John Lee (producer)

Last updated
John Lee
John Lee at SXSW 2016 (cropped).jpg
Lee at the premiere of Pee-wee's Big Holiday at SXSW 2016
Born
John Michael Lee

(1972-11-30) November 30, 1972 (age 51)
Occupation(s)Television producer, writer, director, voice actor, musician

John Michael Lee [1] (born November 30, 1972) is an American television producer, writer, director, voice actor, and musician best known for his work on the MTV2 comedy series Wonder Showzen as a member of the rock band/art collective PFFR.

Contents

Career

Lee is of Chinese ancestry [2] and is long time friends with fellow PFFR member and television producer Vernon Chatman. They met as undergraduates at San Francisco State University. [3] Along with Chatman, Lee is the co-creator, writer, director and star of Wonder Showzen . He voices Wordsworth, one of the main puppet characters and provides various other voices on the show. The pair also co-created Snoop Dogg's 2002 MTV sketch show Doggy Fizzle Televizzle . In addition, Lee is the co-creator of Xavier: Renegade Angel , also with Alyson Levy, Chatman and Jim Tozzi. He also worked as a creative consultant on the Adult Swim series Superjail! in 2009. In 2011, Lee, Levy and Chatman created the Adult Swim mini-series The Heart, She Holler starring Patton Oswalt and Kristen Schaal.

Lee was a member of the now defunct rock trio Muckafurgason. Although his primary role in the band was the bassist, the members of Muckafurgason were often known to "play musical chairs" with their instruments, seeing Lee occasionally turn his hand to lead vocals, guitar and even clarinet. [4] Through Muckafurgason he became acquainted with the band They Might Be Giants, who wrote the song "John Lee Supertaster" about him.

Lee was the director and executive producer of the Adult Swim series Delocated and Neon Joe: Werewolf Hunter season 2 starring Jon Glaser. In 2011, Lee began directing segments for the Comedy Central series Jon Benjamin Has a Van . He also directed the pilot of Inside Amy Schumer and several episodes of Broad City .

Lee's directorial debut was the 2016 Pee-wee Herman comedy film Pee-wee's Big Holiday . Afterwards, in 2019, he created another CGI show with Kytten Janae in the pilot Di Bibl for Adult Swim. [5] He later then directed the 2021 horror film False Positive .

Filmography

YearTitle Director Writer Producer Executive producer Actor RoleNotes
1997Life In a Blender: Chicken DanceYesMusic Video
2002Late FridayHimselfMuckafurguson (Band)
2002-2003 Doggy Fizzle Televizzle YesYesAlso creator
2005-2006 Wonder Showzen YesYesYesYesHim / Wordsworth / Various charactersAlso creator
2007-2009 Xavier: Renegade Angel YesYesYesYesVarious charactersAlso creator
2009-2013 Delocated YesYes
2010 Food Party Yes
2011 Neon Knome YesLater reworked into The Problem Solverz which he wasn't involved in
2011 Jon Benjamin Has A Van Yes
2011-2014 The Heart, She Holler YesYesYesYesAlso creator
2013 Inside Amy Schumer Yes
2014 Broad City Yes
2015 Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter YesYes
2016 Pee-Wee's Big Holiday Yes
2016Gigglefudge, U.S.A.YesYesYes
2017 At Home with Amy Sedaris Yes
2018 The Last O.G. Yes
2018-2020 The Shivering Truth Yes
2018Hunky Boys Go Ding-DongYes
2019Di BiblYesYesYesAlso creator
2020Rate the CookieYes
2021 Teenage Euthanasia Yes
2021 False Positive YesYesYes
2022 Flatbush Misdemeanors Yes
2023 Ballmastrz: Rubicon Yes

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Reubens</span> American actor and comedian (1952–2023)

Paul Reubens was an American actor and comedian, widely known for creating and portraying the character Pee-wee Herman.

<i>Aqua Teen Hunger Force</i> American adult animated television series

Aqua Teen Hunger Force, sometimes abbreviated as ATHF or Aqua Teen, is an American adult animated television series created by Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro for Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim. It is about the surreal adventures and antics of three anthropomorphic fast food items: Master Shake, Frylock, and Meatwad, who live together as roommates and frequently interact with their human next-door neighbor, Carl Brutananadilewski.

<i>The Weird Al Show</i> Television series

The Weird Al Show is an American television show hosted by "Weird Al" Yankovic. Produced in association with Dick Clark Productions and taped at NBC Studios, it aired on Saturday mornings on the CBS TV network. The show ran for one season, from September to December 1997. The show was released on DVD on August 15, 2006.

<i>Wonder Showzen</i> American adult black comedy television series

Wonder Showzen is an American adult puppet black comedy television series that aired between 2005 and 2006 on MTV2. It was created by Vernon Chatman and John Lee of PFFR.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Todd Barry</span> American actor and stand-up comedian

Todd Barry is an American actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his deadpan comedy.

<i>Squidbillies</i> American adult animated series

Squidbillies is an American adult animated sitcom created by Jim Fortier and Dave Willis for Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim. An unofficial pilot for the series aired on April 1, 2005. The series later made its official debut on October 16, 2005 and ended on December 13, 2021, with a total of 132 episodes over the course of 13 seasons.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vernon Chatman</span> American voice actor, stand-up comedian and musician

Vernon Chatman is an American screenwriter, producer, director, voice actor, stand-up comedian, musician, and a member of PFFR, an art collective based in Brooklyn, New York City. He created the television series Wonder Showzen, Xavier: Renegade Angel, The Heart, She Holler and The Shivering Truth. He also produces, voices characters, and writes for South Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Glaser</span> American actor

Jon Glaser is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for his work as a writer and sketch performer for many years on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, creating and starring in the Adult Swim series Delocated and Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter as well as the truTV series Jon Glaser Loves Gear.

Augenblick Studios is an independent animation studio founded in 1999 by Aaron Augenblick, and located in Brooklyn, New York City. The company has created a wide array of animated shorts for television, film, and the Internet, with the target audience typically being adults. Their clients include Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, Adult Swim, the TED conference, PBS, MTV, and Nickelodeon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Milano</span> American voice actor, puppeteer, writer, director

Dan Milano is an American voice actor, puppeteer, writer and director. He was one of the creators of the Fox sitcom Greg the Bunny and performed the title character Greg. He is also one of the voice actors and writers of Robot Chicken, and was nominated for an Emmy for writing on Robot Chicken: Star Wars 2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aaron Augenblick</span> American animator, director and producer

Aaron Augenblick is an American animator, director, and producer. He is the founder of Augenblick Studios, known for his work on Ugly Americans, Superjail!, Wonder Showzen, and Golden Age.

<i>Xavier: Renegade Angel</i> American adult animation TV series

Xavier: Renegade Angel is an American adult animated television series created by Vernon Chatman and John Lee, who are also the creators of Wonder Showzen. The show was produced by PFFR, with animation by Cinematico. It premiered on November 4, 2007, on Adult Swim and November 1, 2007, on the Adult Swim website.

<i>Delocated</i> American TV series or program

Delocated is an American sitcom that premiered on February 12, 2009 on Adult Swim. The original pilot for the show was aired on April 1, 2008. Jon Glaser plays a man in the Witness Protection Program who moves his family to New York City. The family exploits the situation by starring in a reality TV show about being in the Witness Protection Program. Eugene Mirman co-stars in all seasons as Yvgeny, a Russian mafia associate and aspiring stand-up comic hired to kill "Jon."

The Problem Solverz is an American animated television series created by Ben Jones for Cartoon Network. It follows Alfe, Roba, and Horace; a group of detectives in their troubled town, Farboro.

James Michael Tozzi is an American artist, commercial director, producer, voice actor and musician best known for his work on the MTV2 comedy series Wonder Showzen and the Adult Swim show Xavier: Renegade Angel and as a member of the rock band/art collective PFFR.

<i>Final Flesh</i> 2009 film

Final Flesh is a 2009 American independent surreal comedy film directed by Ike Sanders, written by Vernon Chatman, and produced by PFFR. The film was made by sending the most deliberately absurd and ridiculous scripts to four different companies that specialize in making custom fetish pornography and having the porn actors act out the scripts, which include plenty of nudity, with short scenes of masturbation being the closest they ever get to pornography. Final Flesh tells a very loose story involving a family who live near ground zero, where a nuclear bomb is scheduled to hit. The film is composed almost entirely of non sequiturs, intentionally designed to be as random and nonsensical as possible.

Y'All So Stupid is a sketch comedy web series created by Devin Flynn, an animation director for Wonder Showzen, for SuperDeluxe.com. The series lasted for thirteen episodes before being cancelled in December 2008, before Super Deluxe formed into adultswim.com. The web series received a 2008 Webby Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christy Karacas</span> American musician, animator, voice actor, director and writer,

Christy C. Karacas is an American animator, writer, producer, director, voice actor and musician. He is known for creating Superjail! and Ballmastrz: 9009 for Adult Swim and directing the Cartoon Network series Robotomy. He is also a guitarist of a rock band Cheeseburger.

<i>The Shivering Truth</i> US television program

The Shivering Truth is an American adult stop-motion animated anthology horror comedy television series created by Vernon Chatman and directed by Chatman and Cat Solen. The show is produced by Solen with PFFR and ShadowMachine, and features a wide range of voice talents besides Chatman, including Janeane Garofalo, Jonah Hill, Trey Parker, David Cross, Jordan Peele, Kyle Mooney, Julia Davis, Tierra Whack, Will Forte, and Josh Gad, amongst others. The Shivering Truth premiered on December 10, 2018 on Cartoon Network's late-night programming block Adult Swim, with the pilot episode having been released online on May 22, 2018 on the Adult Swim website.

References

  1. BMI entry
  2. Raftery, Brian. "Smash Your TV and Have Adventures: An Oral History of 'Wonder Showzen'". The Ringer. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  3. Salon.com "Showzen People" article Archived 2009-11-11 at the Wayback Machine
  4. downtown.music Muckafurgason review
  5. https://www.adultswim.com/videos/specials/di-bibl