Jay Johnston

Jay James Johnston (born October 22, 1968) is an American actor and comedian. He was a writer and cast member on Mr. Show with Bob and David and had roles on The Sarah Silverman Program, Moral Orel, Arrested Development, and Bob's Burgers.

Johnston participated in the United States Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, and was arrested and charged on June 7, 2023. Following the incident, Johnston was fired from his longtime role as Jimmy Pesto on Bob's Burgers; he has not appeared in any films or television shows since. He pled guilty on July 8, 2024, and was sentenced to one year and one day in prison on October 28, 2024.

Johnston was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He has a younger brother named Tim.^[1] He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in acting from Columbia College Chicago in 1993.^[2]

After graduating from college, Johnston later joined the Chicago Second City's touring comedy for a number of years and also performed in stage shows at the Annoyance Theater in Chicago.^[3][4]

From 1995 to 1998, Johnston worked as a sketch actor and writer on all four seasons of Mr. Show with Bob and David.^[5][6] After the conclusion of Mr. Show, Johnston had a recurring role on Arrested Development, as well as appearing in films such as Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Bicentennial Man.^[5]

Johnston and fellow Mr. Show regulars Dino Stamatopoulos and Scott Adsit were part of the creative team behind Adult Swim's stop-motion animation series Moral Orel, which ran from 2005 to 2008.^[5][6] Johnston wrote and directed episodes of the series and voiced multiple characters in the first two seasons.^[7]

Johnston starred on all three seasons of Comedy Central's The Sarah Silverman Program as "Officer Jay McPherson", the love interest of Sarah Silverman's sister Laura in the series. The series reunited Johnston with Mr. Show cast members Brian Posehn, Scott Aukerman, B. J. Porter, and Paul F. Tompkins.^[6]

Johnston had a recurring voice role as Jimmy Pesto Sr. in the Fox animated series Bob's Burgers from 2011^[5] until his firing in 2021.^[8] The role was later recast to Eric Bauza in 2023.^[9]

Standing well over 6 feet tall, Johnston regularly played police and other law enforcement roles.^[10]

In March 2021, a Twitter message by the FBI was seeking the identity of a man at the January 6 United States Capitol attack who bore a resemblance to Johnston and who was identified as Johnston by friends of the actor. In a December 21, 2021, article by The Daily Beast, two of Johnston's friends said he admitted to being at the Capitol on January 6. After the FBI tweet and the news of his alleged participation, Johnston's friends and colleagues from Mr. Show with Bob and David reached out to Johnston, but received no response. Johnston was fired from Bob's Burgers shortly after being identified.^[11]

The FBI arrested Johnston on June 7, 2023, and charged him with felony obstruction of officers during civil disorder as well as several misdemeanor offenses. He was released after paying a $25,000 bond.^[12][13]

Johnston pleaded guilty to a single felony count of obstructing officers during a civil disorder on July 8, 2024.^[14][15] On October 28, 2024, Judge Carl Nichols characterized Johnston's conduct as "problematic" and "reprehensible", and sentenced him to one year and one day in prison, 40 hours of community service, and pay $2,000 in restitution.^[1]

Johnston has a daughter, born circa 2011. As of 2024, he was engaged to Sara Radovanovitch.^[1]

• Jay Johnston at IMDb