Jon Lovett | |
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.jpg) Lovett in 2024 | |
| Born | Jonathan Ira Lovett (1982-08-17)August 17, 1982 (age 43) |
| Alma mater | Williams College (BA) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2004–present |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Partner(s) | Ronan Farrow (2011–2022) Ari Schwartz (2024–present; engaged) |
Jonathan Ira Lovett (born August 17, 1982) is an Americanpodcaster,comedian, journalist, and formerspeechwriter. Lovett is a co-founder ofCrooked Media, along withJon Favreau andTommy Vietor. All three formerly worked together as White House staffers during the Obama administration.[1] Lovett is a regular host of the Crooked Media podcastsPod Save America andLovett or Leave It. As a speechwriter, he worked for both PresidentBarack Obama andHillary Clinton when she was aUnited States senator and a2008 presidential candidate. Lovett also co-created theNBC sitcom1600 Penn, and was a writer and producer on the third season ofHBO'sThe Newsroom. Lovett appeared as a contestant onSurvivor 47 in 2024.
Lovett was born and raised inWoodbury, Long Island[2][3] in aReform Jewish family of Ukrainian ancestry[4] that operated a box factory started by his grandfather.[5] He attendedSyosset High School.
Lovett graduated fromWilliams College in 2004 with a degree in mathematics.[6] His senior thesis,Rotating Linkages in a Normed Plane,[7] led to a related publication on the same topic inAmerican Mathematical Monthly.[8] Lovett was the Williams College class speaker at his commencement ceremony in 2004.[9]
After graduation, Lovett spent a year working as aparalegal and doingstand-up comedy on the side.[6][10]
In 2004, Lovett volunteered forJohn Kerry's presidential campaign. He was asked to write a statement for the candidate, and his work led to an offer of a writing internship.[11] He briefly worked inJon Corzine'sSenate office.[7] He was hired in 2005 to assistSarah Hurwitz as a speechwriter for then-Senator Hillary Clinton,[7] and he continued to write speeches for her through her2008 presidential campaign.[11]
When Clinton lost the2008 Democratic primary contest, Lovett won an anonymous contest to write speeches forPresidentBarack Obama in theWhite House.[11] Lovett wrote speeches in the Obama administration for three years, working closely withJon Favreau andDavid Axelrod.[5] Prominent speeches that he wrote include policy speeches on financial reform anddon't ask, don't tell,[7] as well as remarks at theWhite House Correspondents' Dinner.[12]
Lovett secretly officiated the first same-sex marriage in the White House, before the Obama administration supported same-sex marriage.[12][13][14]
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In 2011, beforeBarack Obama ran for reelection, Lovett left the White House and moved to California to become a screenwriter,[15][16] citing a desire to write independently and focus on creative comedy full-time.[7] He collaborated withJosh Gad andJason Winer on the television series1600 Penn, of which Lovett was a co-creator, executive producer, and writer from 2012 until its cancellation in 2013.[17] He then worked as a writer, producer, and advisor on season three ofHBO'sThe Newsroom.[12] From 2012 to 2015, Lovett also contributed opinion pieces to venues likeThe Atlantic.[18] In 2024, he competed on the47th season of theCBS reality television showSurvivor; he was the first contestant voted off the season.[19]
Starting in March 2016, Lovett co-hostedThe Ringer's political podcastKeepin' it 1600 with former fellow Obama staffersJon Favreau,Dan Pfeiffer, andTommy Vietor.[20] The podcast was intended to cover the 2016 presidential race and not expected to continue after that.[21] But after theNovember 2016 election, Lovett, Favreau and Vietor wished to become engaged in politics again without having to leave Los Angeles or return to political campaigning.[21] So they founded a liberal media company, Crooked Media, with the flagship podcastPod Save America.[22] Crooked Media, andPod Save America in particular, has been compared to previous left-wing efforts likeAir America to match America'sconservative talk radio, and Lovett has been characterized as providing comic relief to the programming.[21] The company has since launched a range of podcasts, several of which regularly feature Lovett.
In March 2017, Lovett began hostingLovett or Leave It, a panel show podcast produced by Crooked Media.[23] The podcast, typically recorded in front of a live audience in Los Angeles, embarked on national and international tours featuring live versions of bothPod Save America andLovett or Leave It.[24] He was also involved in launching Crooked Media's voter recruitment and education project, Vote Save America.[25] During the2017 Virginia gubernatorial election, Lovett supported and door knocked forTom Perriello in the Democratic primary.[26] After the primary he along withPod Save America campaigned for Northam days before the Election.[27]
Lovett is gay.[16] He and investigative journalist and authorRonan Farrow became romantically involved in 2011.[28][29] In October 2019, Farrow publishedCatch and Kill, where he publicly announced their engagement after proposing to Lovett in an earlier draft of his book.[30][31] However, in a March 2023 episode of his podcast,Lovett or Leave It, Lovett stated that he was single after the end of a "10 and a half year" relationship.[32]
On March 14, 2025, Lovett and Ari Schwartz, chief of staff at Crooked Media, announced their engagement.[33][34][35]
Northam will have McAuliffe, Warner, and Kaine campaigning with him this weekend; last weekend, Perriello knocked on doors in Arlington with Jon Lovett, a former Obama speechwriter who now co-hosts Pod Save America, the popular podcast that's been a kind of audio catharsis for despondent liberals.
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