James Michael Tozzi (born October 19, 1967) is an American artist, commercial director, producer, voice actor and musician best known for his work on the

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to sh ...

comedy series ''

Wonder Showzen ''Wonder Showzen'' is an American adult sketch comedy television series that aired between 2005 and 2006 on MTV2. It was created by Vernon Chatman and John Lee of PFFR. Described as a children's television series for adults, the show's format ...

'' and the

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 ...

show '' Xavier: Renegade Angel'' and as a member of the rock band/art collective

PFFR PFFR is a Brooklyn-based production company and art collective consisting of Vernon Chatman, John Lee, Alyson Levy and formerly Jim Tozzi until 2009. The group has been active since 1998. Work The group's portfolio of work includes two albums ...

Bio

Jim Tozzi grew up in Everett, a city to the north of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. The most distinctive thing about this town was the smell of freshly roasted peanuts due to the Teddie Peanut Butter factory. The factory's emblem, a grinning cartoon bear with a bucket, would be one of the first influences of advertising on Jim. He went to Everett public school: always an outsider, he preferred drawing weird cartoons and watching monster movies to playing sports. In his early teens, Jim borrowed a super 8 camera from his Aunt and began experimenting. Lacking a tripod, he would tape the camera down onto the kitchen table and animate various toys,

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

figures and clay monsters. He also created a live action series starring his little sister as "Chico" the heavily mustachioed drug dealer who would meet an unlikely demise in every episode. Jim went on to study film and illustration at the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

. He continued doing both animated and live action films creating a short film parody of an afterschool special called "Sunday School Girls" which tackled the subject of what Jesus really looked like.

Career

Tozzi moved to New York City and started working at Broadcast Arts inking and painting animation cels. He also started directing music videos for obscure alternative bands. One of the first was for

Mercury Rev Mercury Rev is an American indie rock band formed in 1989 in Buffalo, New York.
Original personnel were Ron Jeremy Ronald Jeremy Hyatt (born March 12, 1953) is an American former pornographic actor. Nicknamed "The Hedgehog", Jeremy was ranked by AVN at No. 1 in their "50 Top Porn Stars of All Time" list. Jeremy has also made a number of non-pornographic ...

as a floating space traveler. Jim approached

Nick at Nite Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is an American nighttime basic cable television channel that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Thursday nights from 9 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, ET/Pac ...

with his reel and some promo ideas; he was brought on to

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cla ...

to come up with a new promo campaign. This campaign conceived, written, and directed with his wife Vezna Gottwald, developed into the award-winning "Twip" seri

"Twip" was an imaginary product in which its evolution was traced in commercial parodies from the early 1950s through the 1990s. Now as a directing team, the "Tozzi's" signed on to

Bob Giraldi Bob Giraldi (born January 17, 1939) is an American film and television director, educator, and restaurateur. He is known for directing the film ''Dinner Rush'' (2000) and the music video for Michael Jackson's '' Beat It'' (1983). Giraldi has b ...

's company and began directing spots for

Miller Lite Miller Lite is a 4.2% ABV light American lager beer sold by Molson Coors (previously MillerCoors) of Chicago, Illinois. The company also produces Miller Genuine Draft and Miller High Life. Miller Lite competes mainly with Anheuser-Busch's Bu ...

, Sprite and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

's anti-tobacco campaign. The "Tozzi's" split up and Jim went solo; joinin
M-80
he directed an award-winning campaign for

Kellogg's The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toaste ...

Rice Krispie Treats Rice Krispies Treats (also called 'Rice Krispie Treats', 'RKTs', 'bars', 'rice buns', or 'buns' and alternatively 'cakes', 'Marshmallow Treats', 'Marshmallow Squares', or 'Rice Krispies Squares' in Canada, and 'LCMs' in Australia) are a confection ...

for

Leo Burnett Leo Burnett (October 21, 1891 – June 7, 1971) was an American advertising executive and the founder of Leo Burnett Company, Inc. He was responsible for creating some of advertising's most well-known characters and campaigns of the 20th cent ...

. He went on to direct comedy spots for

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

, Nick at Nite and Miller.

Personal life

Tozzi married Vezna Gottwald in 1994, after the two met while studying at

. The couple is now separated. In his free time Tozzi likes to draw, paint, and take long quiet walks. One of Tozzi'
paintings
was the basis for the character and show Xavier: Renegade Angel. Tozzi is now signed with them.tv and living in New York.Jim Tozzi bio on Them.tv
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References

External links

Jim Tozzi Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tozzi, Jim 1967 births Living people American male comedians 21st-century American comedians American comedy musicians American music video directors American male television actors People from Everett, Massachusetts PFFR Rhode Island School of Design alumni Rhode Island School of Design alumni in music