Jay Mohr

Jon Ferguson "Jay" Mohr (born August 23, 1970) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, writer, and radio host.

He graduated from Verona High School in 1988.

In high school, he was on the wrestling team and served as its captain during his senior year.

Soon after graduating high school, Mohr was part of the cast of "Biloxi Blues" at the Nutley Little Theater in Nutley, New Jersey.

After appearing on MTV's "Half Hour Comedy Hour" show on April 2, 1991, MTV offered him a job hosting music videos as a VJ, which Mohr turned down.

Instead, Mohr ended up hosting the lip-sync contest game show Lip Service on MTV, which earned him a CableACE Award.

He was a featured cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live from 1993 to 1995.

He then appeared as a featured player for the 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons of Saturday Night Live.

His memoir, Gasping for Airtime: Two Years in the Trenches of Saturday Night Live, details this tumultuous period of his life, including his battle with chronic panic attacks.

He later credited his SNL co-star Sarah Silverman with saving his life by helping him treat the problem.

Mohr had a recurring role in the first season of The Jeff Foxworthy Show as Jeff Foxworthy's brother, Wayne.

Mohr's first major film role was in 1996 when he played the conniving Bob Sugar, a sleazy sports agent in Jerry Maguire, followed in 1997 by a starring role in Picture Perfect with Jennifer Aniston.

Since making his feature film debut with Jerry Maguire, Mohr has appeared in films such as Suicide Kings (1997), Picture Perfect (1997), Paulie (1998), Mafia! (1998), Small Soldiers (1998), Go (1999), Cherry Falls (2000), The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002), Are We There Yet? (2005), Street Kings (2008), Hereafter (2010) and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013).

He is known for playing film producer Peter Dragon in the TV comedy series Action in 1999, Professor Rick Payne in the TV series Ghost Whisperer from 2006 to 2008 and the title role in the CBS sitcom Gary Unmarried from 2008 to 2010.

In 1999, Mohr starred in the television series Action, in which he played sleazy film producer Peter Dragon.

He was the voice-over artist for Fox Sports Net's Beyond the Glory.

Mohr appeared in additional movies including Suicide Kings, Are We There Yet?, Small Soldiers, Go, Pay It Forward, and The Groomsmen.

Mohr was offered a late night talk show job by Michael Eisner, but he declined, instead convincing Eisner to let him host a talk show on ESPN, Mohr Sports, which ran briefly in 2001 before being cancelled.

The talk show job Mohr passed was then offered to Jimmy Kimmel and became Jimmy Kimmel Live!

He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award as the inaugural host and executive producer of Last Comic Standing (2003–2006).

Mohr was born in Verona, New Jersey to Iva Jean (née Ferguson), a nurse, and Jon Wood Mohr, a marketing executive.

He has two sisters, Julia and Virginia.

He is of Scottish descent.

Mohr was raised Presbyterian, but later converted to Roman Catholicism.

In 2003 and 2004, Mohr created, hosted, and was executive producer of NBC's Last Comic Standing reality television program.

The show aired for three seasons, but was cancelled near the end of the third season due to poor ratings, only to be renewed later.

He appeared in "My Own Private Practice Guy", a 2003 episode of the sitcom Scrubs, and in three episodes of The West Wing in 2004 in the recurring role of Taylor Reid.

Parts of Mohr's stand up was featured in Comedy Central's animated series Shorties Watchin' Shorties.

In 2005, he and his Giraffe Productions company inked a deal with Sony Pictures Television.

Mohr starred as newly divorced father Gary Brooks, the title character, for two seasons on the CBS sitcom Gary Unmarried.

Paula Marshall played his ex-wife.

Mohr was very vocal toward NBC concerning its cancellation and did not return for the show's fourth season in 2006.

Mohr was replaced with new host Anthony Clark, but was credited as a consultant.

On the season finale of Last Comic Standing 4, Mohr performed as a guest comedian.

His recurring role on the TV series Ghost Whisperer developed into a regular role.

In January 2010 he took the role as Billy in Clint Eastwood's thriller film Hereafter.

He also guest-starred on NBC's Outlaw in 2010.

He has an upcoming starring role alongside Tom Blyth in the comedy Discussion Materials adapted from Bill Keenan's memoir of the same name.

Mohr hosts his own podcast Mohr Stories on the SModcast Network and, since September 2015, hosted Jay Mohr Sports, a daily midday sports radio talk show on Fox Sports Radio.

Mohr left Fox Sports Radio in January 2016 to pursue acting ventures.