Recently, Mohr has found an acceptable outlet for that knack. His bad-boy tendencies are on glorious display in television's hottest new comedy Action, FOX's edgy, bleep-laden La-La Land spoof about a Xanax-popping Hollywood producer. The show has critics pouring out enthusiastic reviews, such as "Truly subversive and daring," from The New York Times. Mohr plays the coldblooded Peter Dragon, a guy who has no problem denigrating an underling with zingers such as "She's my prostitute. You're my whore." The 29-year-old actor, who's still best remembered as Bob Sugar, the smarmy sports agent who fires Tom Cruise in the 1996 blockbuster Jerry Maguire, was a perfect fit for the role. "Jay hits the note on the head," says the show's creator and executive producer Chris Thompson. "He's as funny a guy as I know."
Though Action is chock full of insider jokes, Mohr thinks people should just trust it to be amusing. "I watch ER, and I don't know how to take out an appendix," he says, "but when George Clooney says, 'I need 10 cc's of this and the plasma bag has to be circumvented,' I just assume the writers know what they're talking about."
For his part, Mohr knows comedy. The son of Jeannie, 57, a nurse, and Jon, 62, a pharmaceutical industry executive (older sisters Virginia and Julie are a B&B manager and a full-time mom, respectively), Mohr began doing stand-up when he was 15 at open-mike nights in nearby clubs. "I'd beg the emcee to let me go first," Mohr recalls. "I'd say, 'I literally have to go home to do homework.' "
By the time he graduated in 1988, college was out of the question. "I considered going, but I kept getting handed $100 bills for 10 minutes of stand-up," Mohr says. "I thought, 'Well, you go to college to get a job to make money, and here I am doing what I think is a job and making money.' "
Instead, Mohr hit New York City's comedy club circuit. He landed a plum gig in 1993 with Saturday Night Live, but save for his dead-on impressions of Christopher Walken and Sean Penn, "I just never got on-camera. It was frustrating," Mohr says. His girlfriend at the time, Nicole Chamberlain, sensed his bitterness. "I wasn't sure if he was Mr. Right," says the 29-year-old actress-writer whom Mohr met at a party in 1993 and married last November. "Jay was this angry kid. He's a man now. He went from being this angry kid and became this sweet, strong man."
Mohr left SNL after two seasons and slugged away at minor roles until he aced his Jerry Maguire screen test with Tom Cruise. "He was spectacular," recalls director Cameron Crowe. "Jay just sat there and made Cruise squirm." He followed the scene-stealing turn with leads in Picture Perfect (opposite Jennifer Aniston) and the youth rave Go.
Despite his new high wattage in Tinseltown, Mohr says he won't give in to glitz. He has kept the same manager he has had since he was 18. He would rather go to the dog park with his 4-year-old rottweiler Shirley than schmooze with industry types. And he insists on continuing his stand-up routine, performing some weekends at L.A.'s Laugh Factory for $50 a show. If all else fails, his argument goes, he can still afford his three-bedroom hillside L.A. triplex by hitting the comedy-club circuit. That's "his reality," notes Nicole. Besides, says Mohr, "I'd have to take a hot bath in the fetal position if I ever went Hollywood. I loathe Hollywood."
Sophfronia Scott Gregory
Elizabeth Leonard in Los Angeles
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- Elizabeth Leonard.
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