I wanna do standup.’ And I could’ve just gotten baked and just gotten on stage and not really known what I was doing – and just gotten the money.
Now, Lovitz adds a new credit to his resume as he becomes proprietor of The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club, a new comedy showcase that is the first new comedy club to be introduced in Los Angeles in the past 30 years.
The Universal CityWalk comedy club is also the first new U.S. comedy club to bear a star’s name since Rodney Dangerfield opened Dangerfield’s in New York in 1969.
Acidicis an L.A. based alt-rock band described as “the youthful exuberance of Green Day with Coldplay sensitivity.”
Acidic’s singles, “Break Me Down” and “Strata Red” can currently be heard on radio stations across the country. The band, consisting of lead singer and guitarist Michael Gossard, bassist Ted Dubrawski and drummer Matt Whitaker continue to tour California in conjunction with the release of their debut CD, “Ironic Dreams.”
Louise Reilly Sacco, Permanent Acting Interim Executive Director of The Museum of Bad Art.
For 15 years, they have been the world’s leading (only?) institution dedicated to the collection, exhibition, and celebration of the worst art in the world.
