John Lee (producer) explained

John Lee
Birth Date:30 November 1972
Birth Name:John Michael Lee
Birth Place:Portland, Oregon
Occupation:Television producer, writer, director, voice actor, musician

John Michael Lee[1] (born November 30, 1972) is an American television producer, writer, director, voice actor, and musician best known for his work on the MTV2 comedy series Wonder Showzen as a member of the rock band/art collective PFFR.

Career

Lee is of Chinese ancestry[2] and is long time friends with fellow PFFR member and television producer Vernon Chatman. They met as undergraduates at San Francisco State University.[3] Along with Chatman, Lee is the co-creator, writer, director and star of Wonder Showzen. He voices Wordsworth, one of the main puppet characters and provides various other voices on the show. The pair also co-created Snoop Dogg's 2002 MTV sketch show Doggy Fizzle Televizzle. In addition, Lee is the co-creator of , also with Alyson Levy, Chatman and Jim Tozzi. He also worked as a creative consultant on the Adult Swim series Superjail! in 2009. In 2011, Lee, Levy and Chatman created the Adult Swim mini-series The Heart, She Holler starring Patton Oswalt and Kristen Schaal.

Lee was a member of the now defunct rock trio Muckafurgason. Although his primary role in the band was the bassist, the members of Muckafurgason were often known to "play musical chairs" with their instruments, seeing Lee occasionally turn his hand to lead vocals, guitar and even clarinet.[4] Through Muckafurgason he became acquainted with the band They Might Be Giants, who wrote the song "John Lee Supertaster" about him.

Lee was the director and executive producer of the Adult Swim series Delocated and season 2 starring Jon Glaser. In 2011, Lee began directing segments for the Comedy Central series Jon Benjamin Has a Van. He also directed the pilot of Inside Amy Schumer and several episodes of Broad City.

Lee's directorial debut was the 2016 Pee-wee Herman comedy film Pee-wee's Big Holiday. Afterwards, in 2019, he created another CGI show with Kytten Janae in the pilot Di Bibl for Adult Swim.[5] He later then directed the 2021 horror film False Positive.

Filmography

Year Title width=65 Director !width=65 Writer !width=65 Producer !width=65 Executive producer !width=65 Actor !width=110Role !Notes
1997Life In a Blender: Chicken Dance Music Video
2002Late Friday HimselfMuckafurguson (Band)
2002-2003Doggy Fizzle Televizzle Also creator
2005-2006Wonder Showzen Him / Wordsworth / Various charactersAlso creator
2007-2009 Various charactersAlso creator
2009-2013Delocated
2010Food Party
2011Neon Knome Later reworked into The Problem Solverz which he wasn't involved in
2011Jon Benjamin Has A Van
2011-2014The Heart, She Holler Also creator
2013Inside Amy Schumer
2014Broad City
2015Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter
2016Pee-Wee's Big Holiday
2016Gigglefudge, U.S.A.
2017At Home with Amy Sedaris
2018The Last O.G.
2018-2020The Shivering Truth
2018Hunky Boys Go Ding-Dong
2019Di BiblAlso creator
2020Rate the Cookie
2021Search Party
2021Teenage Euthanasia
2021False Positive
2022Flatbush Misdemeanors
2023Ballmastrz: Rubicon

Notes and References

  1. https://archive.today/20141003015008/http://repertoire.bmi.com/writer.asp?blnWriter=True&blnPublisher=True&blnArtist=True&page=1&fromrow=1&torow=25&querytype=WriterID&keyid=685930&keyname=LEE+JOHN+MICHAEL&CAE=197348916&Affiliation=BMI BMI entry
  2. Web site: Raftery . Brian . Smash Your TV and Have Adventures: An Oral History of ‘Wonder Showzen’ . The Ringer . 22 November 2023.
  3. http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/feature/2006/03/22/showzen/index.html Salon.com "Showzen People" article
  4. https://archive.today/20240524144954/https://www.webcitation.org/5knXYX2yI?url=http://www.geocities.com/dbtf93/muckafurg.html downtown.music Muckafurgason review
  5. https://www.adultswim.com/videos/specials/di-bibl