Thursday, June 7, 2018

Tim Kazurinsky Built His Career Around Saying Yes! (Thank you Second City)


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This week we are mixing things up and recording The Lisa D Show podcast in front of a live audience; we interview Tim Kazurinsky at the Evanston Art Center.

In this bright and funny conversation, we quickly follow comic actors Tim Kazurinksy's long career from newspaper reporting, to Second City Improv, to SNL, to Wicked and more. Tim stresses the importance of making active choices in life ... saying yes, showing up and just doing it.

From timkazurinsky.net

Tim Kazurinsky is an American actor and screenwriter known for his tenure as both a writer and featured player on Saturday Night Live (1981-1984) and for his role as Officer Sweetchuck in the Police Academy film series.

On SNL, Kazurinsky played many recurring characters such as Dr. Jack Badofsky on Weekend Update, Madge the Chimp's husband in "I Married A Monkey", and Mr. Landlord opposite Eddie Murphy's "Mr. Robinson." His range of celebrity impersonations included everyone from Mahatma Gandhi and Adolf Hitler to Ozzy Osbourne and Billie Jean King.

Kazurinsky is a mainstay of the Chicago theatre scene, where he has twice been nominated for the prestegious Joseph Jefferson Award. In addition to his extensive work as a member of The Second City, Mr. Kazurinsky has appeared onstage in A Midsummer Night's Dream with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, in Hairspray at Drury Lane Theatre, and in Northlight Theatre's The Odd Couple and Funnyman.

Kazurinsky's many television credits include Curb Your Enthusiasm,  Early Edition, According to Jim,  Faerie Tale Theatre,  The Moochie Kalala Detectives Show,
Still Standing,  What About Joan, Married...With Children, Easy, and Chicago Justice. He has appeared in many films such as Somewhere in Time,  Neighbors, Continental Divide,  My Bodyguard,  Shakes the Clown,  Hot to Trot and Scrooge and Marley. As a voiceover artist, Mr. Kazurinsky's voice has been heard in animation,  hundreds of commercials and episodes of The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas.

Kazurinsky has shared the stage and screen with such luminaries as John Belushi, Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams, Drew Barrymore, Larry David, Bill Murray, Christopher Reeve, Mary Gross, Danny DeVito, George Wendt, Liza Minnelli, Jim Belushi, Lauren Bacall, Dan Aykroyd, Jeff Garlin, Jane Seymour, Bobcat Goldthwait, Michael Winslow, Sharon Stone, Joe Piscopo and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Among his screenwriting credits are About Last Night...,  Billions for Boris,  For Keeps? and The Cherokee Kid. His screenplay for Strange Relations earned him a Writer's Guild of America Award nomination for Original Long Form as well as a BAFTA nomination for Best Single Drama.

Kazurinsky performed as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the First National Touring Company of Wicked. He made his Broadway debut opposite Jim Parsons and Christopher Fitzgerald in David Javerbaum's comedy, An Act Of God directed by Joe Mantello. He is married to actress Marcia Lynn Watkins, with whom he has two children. Kazurinsky currently resides outside of Chicago with his family.


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The Lisa D Show is a podcast celebrating creatives, featuring 20-minute, unedited conversations that mimic the live-radio vibe, low tech on purpose. Reach out to host Lisa Degliantoni at thelisadshow[at]gmail.com

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