Jay Johnston (born October 22, 1968) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

actor and comedian. He is best known for his work as a writer and cast member on ''

Mr. Show with Bob and David ''Mr. Show with Bob and David'', also known as ''Mr. Show'', is an American sketch comedy series starring and hosted by Bob Odenkirk and David Cross. It aired on HBO from November 3, 1995, to December 28, 1998. Cross and Odenkirk introduced m ...

'' and for his roles on ''

The Sarah Silverman Program ''The Sarah Silverman Program'' is an American television sitcom, which ran from February 1, 2007, to April 15, 2010, on Comedy Central starring comedian and actress Sarah Silverman, who created the series with Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab. ''The Sa ...

Arrested Development The term "arrested development" has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term "arrested development" was first used, ''circa'' 1835–1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be use ...

,'' and ''

Bob's Burgers ''Bob's Burgers'' is an American adult animated sitcom created by Loren Bouchard that premiered on Fox on January 9, 2011. The show centers on the Belcher family—parents Bob and Linda and their three children, Tina, Gene, and Louise—who r ...

''.

Early life and education

Johnston was born and raised in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in acting from

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergra ...

in 1993.

Career

After graduating from college, Johnston later joined the Chicago Second City's touring comedy for a number of years and also performed in stage shows at the

Annoyance Theater The Annoyance Theatre, or Annoyance Productions, is a theatre and associated ensemble based in Chicago, Illinois, that deals mainly in absurd and outrageous humor. Many people who have performed with the ensemble have gone on to become successf ...

in Chicago. From 1995 to 1998, Johnston worked as a sketch actor and writer on all four seasons of ''

''. After the conclusion of ''Mr. Show'', Johnston had a recurring role on ''

'', as well as appearing in films such as '' Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy'' and ''Bicentennial Man''. Johnston and fellow ''Mr. Show'' regulars

Dino Stamatopoulos Konstantinos Pollux Alexandros "Dino" Stamatopoulos (born December 14, 1964) is an American writer, producer, and actor. He has worked on TV programs such as ''Mr. Show'', '' TV Funhouse'', '' Mad TV'', '' The Dana Carvey Show'', ''Late Show wi ...

and

Scott Adsit Robert Scott Adsit (born November 26, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. Born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, Adsit joined the mainstage cast of Chicago's The Second City in 1994 after attending Columbia College Chicago. He app ...

were part of the creative team behind

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

's stop-motion animation series ''

Moral Orel ''Moral Orel'' is an American adult stop-motion animated sitcom created by Dino Stamatopoulos which originally aired on Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim from December 13, 2005 to December 18, 2008. The series has been d ...

'', which ran from 2005 to 2008. Johnston wrote and directed episodes of the series and voiced multiple characters in the first two seasons. Johnston starred on all three seasons of

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

's ''

'' as "Officer Jay McPherson", the love interest of Sarah's sister Laura in the series. The series reunited Johnston with ''Mr. Show'' cast members

Brian Posehn Brian Edmund Posehn (; born July 6, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, voice actor, musician, and writer. After numerous appearances as a television guest star, Posehn acquired his first major recurring role in HBO's ''Mr. Show with ...

Scott Aukerman Scott David Aukerman (born July 2, 1970) is an American writer, actor, comedian, television personality, director, producer, and podcast host. Starting as a writer and performer in the later seasons of the sketch series ''Mr. Show'', Aukerman is ...

B. J. Porter B. J. Porter (born May 12, 1970, in Dallas, Texas) is an actor, writer and comedian. Porter began his career writing and performing on the HBO sketch comedy program, '' Mr. Show.'' Porter, along with the rest of the ''Mr. Show'' writing staff, was ...

, and Paul F. Tompkins. Johnston had a recurring voice role as Jimmy Pesto, Sr. in the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

animated series ''

'' from 2011 until his firing in 2021.

Controversies

In 2015, Johnston appeared on '' The Gavin McInnes Show,'' a show hosted by the eponymous founder of the

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

extremist group, the

Proud Boys The Proud Boys is an American far-right, neo-fascist, and exclusively male organization that promotes and engages in political violence in the United States.Far-right: * * Fascist: * * * * * Men only: * * * Political violence: * * * It has ...

. In March 2021, a

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

message by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

was seeking the identity of a man at the

2021 United States Capitol attack On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of then-U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The mob was seeking to keep Trump in pow ...

who bore a resemblance to Johnston and who was identified as Johnston by friends of the actor. In a December 21, 2021 article by ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'', two of Johnston's friends said he admitted to being at the Capitol on January 6. After the FBI tweet and the news of his alleged participation, Johnston's friends and colleagues from ''Mr. Show with Bob and David'' reached out to Johnston, but received no response. As of December 2021, Johnston was fired from ''Bob's Burgers''. It is unclear if Johnston has been charged, arrested, or brought in for questioning.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Jay 1968 births Living people Male actors from Chicago Comedians from Illinois Television producers from Illinois American male comedians American male film actors American male television actors American television directors American male television writers American male voice actors Columbia College Chicago alumni Protesters in or near the January 6 United States Capitol attack 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians