Jonathan Katz | |
|---|---|
 Katz in 2006 | |
| Born | Jonathan Paul Katz December 1, 1946 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Website | www |
Jonathan Paul Katz (born December 1, 1946) [1] is an American actor and comedian best known for his starring role in the animated sitcom Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist as Dr. Katz. [2] He also is known for voicing Erik Robbins in the UPN/Adult Swim series Home Movies . He produces a podcast titled Hey, We're Back [3] and can be heard on Explosion Bus. [4]
Katz was born to a Jewish family, [5] although he has said that he is not devout. His father, Sidney Roosevelt Katz, was a secretary-treasurer for the AFL-CIO, and his mother, Julia, died at a relatively young age. Katz has said that his father was not a particularly comedic man, but did tell a couple of jokes on occasion, which Katz has adapted into his comedy routine. [6] As a young man, Katz dated Valerie Velardi, who later became the first wife of Robin Williams. [7] Katz went on to marry his current wife, Susan (born 1955), with whom he has two daughters: Julia (born 1983) and Miranda (born 1992). [6] His paternal grandfather, Bernath Katz, immigrated from Budapest, Hungary. [8]
He is a close friend of playwright David Mamet, [9] with whom he attended Goddard College. [10] Katz co-wrote House of Games with Mamet and had small roles in the Mamet-directed films Things Change , Homicide , The Spanish Prisoner and State and Main . [10]
Originally a musician and songwriter, Katz fronted a rhythm and blues group called "Katz and Jammers" [11] before serving as the musical director for Robin Williams' 1979 standup tour. [12] In 1998, he released Brandon Project, a blues album. [13]
In 1996, Katz was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. [14] The initial symptoms began in 1996: "I was working on a TV show called Ink with Ted Danson, and after every episode we would take a curtain call and I noticed that I needed a head-start." [15]
Hiding his condition became too much of a burden for Katz and he eventually disclosed it. Now he speaks publicly as part of a tour sponsored by a manufacturer of medications used to treat MS. [16]
"People have been pretty supportive; nobody ever had me in mind for an action film because of the kind of work I do -- mostly in the world of animation, which is not a big issue because as a person, I can't run that fast; as a cartoon character, I can fly -- literally." [15]
Katz, who now gets around with the help of a motorized scooter and performs onstage with the aid of a cane, says he doesn't regret his decision: "One of the reasons I disclosed my condition is because it is much easier to live with MS than to pretend you don't have it. If I could convince everyone of that, my job here is done." [15]
Dr. Katz originally aired on Comedy Central from 1995 to 2002, and starred Katz as a professional therapist whose patients were chiefly other comedians and actors. He received a Primetime Emmy Award for his work on the show in 1995 for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance. [17] He has also created the show Raising Dad in 2001. His voice can also be heard in the animated series Home Movies , [11] a show with many ties to Dr. Katz, as well as on the Adult Swim animated comedy series Squidbillies where he performed uncredited voice-overs as "The Rapist" in Season 2 and as the Holodeck Therapist in Season 5. [18] During that time, in 1999, he then signed an overall development deal with Paramount Network Television. [19]
In 2007, Katz joked to Blast Magazine entertainment editor Bessie King about the success of his Comedy Central show and the recent release of the full series on DVD. "I’m so proud of that work and I’m a compulsive name dropper, [but] when I did a movie with Ice Cube over the summer I said...I hope my best work is not behind me but if it is, I’m glad it's Dr. Katz," he said. [20] In 2007, he released a stand-up album titled Caffeinated. [21] In 2009, he can be seen (or heard) as Freezy, the Burl Ives-inspired animated snowman star of Turbocharge: The Unauthorized Story of the Cars, a comedy biopic about The Cars, which Katz narrates throughout. [11]
In 2011, he starred as Jon Gold on the web series Explosion Bus created by Tom Snyder and co-developed with Katz, Snyder and Tom Leopold. [4] In the spring of 2012, Katz taught a theater class at Brandeis University in Short Form Comedy. [22] On September 3, 2014, Katz appeared on Ken Reid's TV Guidance Counselor Podcast. [23]
Emo Philips is an American actor, stand-up comedian, writer and producer. His stand-up comedy persona makes use of paraprosdokians spoken in a wandering falsetto tone of voice. The confused, childlike delivery of his material produces the intended comic timing in a manner invoking the "wisdom of children" or the idiot savant.
Brendon Small is an American actor, stand-up comedian, writer, director, producer, and musician who is known for co-creating the animated series Home Movies and Metalocalypse. He also writes the music, and is the main performer for the virtual melodic death metal band Dethklok, which began as the subject of Metalocalypse but has taken on a life of its own, with four albums and an occasional live touring band, headed by Small. Small has also released two albums under his own name, in a similar musical style to Dethklok.
Domenick Jack Irrera is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Much of his material is in the form of stories about his life, especially his childhood years and growing up in an Italian-American family.
Dana Snyder is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his voice roles of Master Shake in Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Granny Cuyler in Squidbillies, Baby Ball on Ballmastrz: 9009, and other roles in various Adult Swim television shows. His other voice roles include voicing Gazpacho in Cartoon Network's animated series Chowder, Dr. Colosso in Nickelodeon's comedy series The Thundermans, and Scratch in Disney Channel's animated series The Ghost and Molly McGee. His live-action television show work has been in shows such as Saul of the Mole Men and Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell.
Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist is an American adult animated sitcom created by Jonathan Katz and Tom Snyder for Comedy Central. It originally ran from May 28, 1995, to February 13, 2002. The series starred the voice talents of Jonathan Katz, H. Jon Benjamin, and Laura Silverman. The show was produced by Popular Arts Entertainment, HBO Downtown Productions, and Tom Snyder Productions. The series won a Peabody Award in 1998.
Marcus David Maron is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, writer, actor, and musician.
Harry Jon Benjamin is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer and musician. He is known for his voice roles in adult animated series, including Sterling Archer in Archer; Bob Belcher in Bob's Burgers; Carl in Family Guy; Ben in Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist; Kevin in O'Grady; Satan in Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil; and Coach McGuirk and Jason Penopolis in Home Movies. Benjamin was named 2014's male comedy performer of the year at Vulture's TV Awards for his work in Bob's Burgers and Archer. He also appeared in the 2001 satirical comedy film Wet Hot American Summer; its subsequent 2015 television series, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp; and the final installment of the franchise, the 2017 mini series Wet Hot American Summer: 10 Years Later.
Todd Barry is an American actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his deadpan comedy.
John Paul Pinette was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and Broadway performer. He toured the comedy club circuit beginning in the 1980s and appeared in cinema and on television. Besides stand-up, Pinette did impressions of Michael Jackson, The Chipmunks, Elvis Presley, Gollum from The Lord of the Rings, Hervé Villechaize, an Ewok, actor Marlon Brando, as well as various ethnic accents. He occasionally sang in his stand-up routines; for example "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz, "Will You Be There" from Free Willy, and "Don't Cry for Me Argentina".
Paul Christian Scheer is an American comedian, actor, filmmaker, and podcaster. Scheer is best known for his roles in FX/FXX's The League, Disney Channel’s Big City Greens and Showtime's comedy series Black Monday. Scheer also co-created and starred in MTV's Human Giant, and Adult Swim's series NTSF:SD:SUV::, and has had recurring roles on ABC's Fresh Off the Boat and HBO's Veep.
William Frederick Burr is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer and podcaster. He has released multiple stand-up comedy specials, including You People Are All the Same (2012), I'm Sorry You Feel That Way (2014), Walk Your Way Out (2017) and Paper Tiger (2019). He received a Grammy Award nomination for Paper Tiger, as well as a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for the dark comedy series Immoral Compass (2021–present). In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked him at No. 17 on their list of the "50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time".
Andy David Kindler is an American comedian and actor from Queens, New York. He played the character "Andy", a fellow sportswriter and friend of sportswriter "Ray Barone" on the TV show Everybody Loves Raymond, was a regular guest on Late Show with David Letterman, a contributor to The Daily Show, and has performed on HBO. Kindler frequently performs as a voice actor in animated television series from producer Loren Bouchard, including roles on Dr. Katz, Home Movies, and the recurring character of Mort the mortician on Bob's Burgers.
Squidbillies is an American adult animated sitcom created by Jim Fortier and Dave Willis for Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim. An unofficial pilot for the series aired on April 1, 2005. The series later made its official debut on October 16, 2005 and ended on December 13, 2021, with a total of 132 episodes over the course of 13 seasons.
Paul Francis Tompkins is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He is known for his work in television on such programs as Mr. Show with Bob and David, Real Time with Bill Maher, and Best Week Ever, later renamed Best Week Ever with Paul F. Tompkins.
Doogtoons is a production studio founded and headed by Doug Bresler, best known for its series of "animated celebrity interviews" on the internet. Bresler has been producing short films since 1993, but his cartoons only became widely known after they were released as podcasts beginning October 22, 2005. One of the pioneers of cartoon podcasting, Doogtoons has been featured in several publications, both online and in print, including The Washington Post, BusinessWeek Magazine, Animation Magazine, USA Today, Rolling Stone, and Entertainment Weekly, among others. Doogtoons's cartoons and shorts have also been featured and licensed by numerous television networks, including Cinemax, Fox Sports, Game Show Network, G4TV and G4 Canada.
Kendrick Kang-Joh Jeong is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He rose to prominence for playing Leslie Chow in The Hangover film series (2009–2013) and Ben Chang in the NBC sitcom Community (2009–2015). He created, wrote and produced the ABC sitcom Dr. Ken (2015–2017), in which he portrays the titular character, and he has appeared in the films Knocked Up (2007), Role Models (2008), Furry Vengeance (2010), The Duff (2015), Ride Along 2 (2016), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), Scoob! (2020) and Tom & Jerry (2021).
Bill Braudis is a writer, voice actor and script writing instructor from Boston, Massachusetts who has also done stand-up comedy.
Tom Snyder is an American animator, writer and producer known for the Squigglevision animation technique. His first success with this method was Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, starring Jonathan Katz.
Kyle Christian Kinane is an American stand-up comedian and actor from Addison, Illinois.
Jason Mantzoukas is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter and podcaster. He is best known for his recurring role as Rafi in the FX comedy series The League, and as one of the three co-hosts of the podcast How Did This Get Made? alongside Paul Scheer and June Diane Raphael.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
