Jon Lovitz

Wednesday, March 28, 2007 | 7:10 a.m.

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRIS MORRIS

Who: Jon Lovitz

When: 8 p.m. Friday-Sunday , also July 27-29

Where: Orleans Showroom

Tickets: $39.95 and up; 365-7075

The fourth time was a charm with "Saturday Night Live" graduate Jon Lovitz. Lovitz, who will be at the Orleans this weekend, had missed three phone appointments over the past several months.

One had to wonder whether Lovitz would explain the missed interviews by morphing into his "SNL" character Tommy Flanagan, the Pathological Liar. ("I was abducted by aliens. Yeah! That's the ticket!"). Instead, he was contrite.

"I'm sorry about those three times," he said. "I don't know what happened. I just lost track."

Lovitz is a busy guy these days, doing commercials for Subway, making movies and traveling the country performing his relatively new stand-up act. Although he has been a comedian for 25 years, he didn't become a stand-up until 2005.

A theater major, he graduated from the University of California, Irvine, in 1979, and studied acting at the Film Actors Workshop in Los Angeles. He then joined the Groundlings comedy troupe with Paul Reubens, creator of the character Pee-wee Herman, and Phil Hartman, who went on to become an "SNL" cast member and to star in the TV series "NewsRadio."

Lovitz was a cast member of "Saturday Night Live" from 1985 to 1990.

Our telephone interview took place while Lovitz was getting ready to play tennis at the Beverly Hills Hotel in California. It took a funny turn at the end of the interview when Lovitz handed the phone to his tennis partner - "SNL" creator Lorne Michaels.

Q: It's surprising that you've only been doing stand-up for three years, since your entire career has been in comedy. Why did you suddenly decide to take the plunge?

I used to do Woody Allen and Lenny Bruce routines in the college dorm. After I graduated in '79 I went to the Comedy Store in L.A. to start doing stand-up, and the guy teaching a free workshop for stand-ups there said they weren't hiring stand-ups for sitcoms, which I wanted to get into. So I thought, "Oh, I won't waste my time then." Years later I realized they just weren't hiring him.

So you've been interested in it for a long time.

It's something I always wanted to do. When I got on "Saturday Night Live" with Dennis Miller, he would take me to "Catch a Rising Star" and he'd say, "You can do it." So I'd get up, but my heart would just be pounding in my chest. I was way too nervous. I met Robin Williams and Eddie Murphy, and they said, "Yeah, you should do it." But I didn't have the guts.

What changed your mind?

About four years ago I was asked if I would host a comedy show with Norm MacDonald, Victoria Jackson and Kevin Nealon. They had stand-up acts and I was just going to do like five minutes, and then they said, "Can you do 10 minutes?" and I did that. I just decided I wanted to do it. I was like 46 and I thought, "If I'm ever going to do this, I better try and do it now." So I started hanging out at the Laugh Factory on Sunset Boulevard. The owner, Jamie Masada, a really nice guy, he always said if I ever wanted to do it he'd put me up onstage. Finally I said, "All right, I'm going to start but you've got to push me."

I don't know if you've ever done it but it's just nerve - racking. It's just you onstage, alone and everyone's just staring at you. So I started doing it and enjoying it. Dana Carvey, he's one of my best friends, he gave me some great tips to help me speed along. I don't know, things just started clicking. The next thing I know I was doing it.

Your entire career you've been surrounded by great comedians, so you've had some great teachers.

Yeah a lot. Dana helped me a lot. And when you have people like Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams and Dennis Miller saying, "Yes, you should be a stand-up. You'd be great." That helps. But even hearing that, it was another 20 years before I finally said, "OK, I'm going to do it."

In your act, do you do any characters from "SNL?"

No. I tried that in the beginning but it didn't really work. Basically it's just me and my opinion. I satirize everything - myself, my weight, my sex life. I make fun of politics, Democrats, Republicans. I point out the hypocrisies of religions like Judaism - I'm Jewish - or Catholicism. And Scientology and celebrities. Whatever I think of. And at end of show I sing a bunch of songs like Bob Saget, one of my friends, just to be funny.

How much of your career is stand-up now?

A much bigger part than it used to be. I did four movies a couple of years ago. Two came out. Two still haven't come out. I got kind of tired of it. Adam Sandler's great. He puts me in his movies. I know as long as he's making movies, I'll have parts. He's a great guy and very generous. He even called me and said, "Hey, we're making a Western and I'm writing a part for you." In movies, no one sees your work for several years, which is why I like writing and performing my own material. There's immediate satisfaction.

Tell us about how you got to "SNL."

After college I went to an actors workshop that was mostly for camera. Then I went to New York for a year, worked at the Nameless Theater. It had 88 seats, but hey, I was an actor in New York. But when I couldn't get anymore work I went back to Los Angeles and took some more classes and in 1984 I joined the Groundlings, where I first met Phil Hartman. Paul Reubens was there at that time as well.

In 1984 the Olympics were being held in Los Angeles, and they had an Olympics Arts Festival and they picked nine local theaters to fund and perform plays. They picked the Groundlings as one of the nine. From the Groundlings, they picked Phil Hartman to do his character Chick Hazzard, which was like a spoof of a detective from the '40s like Humphrey Bogart. Phil chose me to understudy one of the parts. I was so grateful. He was the nicest guy in the world, so talented. We were like brothers. It was such a huge loss (when he was killed by his wife in 1998 ). That's the worst thing that ever happened in my life, to be honest.

Anyway, (actress/"SNL" cast member) Laraine Newman came to see me the first night I performed as an understudy. She was there with John Travolta because they were doing that movie "Perfect." She came backstage and said, "How long have you been doing the show?" I said, "It's my first night." She goes, "That's funny. Really, how long have you been doing it?" I said it was my first night and she was so impressed she befriended me.

Not long after that I got a part in this film starring Charles Grodin, "Last Resort." Phil was in the film as well. I became friends with Charles, and he and Laraine recommended that Lorne Michaels hire me for "Saturday Night Live."

Here's Lorne Michaels now. You want to talk to him?

Uh, sure.

Lorne Michaels: Hi there.

Mr. Michaels, this is a total surprise.

I know. It's a surprise for me , too.

I understand you're about to play tennis with Jon?

I am. He's my partner. We have an excellent record.

Who's better, you or him?

I don't think it's important as to who's better. I think we're just very complementary.

Tell us about "SNL." How is it doing?

We're still going strong. We just had Julia Louis-Dreyfus as our host, followed by Peyton Manning.

Are any major changes coming up in the show?

The show is constantly changing. There are always new faces, but I'm very, very happy with the cast right now and everything seems to be clicking.

Well, you've had some great alumni. Any favorites?

They're all people I care about.

Do you keep in touch with all of them?

With most, yeah.

Thank you for taking time to visit.

Well, be good to Jon. He's one of the most naturally funny people on the planet.

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