Mark Jonathan Davis


Mark Jonathan Davis is an American actor, writer, singer, and producer. Davis was born in New York, raised in Arizona, and currently resides in California.
He is known for his work as a voice-over actor in Warner Bros. animated series/films Superman and Batman Beyond ; his television performances on NBC's Newsradio, Friday Night, and CBS's The Late Show With David Letterman; his parody songs such as "The Star Wars Cantina", "The Phantom Medley", "Rice Rice Baby," "We Love Barney Fife", and "Jeannie's Diner"; his on-air impersonations on KROQ radio in Los Angeles; and for his portrayal of the lounge-singer characters Richard Cheese and Johnny Aloha.

Career

Radio

Davis began his career in the early 1980s, performing call-in characters and contributing parody songs to Jonathon Brandmeier's morning show on radio station KZZP in Phoenix. Davis was hired by KZZP in 1985 and worked as an on-air personality, morning-show producer, and song parodist. Several of his parodies aired on The Dr. Demento Show,
including "We Love Barney Fife", "They Drive Me Brady," "Eat Too Much," "Radio Shack", and "Rock Me Jerry Lewis".
Davis worked as a morning-show writer and producer at Pirate Radio in Los Angeles in 1989, and then relocated to Los Angeles in 1990 to work at Premiere Radio Networks as a parody song writer and producer and as programming director of the syndicator's morning show comedy networks. While at Premiere, "Jeannie's Diner", his parody of Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner", was released on the Vega compilation Tom's Album and was used on Nick At Nite for an I Dream Of Jeannie promotional music video. "Rice Rice Baby," his parody of Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby", was featured on ABC-TV's "Into The Night with Rick Dees" in 1991.
In 1992, Davis joined the KROQ Kevin and Bean morning show as producer, where he portrayed characters such as Bob Hope, Shakespeare Man, Lt. Sulu, and Paul The 55-Year-Old Intern. As Paul, Davis recorded a single called "Paul On 45" – which was a medley of Sinatra-style versions of KROQ songs – and performed a live duet of the song "I'll Be Home For Christmas" with Tony Bennett at KROQ Acoustic Christmas in December 1993. Davis managed the morning show's live remote broadcasts, conducted celebrity interviews, and produced several of the station's Christmas albums. In 2003, Davis released an album of his KROQ Bob Hope phone-in impersonations, "This Is Bob: The Best Of Mark Jonathan Davis As Bob Hope On The 106.7FM KROQ Kevin & Bean Morning Show."
In 1997, Davis wrote, produced, and sang a parody song about Star Wars, sung to the tune of Barry Manilow's "Copacabana." His parody "The Star Wars Cantina Comedy Parody Song" received extensive airplay on radio stations and was a popular request on The Dr. Demento Show.

Television

In 1994, Davis began work as a freelance copywriter and jingle singer for Nick At Nite, Fox, NBC, and CBS in their network on-air promo departments. Davis was the voice of NBC's "Johnny Chimes", an animated singing mascot for the network.
Davis also performed voices for various Warner Brothers cartoon series such as Batman Beyond, ', and The Zeta Project, and movies ' and . He also wrote and sang parody songs for The Disney Channel's House of Mouse.
In 1994, Davis appeared on NBC's Friday Night as an entertainment correspondent reporting from Woodstock '94 and Lollapalooza, and he performed a "Stupid Human Trick" on CBS's The Late Show with David Letterman. Davis appeared in an acting role as himself on NBC's Newsradio in 1997, and appeared on an episode of The Man Show as a Strip Club DJ in 2001.

Writing

In 1997, Davis worked as a freelance joke-writer for a political consulting firm, and several of his jokes were used by President Bill Clinton during remarks at the April 10, 1997 Radio and Television Correspondents' Association Dinner. Davis contributed comedy material to The Late Show With David Letterman, and wrote jokes for several of David Spade's "Weekend Update" appearances on Saturday Night Live.
From 1997 to 2001, Davis worked as a freelance copywriter, show writer, and concept designer for Walt Disney Imagineering during development of Disney's California Adventure theme park in Anaheim, California. Davis wrote copy for signs and displays, and helped create names for theme park attractions, retail stores, and restaurants. He performed voices for Disney attractions "It's Tough To Be A Bug," "Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin," and "Soarin' Over California."
In 2019, Davis released a book of photographs titled "Fonts In Paradise: Signs Of Mid-Century Hawaii," a collection of photographs of vintage motel and apartment signs in Honolulu.

Music

Davis created the Richard Cheese band in 2000 and recorded the CD Lounge Against The Machine.
Davis launched an independent record label, Coverage Records, and subsequently released 20 more Richard Cheese albums. The band's most recent CD is Licensed To Spill, which was released October 16, 2017. The Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine band has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, MTV's Say What? Karaoke, NBC's Last Call With Carson Daly, ITV's The Jonathan Ross Show, The Leftovers, and in the movies Dawn of the Dead, and The Lego Batman Movie.
In 2010, Davis created another lounge singer character, Johnny Aloha, and released the CD Lavapalooza in 2010. The Johnny Aloha band performed live shows in Anaheim and Honolulu.
In 2016, Davis worked as a freelance writer and lyricist for the Princess Rap Battles episode "Rapunzel & Flynn vs. Anna & Kristoff."
In 2017, an original song sung by Davis titled " Rocktagon" was included in The Lego Ninjago Movie DVD extras.

Discography, Filmography, Books

Music