Mohr lends his comedic talents to career forum

  Hill and Knowlton INC. Comedian and actor Jay
Mohr will host a celebrity roundtable career discussion
today.

By Mary Williams
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Jay Mohr will be making UCLA students laugh when he comes today
as part of the Ford Focus career day, but he takes his job
seriously.

Mohr, whose credits include “Jerry Maguire,”
“Picture Perfect” and “Go,” feels that he
really couldn’t have been anything other than a stand-up
comedian and actor.

“In hindsight, no, I never had a choice,” he said in
an interview. “This is what I was born to do, and once I
identified my voice onstage and what exactly I was doing and what I
was trying to say, then I had no choice, because it’s sort of
an obligation to be true and present people with comedy that is
truthful.”

Mohr said that his profession is one that fits in perfectly to
the alternative career-day roundtable discussion, because it
doesn’t have any of the boundaries of “normal”
jobs.

“When I tried stand-up comedy for the first time it was
almost alarming, because the second I tried it, I realized that if
I chose to stay in that profession there was no feeling, and there
are very few professions where there is no feeling, as far as where
you can go. Stand-up comedy you can get a sitcom, you can get
movies, you can host things, or you can be a comic, making a
living.”

While Mohr has pursued many of these ““ acting in movies
and on TV (in the short-lived “Action”) and hosting
events like today’s ““ he feels most passionate about
comedy. Stand-up is where he got his start, and he still continues
to perform around the country.

“I think you’re born a comedian, and I think you can
be born an actor too ““ it’s a matter of which one I
tried first,” Mohr said.

According to Mohr, the way in which he does his act in front of
an audience is an important part of his success as a comedian.

“I’m really exhausted after all my shows, more than
anyone else I know, and my manager said, “˜That’s
because you give yourself to the audience.’ And when I
realized he was right, it opened a lot of doors for me in my crowds
when I go on the road,” he said.

In turn, the lessons he’s learned as a comedian have come
to his aid as an actor, even though not all the roles he plays are
comedic.

“I think, being a comic, one of the advantages I have on a
movie set is that I’m able to read a room real well,
I’m an energy sponge, and those are advantages I think I have
over other actors. I’m glad I came from stand-up,” Mohr
said.

Of course, with the good times come the bad. Mohr wasn’t
always completely satisfied with the life of a comic. He said that
there were frustrations when he was getting started as a
comedian.

“I used to get very angry,” Mohr said. “The
great mantra that my manager used to ask me was, “˜Would you
trade places with him?’ And the answer, even back when I was
angry and chomping at the bit, the answer was always a resounding
“˜No.’ Pauly Shore getting $2 million a movie back in
the day ““ yeah, I would have liked that $2 million doing a
movie, I still haven’t made $2 million a movie ““ but I
wouldn’t trade places with him.”

Cash is not the determining factor in whether Mohr will do a
project. He appeared in the independent movies “Go” and
“Suicide Kings” for much less than his normal
salary.

“I’ve never done anything for the money,” Mohr
said. “I’m always really conscious of working for the
respect, and respect will outlast cash always. I always figured, if
I’m going to work in this business, I’d rather have the
respect than the cash.”

Stories and advice like this are what Mohr hopes the students
attending the Focus event will gain from the celebrity guests.

He said the roundtable discussion in which he will be
participating today is what he would have wanted as a student.

“It’s sort of a best-case scenario career day.
It’s like the Make A Wish Foundation’s career day.
Instead of the guy from the local paper mill and the Army recruiter
coming to the high school library, you get Tony Hawk, Jay Mohr and
the lead singer from Live,” he said.

“That’s something that would really excite me,
therefore does excite me: The fact that I’m able to bridge
that gap and be the host and field questions and let people ask
people they find interesting questions,” he added.

Realizing that he had just used the word “excite”
several times, he laughed and continued.

“I’m really excited. Like a pervert. This really
excites me. The new Ford Focus car also.”