Jon Lovitz Quotations

I first worked with Steve Martin on 'The Three Amigos,' also starring Chevy Chase, and the very gay Martin Short. I was surrounded by all these legends of comedy, and I felt guilty having a favorite, because you were all so funny. But hey, it was Chevy.

I agreed with everything he was saying when he ran for president. I was listening to what he said. I go, this guy thinks like me and I agree with him. Now he's changing. All he keeps saying is millionaires and billionaires don't pay their fair share of taxes.

There are some actors who say, 'What do you want me to do? I'll do whatever you want,' and that's all they do, ... I kind of go to the other extreme. I say, 'I have an idea. Can I try something?'

First of all, this whole idea of this one percent versus the 99 percent, it's a false statistic. There's nobody that is wealthy saying, let's go get the people that aren't. First of all, there's no versus. He's creating a false class warfare in a country where there is no class structure.

The whole - it's the economy's bad. It's bad for everybody. I have my own comedy club. I opened it three years ago in a horrible economy. I created jobs. And we just started breaking even after a year and a half, barely. For that entire time, I have had to pay the difference of what we owe in rent and taxes and everything out of my own pocket.

Instead of making people victims of people who are successful, we should be telling people, 'Look, you are having a hard time, I feel bad for you. Let's look at what you're doing, let's teach you how to succeed. Let's give you the tools to succeed as opposed to turning everybody into victims.

I really didn't want to leave the show, but I got a chance to do a movie, which meant I would have had to miss two shows, and at the time Lorne had a policy where you can't miss shows, so I left.

I like getting up in front of an audience. It's fun when you go to a baseball game and the crowd is cheering you. I can't deny it. And it's very funny, too. Sometimes you're shy; you go somewhere and everyone's looking at you, so you feel a little self-conscious.

The problem with the economy isn't that people aren't paying their fair share of taxes.

I had done plays in high school. It was something I always wanted to do since I was little. I was a drama major at UC-Irvine.

It's fun to do something funny and have the director laughing. It makes you feel good.

If I make a dollar and out of every dollar I'm taxed at 50, half, at 50 cents, I have to give, isn't that like enough?

I would never tell anyone who to vote for. I'm a different kind of 'liberal' and I think people should be true to themselves. If you're Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, you should be true to yourself and be who you are.

You, the actor, must be aware of when you're being funny, but the character you're playing should always be oblivious to the fact.

You're in front of an audience, but you're playing for a camera. There's this huge adrenaline rush, because you know that besides the audience in the studio, there are millions of people watching at home.

Woody is the guy who made me want to be a comic. I was in heaven and couldn't stop smiling because he was my idle and 29 years after seeing Take the Money and Run, I was working for him.

I don't want to talk about myself, that's for other people to say, so I'm not saying I was so talented.

At a certain point, if you work really hard and you get good and people like your work, you do deserve the fame - but you shouldn't take it for granted.

I would say if you are having a tough time in your life, then going to a club and getting laughs, it does make you feel better for that hour and a half show. It gets your mind off of it.

I feel lucky that I'm working at all. I don't take any job for granted. I enjoy this. It's all enjoyable for me. It's all part of it.

The director makes the movie. The director has to have the story in their head, has to know the style of the piece, has to answer questions from actors, design, set, lighting, every department throughout the pre-production, production, and post-production, because they've got it in their mind. They've got to know exactly what they want and what the style and story of the movie is. It's them. They make it.

Why do all these people want [comedians] to be serious? The reason they want that is these are people who aren't funny. Anybody funny can be serious, but people who have no sense of humor, they can never be funny - and frankly, they're jealous. There's very few comic actors. Think about it. There aren't that many. It's hard because you have to be able to do both.

If you build it, nerds will come.

In comedy, you have to do all of the same stuff you do in drama and then put the comedy on top of it. You, the actor, are aware of the comedy but the character is oblivious. And you have to have a sense of humor.

It's rare when you're actually making a movie and it feels like you're watching a movie in the theater. You feel like a surfer in a wave, catching the wave, going for it every time, there's electricity in the room, it doesn't feel like acting, you ride the wave.

Movie acting is harder than doing a play. You have to be entertaining but completely natural, like Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant. They weren't doing anything. Do you have any idea how hard that is? That's how good they were. It's crazy hard to be convincing and real. It's the most subtle, hardest thing there is.

Do you wanna see something swell?

Anybody can be going from being broke to being wealthy, as I did.

Some people, they got housing loans, and I think they're responsible for taking a loan they didn't qualify for?

I would love to have a part opposite a great actor - like, say, Pacino or De Niro or Hoffman. And to work with a top director. That's my dream.

Apparently, I said what a lot of people are thinking and a lot of people have thanked me.

I grew up very nice. But after college, my father said you're on you own. So I was dead broke for years. So I know what it's - I lived on 600 dollars a month for six years. I know what it's like to be dead broke. I feel bad for people who are struggling now.

How much blow can Charlie Sheen do? Enough to kill two and a half men.

But Opera Man, I go, 'Oh, crap! Why didn't I think of that?' Because I could sing fake opera pretty good.

Nobody with a victim mentality will get anywhere, ever. They will never succeed.

Sometimes the best way to make 'em laugh is to show 'em how you honestly feel.

You want everyone to be great and funny. I'm not saying I'm great, but I'm funny.

I do see your point, but to me, I'm just a mouse compared to the President of the United States.

I didn't take anything from anyone - first of all. Second of all, I opened a comedy club with money that I saved over 25 years. I created jobs.

My dad would always say, 'What can you do to make the world a better place?' Well, I can make people laugh.