Jon Lovitz’s impersonation of George Santos is right in the spirit of what’s in store for Romemu Brooklyn synagogue’s planned ‘Night of 1000 Santos.’ Courtesy of Jon Lovitz/Twitter

By Adam Kovac January 24, 2023

Comedian Jon Lovitz is having a moment thanks to disgraced congressman George Santos. 

Not that Santos is a fan, having taken to Twitter to say how unimpressed he’s been with the myriad comedic takes on him. Lovitz fired back, saying that even his signature character, the Pathological Liar, “can’t hold a candle to you!”

Lovitz, who rose to fame on Saturday Night Live playing shady, arrogant characters, debuted his take on Santos on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Clad in what has become Santos’ signature outfit — a collared shirt, dark sweater and blazer, with thick black-rimmed glasses — Lovitz did his best to capture the Long Island representative’s smirky tone. 

“I’m just in town to pick up my Nobel Peace Prize,” he told Fallon. “Perform a couple of nights at Madison Square Garden … I’ll be singing all my hit songs. ‘Piano Man,’ ‘Hey Jude,’ ‘Happy Birthday.’”

Lovitz-as-Santos said he hadn’t been caught lying but merely telling, as his “grandfather Winston Churchill” would say, “embellishments.”

“The truth is, I did not work for Goldman Sachs. I am Goldman Sachs.”

The Jewish comedian told Fallon that in his spare time, he is the prime minister of Israel, but isn’t just “Jew-ish. I’m I-rish, Scott-ish.”

Lovitz also had some fun at the expense of Santos’ noticeably clumsy entrance into his office last week. 

The 65-year-old comedian also stopped by The Howard Stern Show (this time as himself), where he spoke about the ties between his signature character and Santos, who has been caught lying about his grandparents’ survival of the Holocaust, his education and work experience, and his mother’s death, which he falsely claimed was connected to 9/11.

Beyond the Bylines | Tuesday @ 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT
Get the story behind the story of how our Andrew Silverstein and Jacob Kornbluh broke stories about Rep. George Santos lying about his Holocaust heritage and his Jewish identity. This is a special event for Forward donors; if you value coverage like this — journalism that was cited by news outlets around the globe, including The Washington Post, CNN and The New York Times’ podcast The Daily — please make a contribution of any size so you can hear more about how it happens.  Donate and register ➤

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