Jay Thomas (born July 12, 1948) is an American actor, comedian, and radio talk show host. His notable television roles include a co-starring role on the second season of Mork and Mindy, Eddie LeBec in Cheers, Jack Stein in Love & War, and Jerry Gold in Murphy Brown. Thomas won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 1990 and 1991 for portraying Gold. In 1997, he starred in the television film Killing Mr. Griffin, based on the novel of the same name. In film, he co-starred in Mr Holland's Opus and portrayed The Easter Bunny in The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3. He is also an annual guest on The Late Show with David Letterman during the Christmas season, where he tells a story about how he met Clayton Moore, who portrayed the self-titled character in The Lone Ranger. Since 2005, he has hosted The Jay Thomas Show on Sirius Satellite Radio.
<span id="Personal_life">Personal life
Thomas was born Jon Thomas Terrell in Kermit, Texas, the son of Katharine "Kathy" (née Guzzino) and T. Harry Terrell, Sr. He was raised in his Italian American mother's Catholic religion (his father was Protestant). Thomas was raised in New Orleans. He attended and graduated from Jesuit High School in New Orleans. Thomas fathered J.T. in an out-of-wedlock relationship and the child was adopted by another family. Jay Thomas and his son, known as John Harding, are reunited and have spoken about their reunion on the Dr. Phil Show. John Harding is the lead singer of the band JTX.
The Late Show tradition
Thomas' annual Christmastime appearance with David Letterman first happened in December 1998. Letterman and one of his other guests that evening, then-New York Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde, took turns tossing footballs at the Christmas tree across the stage, atop which sat a meatball. As the two tried to knock off the meatball and failed, Thomas came out and decided to join in the festivities and knocked the meatball off of the tree. He also told a story about when he was a young disc jockey at a radio station in Charlotte and was making a promotional appearance for the station at a car dealership where, Clayton Moore was also making an appearance dressed in his Lone Ranger costume.
As the story goes, after the appearance Thomas, who at the time sported what he referred to as a "white man's Afro", and his friend, who was wearing high heeled shoes, tight pants, and a tiedyed shirt, went off to get "herbed up" after the broadcast ended. When they returned to their car, they discovered that Moore was still there as the car that had been sent to drive him to his hotel did not show. Thomas offered Moore a ride in his old Volvo and he accepted. As they were sitting in traffic, a Buick backed into the front end of Thomas' car and broke a headlight. Chasing after the middle-aged driver, Thomas finally caught up to him and confronted him about the headlight. The man denied breaking the headlight and Thomas threatened to call the police. The driver said nobody would believe their story because they looked like "two hippy freaks". At that moment, Thomas said that Moore got out of the car and said to the man, "They'll believe me, citizen!"
For every year thereafter, with the exception of 2013, Thomas appeared to re-tell the Lone Ranger story and once again attempt what Letterman calls the "Late Show Quarterback Challenge". For the final appearance of the story in 2014, Thomas was again successful in knocking the meatball off the top of the tree.
Thomas missed the 2013 Late Show Christmas episode due to surgery on his throat; John McEnroe took his place and told the Lone Ranger story, then tried to knock the meatball off the tree by hitting tennis balls at it but failed.
Filmography
References
External links
- Jay Thomas at the Internet Movie Database
- "The Jay Thomas Show" website
- TV.com entry
- Ten Questions with Jay Thomas