Jim Downey (comedian)
Encyclopedia
James Downey is an American comedy
writer and occasional actor
. Downey is best known as a long-time writer for Saturday Night Live
.
, graduating in 1974 with a degree in Russian. While at Harvard, he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon
, at a time when (as Steve O'Donnell
said in 1987) "the proliferation of cable and the proliferation of comedy [led] the sensibilities of the Lampoon [to become] a little closer to the sensibilities of the mass media
." Downey, a member of that first generation of Lampoon writers to make a career in television, has been credited with playing a role in that shift. In 1976, 100 Years of Harvard Lampoon Parodies was published in magazine format, edited by Downey and Eric Rayman.
In 1976, Downey became a writer for Saturday Night Live
. He worked on 27 of the show's first 32 seasons, one of the longest tenures in the show's history. His first stretch as writer for the show ran from 1976 to 1980, culminating in a brief stint as a featured cast member. By the 1979-1980 season, Lorne Michaels
had lost both Dan Aykroyd
and John Belushi
to feature film careers, causing him to look to writers like Downey, Tom Schiller, Dan Aykroyd's brother Peter
, Al Franken
, Alan Zweibel, and Tom Davis
to fill spots as cast members (along with SNL bandleader Paul Shaffer
and newcomer Harry Shearer
). When Michaels left the show in 1980, so did Downey, along with practically everyone else.
After leaving SNL, Downey went on to become head writer
of Late Night with David Letterman
for a little over a year during its formative stages. He returned to SNL in 1984, serving for a while as head writer. When Norm Macdonald
began as Weekend Update
anchor in the mid-1990s, Downey wrote exclusively for that segment of the show. Downey and Macdonald subsequently became a team, working away from the rest of the cast and crew. When Macdonald was fired from the show in 1998, Downey went with him, only to return to the show in 2000. He continues to write for the show, pausing only in 2005 to work on a novel.
. The sketches depicted the news media
as biased toward candidate Barack Obama
. After the first sketch aired, candidate Hillary Clinton
referred to it at the beginning of the next debate.
A profile of Downey appeared in the New York Times
. In the Huffington Post
, former SNL head writer Adam McKay
called Downey "right wing" and an "Ann Coulter
pal", and suggested that the skits were a ploy to favor Republicans
, since Clinton would be a weaker candidate than Obama. According to the Times article, Downey "said he probably favored Mr. Obama over Mrs. Clinton, but that he genuinely felt she was receiving tougher treatment from the news media". He denied that SNL had intended to help Clinton. The SNL sketches may have prompted tougher news coverage of Obama, according to work by the Project for Excellence in Journalism
. Downey's political affiliation had been mentioned before in the news. TV critic Tom Shales
, author of a book on SNL (Live from New York: The Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live), said on CNN
in 2002: Shales agreed with host Al Hunt
's opinion that SNL is an "equal opportunity slasher" in political comedy.
Additional information about Downey’s political affiliation is provided in a New York Times article dated March 13, 2008 titled "Pro-Clinton? ‘SNL’ Says You’re Joking". The article states "Mr. Downey said he was a registered Democrat."
The article also stated that Downey indicated a preference for candidate Obama, "Mr. Downey said that he would definitely vote for him if he were nominated."
. In 2007, he appeared in a Digital Short titled Andy's Dad, where he portrayed the father of cast member Andy Samberg
, and had a romantic relationship with guest star Jonah Hill
. He also appeared in the Norm McDonald
movie, Dirty Work as one of the homeless guys.
, father of actor and former SNL cast member Robert Downey Jr.
. He also has one son.
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
writer and occasional actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. Downey is best known as a long-time writer for Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
.
Writing
Downey attended Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, graduating in 1974 with a degree in Russian. While at Harvard, he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon
Harvard Lampoon
The Harvard Lampoon is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.-Overview:Published since 1876, The Harvard Lampoon is the world's longest continually published humor magazine. It is also the second longest-running English-language humor...
, at a time when (as Steve O'Donnell
Steve O'Donnell (writer)
Steve O'Donnell is an American television writer. His credits include The Simpsons, Seinfeld, The Chris Rock Show and Late Night with David Letterman.He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated with an A.B. degree from Harvard College in 1976...
said in 1987) "the proliferation of cable and the proliferation of comedy [led] the sensibilities of the Lampoon [to become] a little closer to the sensibilities of the mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
." Downey, a member of that first generation of Lampoon writers to make a career in television, has been credited with playing a role in that shift. In 1976, 100 Years of Harvard Lampoon Parodies was published in magazine format, edited by Downey and Eric Rayman.
In 1976, Downey became a writer for Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
. He worked on 27 of the show's first 32 seasons, one of the longest tenures in the show's history. His first stretch as writer for the show ran from 1976 to 1980, culminating in a brief stint as a featured cast member. By the 1979-1980 season, Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels, CM is a Canadian-American television producer, writer, and comedian best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live and producing the various film and TV projects that spun off from it.-Early life:...
had lost both Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...
and John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
to feature film careers, causing him to look to writers like Downey, Tom Schiller, Dan Aykroyd's brother Peter
Peter Aykroyd
Peter Hugh Aykroyd was born to Lorraine and Peter Aykroyd in Canada. He is the younger brother of comedian Dan Aykroyd. Along with his older brother he was in the Second City comedy troupe in Toronto, Ontario. The two were also on the popular NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live. Peter was a cast...
, Al Franken
Al Franken
Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....
, Alan Zweibel, and Tom Davis
Tom Davis (comedian)
Tom Davis is an American writer and comedian. He is an Emmy Award winner, and is best known for his former partnership with Al Franken, as half of the comedy duo "Franken & Davis" on Saturday Night Live.-Life and career:...
to fill spots as cast members (along with SNL bandleader Paul Shaffer
Paul Shaffer
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer, CM is a Canadian musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and composer who has been David Letterman's sidekick since 1982.-Early years:...
and newcomer Harry Shearer
Harry Shearer
Harry Julius Shearer is an American actor, comedian, writer, voice artist, musician, author, radio host and director. He is known for his long-running role on The Simpsons, his work on Saturday Night Live, the comedy band Spinal Tap and his radio program Le Show...
). When Michaels left the show in 1980, so did Downey, along with practically everyone else.
After leaving SNL, Downey went on to become head writer
Head writer
A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera genre, as well as with sketch comedies and talk shows that feature monologues and comedy skits, but in prime time series this function is generally performed by an...
of Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman is a nightly hour-long comedy talk show on NBC that was created and hosted by David Letterman. It premiered in 1982 as the first incarnation of the Late Night franchise and went off the air in 1993, after Letterman left NBC and moved to Late Show on CBS. Late Night...
for a little over a year during its formative stages. He returned to SNL in 1984, serving for a while as head writer. When Norm Macdonald
Norm MacDonald
Norman Gene "Norm" Macdonald is a Canadian stand-up comedian, writer and actor. He is best known for his five seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, which included anchoring Weekend Update for three years...
began as Weekend Update
Weekend Update
Weekend Update is a Saturday Night Live sketch that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast, and is typically presented in the middle of the show immediately after the first musical performance...
anchor in the mid-1990s, Downey wrote exclusively for that segment of the show. Downey and Macdonald subsequently became a team, working away from the rest of the cast and crew. When Macdonald was fired from the show in 1998, Downey went with him, only to return to the show in 2000. He continues to write for the show, pausing only in 2005 to work on a novel.
Political views
In 2008 Downey received attention for his political sketches on SNL. In early 2008, his sketches mocked the Democratic Presidential DebatesDemocratic Party (United States) presidential debates, 2008
The 2008 Democratic Presidential Debates were political debates prior to and during the 2008 Democratic Primaries. The debates began on April 26, 2007, in Orangeburg, South Carolina.-Election 2008:...
. The sketches depicted the news media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
as biased toward candidate Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
. After the first sketch aired, candidate Hillary Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
referred to it at the beginning of the next debate.
A profile of Downey appeared in the New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. In the Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
, former SNL head writer Adam McKay
Adam McKay
Adam McKay is an American screenwriter, director, comedian, and actor. He is most famous for his partnership with comedian Will Ferrell, with whom he co-wrote the films Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and The Other Guys....
called Downey "right wing" and an "Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Hart Coulter is an American lawyer, conservative social and political commentator, author, and syndicated columnist. She frequently appears on television, radio, and as a speaker at public events and private events...
pal", and suggested that the skits were a ploy to favor Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, since Clinton would be a weaker candidate than Obama. According to the Times article, Downey "said he probably favored Mr. Obama over Mrs. Clinton, but that he genuinely felt she was receiving tougher treatment from the news media". He denied that SNL had intended to help Clinton. The SNL sketches may have prompted tougher news coverage of Obama, according to work by the Project for Excellence in Journalism
Project for Excellence in Journalism
The Project for Excellence in Journalism is a non-profit research organization in the US that uses empirical methods to evaluate and study the performance of the press. It asserts that it is "non partisan, non ideological and non political"...
. Downey's political affiliation had been mentioned before in the news. TV critic Tom Shales
Tom Shales
Thomas William "Tom" Shales is an American critic of television programming and operations. He is best known as TV critic for The Washington Post; in 1988, Shales received the Pulitzer Prize...
, author of a book on SNL (Live from New York: The Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live), said on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
in 2002: Shales agreed with host Al Hunt
Al Hunt
Albert R. Hunt Jr. is the executive Washington editor for Bloomberg News, a subsidiary of Bloomberg L.P. Hunt hosts the Sunday morning talk show Political Capital on Bloomberg Television, which airs on Friday night.-Personal life:...
's opinion that SNL is an "equal opportunity slasher" in political comedy.
Additional information about Downey’s political affiliation is provided in a New York Times article dated March 13, 2008 titled "Pro-Clinton? ‘SNL’ Says You’re Joking". The article states "Mr. Downey said he was a registered Democrat."
The article also stated that Downey indicated a preference for candidate Obama, "Mr. Downey said that he would definitely vote for him if he were nominated."
Acting
Although he was only a credited actor on Saturday Night Live for one season, Jim Downey has appeared in over 40 sketches from 1977 to 2005, his most notable being parody commercials such as Craig's Travellers Checks, First Citiwide Change Bank, and Grayson Moorhead Securities. He is probably best remembered for playing the principal/judge of the "decathlon" in Billy MadisonBilly Madison
Billy Madison is a 1995 American comedy film directed by Tamra Davis and starring Adam Sandler, in the title role, Bradley Whitford, Bridgette Wilson, Norm Macdonald and Darren McGavin. The film was written by Sandler and Tim Herlihy, and produced by Universal Studios. It made over $25.5 million...
. In 2007, he appeared in a Digital Short titled Andy's Dad, where he portrayed the father of cast member Andy Samberg
Andy Samberg
David Andrew "Andy" Samberg is an American actor, comedian, rapper and writer best known as a member of the comedy group The Lonely Island and as a cast member on Saturday Night Live...
, and had a romantic relationship with guest star Jonah Hill
Jonah Hill
Jonah Hill Feldstein , known professionally as Jonah Hill, is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, and comedian. Hill is best known roles for his roles in Superbad, Knocked Up, and Get Him to the Greek. He made his theatrical debut in I Heart Huckabees, alongside Jason Schwartzman and Dustin...
. He also appeared in the Norm McDonald
Norm McDonald
Norm McDonald was an Australian rules footballer of Aboriginal heritage.He played in the Essendon premiership teams in 1949 and 1950. He won the Essendon Best and Fairest award in 1951.-External links:* -References:*...
movie, Dirty Work as one of the homeless guys.
Personal life
Downey's older brother is Robert Downey Sr.Robert Downey Sr.
Robert John Downey, Sr. is an American actor, writer, and film director, and the father of actor Robert Downey, Jr...
, father of actor and former SNL cast member Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey Jr.
Robert John Downey, Jr. is an American actor. Downey made his screen debut in 1970 at the age of five when he appeared in his father's film Pound, and has worked consistently in film and television ever since. During the 1980s he had roles in a series of coming of age films associated with the...
. He also has one son.