Jim Downey | |
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| Born | James Woodward Downey 1952 (age 73–74) Berkeley, California, U.S. |
| Occupation |
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| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Period | 1976–present |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Subject |
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James Woodward Downey (born 1952)[1][2] is an Americancomedy writer, producer,actor and comedian. Downey wrote for over 30 seasons ofSaturday Night Live, making him the longest tenured writer in the show's history.[3]
Downey was born inBerkeley, California,[1] and grew up inJoliet, Illinois.[4][5] After graduating fromJoliet Catholic High School, he enteredHarvard University, where he wrote for theHarvard Lampoon and later became its president.[3] As aLampoon writer, Downey created aCosmo parody featuring a fictitious nude photo ofHenry Kissinger on the front cover[6] and invitedJohn Wayne to the campus.[7][8] He graduated from Harvard in 1974 with a degree in Russian.[9] After graduating, Downey received a one year fellowship to eastern Europe, for which he turned down an invitation byMichael O'Donoghue to be part of the first season ofSNL.[8]
Downey is not related toSNL alumnusRobert Downey Jr.,[10] whose uncle James B. Downey has been confused with Jim Downey in the past.[11]
In 1976, Downey joined theSaturday Night Live writing staff as its youngest member.[3] He was among the firstHarvard Lampoon writers to write for television, at a time when, in the opinion of writerSteve O'Donnell, "the sensibilities of theLampoon [were] a little closer to the sensibilities of themass media."[12]Simpsons writerMike Reiss called Downey "patient zero" ofLampoon comedy writers.[3]
Downey ultimately worked on 27 of the show's first 32 seasons, one of the longest tenures in the show's history.[13] He arrived atSaturday Night Live the same week asBill Murray with whom he ended up sharing an office overlooking 50th Street, but he mostly began writing atSNL withAl Franken,Tom Davis, andDan Aykroyd.[14][8] His first stretch as writer for the show ran from 1976 to 1980, culminating in a brief stint as a featured cast member. By the1979–1980 season,Lorne Michaels had lost bothDan Aykroyd andJohn Belushi to feature film careers, causing him to look to writers like Downey, Tom Schiller, Dan Aykroyd's brotherPeter,Al Franken, Alan Zweibel, andTom Davis to fill spots as cast members (along withSNL bandleaderPaul Shaffer and newcomerHarry Shearer).[15] Downey left the show in 1980 as part of the mass exodus of writers and actors following Lorne Michaels's departure.[8]
After leavingSNL, Downey became the secondhead writer ofLate Night with David Letterman for a little over a year, from 1982 to 1984, during its formative stages. He is credited with inventing its Top Ten List and contributing to its influential sensibility and attracting other talented writers.[16][17] Together with Letterman, Downey wrote a week longongoing joke featuring the "World's Largest Vase."[17][18]
Downey became head writer for MichaelsThe New Show in 1984,[6] whichflopped and was cancelled after 9 episodes.[17] Downey returned toSNL that same year as a writer withDick Ebersol producing the show. Michaels returned to the show in 1985, naming Downey as head writer, a new position at the time.[19][20] As head writer, Downey introduced rewrite sessions on Thursdays, which had not existed during the shows first five years.[17] Downey stayed in that position until the end of season 20 in 1995, after 10 years as head writer (the longest-tenure for anSNL head writer[21] and one of the few writers from the previous season to return to season 21[22]).
Downey was responsible forNorm Macdonald becomingWeekend Update anchor in 1994, and beginning the next year wrote exclusively for that segment of the show after retiring as head writer.[17] Downey and Macdonald subsequently became a team, working away from the rest of the cast and crew.
They were both fired from the show in early 1998, midway through season 23 at the request of NBC executiveDon Ohlmeyer. Downey believes that it was a result of various jokes onWeekend Update callingO. J. Simpson a murderer; Ohlmeyer was a good friend of Simpson's.[2] Downey would remain credited as a writer until the end of the season.[23] He recalls receiving the phone call "a couple things:Chris Farley is dead and you and Norm are fired."[17]
Downey was rehired by Michaels in 2000, shortly following Ohlmeyer's retirement from NBC, as a specialized writer focusing on political comedy andcold opens.[17] He credits the increased prevalence of political sketches on SNL to the changing political climate following the2000 United States presidential election.[17]
For an October 2000 sketch satirizing a recent presidential debate, Downey coined the word "strategery" for then-presidential candidateGeorge W. Bush to say, based on Bush's reputation for difficulty with public speaking. The word soon began to be used in atongue-in-cheek fashion by members of Bush's own administration, as well as by political pundits on both sides, to refer to the Bush administration's political strategy.[24]
Downey continued to write for the show until 2013, pausing only in 2005 to work on a novel.[13] In 2013, he retired fromSaturday Night Live after the end of the38th season after 30 non-consecutive years[19] (making him the longest-tenured writer in the history of the show)[25] writing for the show working part-time, commuting fromUpstate New York.[26] In retirement, he would still occasionally suggest jokes to writers that would make it on the show.[27] During theSNL40th Anniversary Special Bill Murray performed "Jaws", a parody song written by Downey that was first thought up after thefilms initial release 40 years earlier.[17] For theSNL 50th Anniversary Special, Downey helped put together anIn Memoriam segment featuring poorly aged sketches.[28]
SNL creatorLorne Michaels called Downey the "best political humorist alive"[29] and "the voice of the show" during its first 20 years,[30] whileConan O'Brien said he is "the great comedy writer that we all revere."[31]Bill Murray has called him "the best writer that I ever worked with".[32]John Mulaney described Downey's comedic style as "hyper-nuanced", with Downey himself saying it involves "someone laboriously explaining something that doesn’t need an explanation, and also getting it wrong."[30]
FormerSNLWeekend Update anchorDennis Miller has called him the second most important person in the history ofSaturday Night Live, behind only creatorLorne Michaels.[33][16]
In 2023, a still image of Downey appearing on the podcastConan O'Brien Needs a Friend[34] became aninternet meme,[35] referencing a joke by Downey pretending to not be aware ofJeffrey Epstein's sexual misconduct allegations and hisdeath, calling him "Jeffrey Epstein, the New York financier."[8][28][17]
Although he was only a credited actor onSaturday Night Live for one season, Downey appeared in over 40 sketches from 1977 to 2005, his most notable being parody commercials such as Craig's Travellers Checks, First CityWide Change Bank, and Grayson Moorhead Securities. In 2007, he appeared in aDigital Short titledAndy's Dad, where he portrayed the father of cast memberAndy Samberg, and had a romantic relationship with guest starJonah Hill.[36][6]
In movies, he is probably best remembered for playing the high school principal who judges the "academic decathlon" inBilly Madison. His brief role in that film includes a famous monologue in which he insults the title character, played byAdam Sandler, concluding with the sentence "I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."[37][6] The monologue was based on a response Downey often gave toSNL cast member (and fellowBilly Madison cast member)Chris Farley in theSNL writers' room when Farley presented certain ideas.[38]
He appeared in theNorm Macdonald movieDirty Work as a homeless person. Downey also had a bit part inPaul Thomas Anderson's 2007 filmThere Will Be Blood, where he plays Al Rose, Little Boston's real estate broker. Anderson's YouTube channel is Al Rose Promotions, a nod to Downey's role. He later had a bit part in Anderson’s 2025 filmOne Battle After Another playing the part of Sandy Irvine, a member of the Christmas Adventurers, a fictitiouswhite supremacy organization. Downey also played a supporting role in HBO'sThe Chair Company.[6]
In 2025, Downey starred inDowney Wrote That, a documentary about his career atSNL directed byBrent Hodge that was released onPeacock.[6][32][8]
Given Downey's role in writing much of the political humor featured onSaturday Night Live during his tenure there, his own political leanings have been a source of speculation. Downey has said that he began his career as "a standard-issue Harvard graduatecommie", but later turned into "aconservative Democrat".[39] He is a registeredDemocratic Party member.[40] In 2008, he expressed his support for then-presidential-candidateBarack Obama.[40] Nonetheless, his comedic targets have included American politicians across the political spectrum. TV criticTom Shales, author of the bookLive from New York: The Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live,[41] called Downey, andSNL, an "equal opportunity slasher" in political comedy.[42]
Some have called Downey moreright-wing than his self-description, including Shales, who described him in 2002 as "aRepublican" and "prettyconservative".[42] In theHuffington Post, formerSNL head writerAdam McKay called Downey "right-wing" and an "Ann Coulter pal".[43] On a 2019 podcast, Al Franken described Downey as a "thoughtful conservative."[44]
On Trump, Downey says "I was sick of him before he even ran for president", having already mocked him inSNL sketches he wrote in the 1980s and describing him as a "beat-up, ridiculous character" and "semi-literate".[28]
In early 2008, Downey wrote sketches forSNL mocking the then-ongoingDemocratic presidential debates that depicted thenews media as biased toward Obama. After the first sketch aired, candidateHillary Clinton referred to it at the beginning of the next debate. The sketches were controversial; McKay suggested that they were a ploy to favorRepublicans, since Clinton would be a weaker candidate than Obama.[43] In response, Downey "said he probably favored Mr. Obama over Mrs. Clinton, but that he genuinely felt she was receiving tougher treatment from the news media". He denied thatSNL had intended to help Clinton.[13] According to theProject for Excellence in Journalism theSNL sketches may have prompted tougher news coverage of Obama.[45][46]
On Obama, he stated, "If I had to describe Obama as a comedy project, I would say, 'Degree of difficulty, 10 point 10.' It's like being a rock climber looking up at a thousand-foot-high face of solid obsidian, polished and oiled. There's not a single thing to grab onto—certainly not a flaw or hook that you can caricature."[39]
Downey is married and has a son.[17] In 2025 he became a grandfather.[17] He met his wife atSaturday Night Live.[17]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977–80; 1984–98; 2000–05; 2006–13 | Saturday Night Live | Writer, producer, actor | |
| 1981 | Steve Martin's Best Show Ever | Writer | |
| 1982–84 | Late Night with David Letterman | Writer | 48 episodes |
| 1984 | The New Show | Writer | 5 episodes |
| 2008–09; 2012 | Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday | Writer | 7 episodes |
| 2011 | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Board Member #1 | Episode: "Larry vs. Michael J. Fox" |
| 2013 | 30 Rock | Downey | Episode: "Hogcock!" |
| 2017 | Veep | Jim Caldwell | Episode: "Groundbreaking" |
| 2020 | Our Cartoon President | Adam Schiff (voice) | Episode: "Impeachment" |
| 2025 | The Chair Company | Douglas | 3 episodes |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | The Brain Machine | T.V. Announcer | |
| 1988 | Bum Rap | Steg | |
| 1993 | Wayne's World 2 | Jeff Wong (voice) | |
| 1995 | Billy Madison | Principal | |
| The Little Patriot | Adjutant | ||
| 1998 | Dirty Work | Martin, Homeless Guy | |
| 2007 | There Will Be Blood | Al Rose | |
| 2025 | Happy Gilmore 2 | Championship Tour Starter | |
| One Battle After Another | Sandy Irvine | ||
| Downey Wrote That | Himself | Documentary |
Born in 1952 in Berkeley, California, Jim Downey...PDF
...no writer has been associated with the show longer—or had more of a lasting impact—than James Woodward Downey.
I'm afraid that's not true. [TheSNL writer's] name is Jim Downey, but he's not Jim Downey, my uncle Jim Downey.
...Jim Downey...a former star writer atSaturday Night Live (and the uncle of Robert Downey, Jr.)...
Some of the names here will be familiar only to die-hard fans; others, like Murphy, defined what was funny for generations of viewers.
Sometimes I'll call into "SNL" and say, "Hey, I've got something if you want it." (Do you have an example?) During his first term, Trump kept bragging about having the lowest Black unemployment rate in U.S. history, and I gave Michael Che an "Update" joke that went, "I'm pretty sure during slavery times it was zero."
Called by Lorne Michaels the best political humorist alive...
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