Jon Glaser

Jon Glaser
Glaser at the New York Comic Con
Born	Jonathan Daniel Glaser (1968-06-20) June 20, 1968 Detroit, Michigan, United States
Occupation	Actor, comedian, writer, producer, director
Years active	1996–present
Website	Official website

Jonathan Daniel "Jon" Glaser (born June 20, 1968) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and director. He is best known for his work as a writer and sketch performer for many years on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, creating and starring in the Adult Swim series Delocated and Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter as well as the truTV series Jon Glaser Loves Gear.

Glaser had a recurring role as Councilman Jeremy Jamm on the NBC series Parks and Recreation and appears as Laird on the HBO series Girls. Glaser is currently a writer on the Comedy Central sketch series Inside Amy Schumer.

Early life

Glaser was born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Southfield, Michigan. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where he performed in the sketch comedy troupes Comedy Company and Just Kidding with Jon Hein, H. Anthony Lehv and Craig Neuman.

Career

Glaser is a five-time Emmy nominee with the writing staff of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He has appeared in the films Pootie Tang, School for Scoundrels, and Be Kind Rewind, and he has guest-starred on comedy programs such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Louie, Wonder Showzen, Bob's Burgers and Aqua Teen Hunger Force. He was also a lead voice actor in several animated comedy programs such as Stroker and Hoop, Freak Show, and Lucy the Daughter of The Devil. In 2012, he began a recurring role as Leslie Knope's rival, Councilman Jeremy Jamm in the fifth and sixth seasons of the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation.

Glaser is the creator and star of the live-action Adult Swim series Delocated, about "Jon", a man in the witness protection program with his own reality show. The show aired its final episode on March 7, 2013. Glaser's Delocated character, "Jon" was also featured as a DJ on an Adult Swim-themed radio station in the video game Saints Row: The Third.^[1] In February 2012, Glaser appeared as the spokesman in a series of Subway commercials playing his Delocated character.

Glaser was a member of the mainstage cast of The Second City during the mid-1990s, performing alongside future Saturday Night Live head writer Adam McKay and cast member Rachel Dratch, as well as future Mr. Show and 30 Rock cast member Scott Adsit. In Second City's award-winning revue Pinata Full of Bees, which was directed by Tom Gianas, Glaser sang about the importance of not betraying a friendship by pretending not to have legs in order to play in a wheelchair basketball league. He also provided musical accompaniment for the show's climax by drumming in a demonic pig mask, and appeared onstage throughout the show to pass judgement on audience members for laughing at jokes he considered socially irresponsible.

Early in his television career, Glaser wrote and occasionally performed on the short-lived sketch comedy programs The Jenny McCarthy Show on MTV and The Dana Carvey Show. He also made one appearance as a correspondent on The Daily Show in 2004. Glaser is also known for his comedic partnership with H. Jon Benjamin. For a number of years they hosted a live sketch show together in New York City called Midnight Pajama Jam, and have also performed stand-up comedy together for many years, often playing characters who bicker and argue with each other while on stage. Glaser created and starred in the Comedy Central web-series Tiny Hands, which has been shown on the channel's short film series Atom TV a number of times. More recently Glaser worked as a contributing writer and occasional performer on the sketch comedy programs Human Giant, Jon Benjamin Has a Van and Nick Swardson's Pretend Time, as well as providing voices in the animated film Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters. In 2009, Glaser worked as the head writer and segment producer on the HBO sports program Joe Buck Live. Glaser also appeared on the ESPN classic show Cheap Seats, providing such roles as "Beamy" and the "Score Settler".

Glaser is currently a voice actor for the animated version of the cartoon strip Get Your War On and appearing as "Video Cowboy" in ESPN's Mayne Street starring Kenny Mayne. Glaser was also the lead singer in the New York City-based comedy band "Detroit Octane;" they performed their song "Barack Obama-sistible" (sung to the tune of the Robert Palmer song "Simply Irresistible") on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on June 17, 2008.^[2] He was also the bass player in "A Matter of Trust", another comedy music project he was involved in with comedians H. Jon Benjamin, Todd Barry and Tom Shillue. The band's gimmick was that they only played the Billy Joel song "A Matter of Trust" over and over again, and refused to play any other songs.^[3] They performed as an opening act for The New Pornographers in 2006. He also appeared in seasons 2, 3 and 4 of HBO's Girls as Laird, a recovering addict and neighbor of Lena Dunham's character Hannah. He appears in the film Trainwreck.

Glaser's first published book My Dead Dad Was in ZZ Top, was released on February 8, 2011.

Glaser appeared on Ken Reid's TV Guidance Counselor Podcast on April 24, 2015. The episode was recorded live as part of the 2015 Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival in Boston.

Glaser's mini-series for Adult Swim, Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter premiered on December 7, 2015 and ended its run on December 11, 2015.^[4]

Notable characters on Late Night with Conan O'Brien

• Ehud Henkleman, a Shofar player often hired to play with the band every Rosh Hashanah, though he is not himself religious. He is also known to show off his various Shofar albums, which will always have obnoxious cover art and even more obnoxious Shofar-themed puns as the album titles.
• Awareness Del, an excited man who hits the streets of the city, trying to spread awareness about the virtues of Delaware. His themesong would play throughout the sketch: "He's Awareness Del. Making people aware. Aware of Delaware!"
• A-hole Ronald, an obnoxious and abusive gum-chewing jerk dressed like Ronald McDonald who goes around slapping people eating fast food not from McDonalds. He'll usually slap around the McDonalds eaters as well, just because he's such a jerk. Was also once spun off into a sketch called "A-holes Throughout History", with Glaser playing the "A-hole" character slapping people around in various periods of history: Pre-historic Caveman times, Ancient Greece, etc.
• Jeremy (of Jeremy & Ira), performed with Late Night writer Brian Stack (as Ira), as two bizarre men from another dimension dressed in black hoods, who would visit Conan & Andy from time-to-time, always appearing in the corner of the TV screen. They never speak, and only communicate through nodding and other gestures.
• One of the Slipnutz (also known as They Might be Slipnutz), a comedy group of three men (Glaser, Andy Blitz, Brian Stack) that was inconveniently booked on the same show with Slipknot, (and later with They Might Be Giants). Their routine involves the three of them slipping and sliding on nuts scattered on the floor. The Slipnutz also appeared on the program to promote their greatest hits album, which included songs like "Old West Cowboys Slipping on Nuts" and "Viking Raiders Slipping on Nuts".
• Gorton's Fisherman, an obnoxious and ill-tempered version of the frozen food mascot. Each sketch would end with the Gorton's Fisherman getting angry at Conan and throwing a box of fishsticks at him before storming off.
• The Wrist Hulk, a man with Incredible Hulk-like powers, but only in his wrist.
• Segue Sam, the master of talk show segues. Conan would often turn to Sam for help when he needed the perfect segue.
• The Tea Copywriters, performed with Late Night writer Brian McCann as two bickering writers of tea slogans and commercial jingles in Conan's studio audience. They would usually fight with each other about who was the better slogan writer, until Conan would settle it by having the two fight each other in a steel cage battle to the death.
• Dave "Tiny Hands" Gordon, a seemingly average man who has difficulty trying to live a normal life because of his infant-sized hands.
• Jon the Stair Climber, a self-proclaimed expert at talk show stair climbing. Armed with only his stair climbing equipment and his sherpa "Lakpa", Jon has made several attempts to brave the climb up the staircase in Conan's studio, only to fail miserably every time.
• Kim the Witness Protection Comedian, a stand-up comedian who specializes in celebrity impressions, but because he is in the witness protection program he has to wear a ski-mask and have his voice digitally scrambled, making all his impressions sound the same. Glaser would later bring back a variation of this character for his Adult Swim series Delocated.
• The Terrible Bill Clinton Puppet, Glaser provided the voice of the "Terrible Bill Clinton Puppet" perched from behind Conan's desk, usually telling really unfunny jokes and making awkward small talk with Conan.
• Pubes, a man who would ruin any moment by saying the word pubes, wearing an all-black outfit with the word on his shirt.
• Impressions on Late Night included Bill Cosby, Billy Joel, Martin Bashir, Michael McDonald (in the "Camp Michael McDonald" sketch), Bob Ross and Bob Seger.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jon Glaser.

• Jon Glaser at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Jon Glaser