Jon Lovitz is one of the best-known comedians in the universe… well, according to his cats and his About Me biography. Lovitz stars as Dennis Lipschitz in the upcoming film “Jewtopia” and not only is his comedic timing and delivery spot on; he steals every scene he’s in. Yesterday I got the chance to talk to Jon one on one and from the moment I walked in the room and saw him sitting on the couch, cross-legged and petting his Pug-Chihuahua hybrid, I knew this was going to be an awesome interview.
CINEMACY: Oh, I have a pug at home. His name is Preston and he’s like 30 pounds so… yeah, he’s kinda big.
LOVITZ: Haha.
CINEMACY: The film was really funny; I’m curious how that initial table read went with all these comedians? Bryan [Director] and he said that you were surprised by Jamie-Lynn Sigler.
LOVITZ: Oh God yeah, Jamie-Lynn Sigler! I met her in the movie, I knew her from “The Sopranos” but she was like a kid. We were all blown away by how hysterically funny she was, and I don’t mean like “good, ” I mean, I said to her, ‘you could be a great comedian-actor, why don’t you have a sitcom?’
CINEMACY: Yeah, the whole cast is full of top-notch comedians.
LOVITZ: Yeah, I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t expect anything and I definitely didn’t expect that!
CINEMACY: When did you first become attached to the project?
LOVITZ: My manager called me and told me ‘they’re doing a movie version of this play that I saw and the play was hysterical. You should be in this.’ So I met with Bryan and I said to [him], look, I think it’s really funny but I don’t want to play a stereotypical Jewish person that you see other actors do in movies. You want to play [the character] funny and neurotic but in a way that people really are.
CINEMACY: Not a caricature…
LOVITZ: Right, not like [Jewish tone] “What are ya talkin’ about, what do ya mean…”
CINEMACY: I’m sure Bryan loved having you give your input into the character. Did you have any reservations going into this movie, because it is “making fun” lightheartedly of the Jewish culture?
LOVITZ: No because I’m a stand-up comedian and I make fun of myself… I think part of Jewish culture is their humor and also their ability to make fun of themselves and laugh at their mistakes. That’s how my whole family was.
CINEMACY: Has your family seen the film?
LOVITZ: No, not yet.
CINEMACY: Are you excited to show them?
LOVITZ: Yeah, parts of it I acted a lot like my own father.
CINEMACY: Is there any medium that more satisfying to you? Either stand up comedy or film acting?
LOVITZ: When you perform live the people can laugh and it’s fun but when you’re doing a movie, you have to wait for “action” and until they say “cut” then they might laugh afterward. Or the director goes, ‘oh that was funny.’ But you really want to hear a lot of people laughing, that’s what I love about comedy, making people laugh.
CINEMACY: Yeah…
LOVITZ: And hearing it, that’s very satisfying.
