Jim Downey

James Woodward Downey (born 1952) is an American comedy writer, producer, actor and comedian. Downey wrote for over 30 seasons of Saturday Night Live, making him the longest tenured writer in the show's history.

Early life and education Downey was born in Berkeley, California, After graduating from Joliet Catholic High School, he entered Harvard University, where he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon and later became its president. and invited John Wayne to the campus. He graduated from Harvard in 1974 with a degree in Russian. After graduating, Downey received a one year fellowship to eastern Europe, for which he turned down an invitation by Michael O'Donoghue to be part of the first season of SNL. whose uncle James B. Downey has been confused with Jim Downey in the past.

Writing career

Saturday Night Live In 1976, Downey joined the Saturday Night Live writing staff as its youngest member. Simpsons writer Mike Reiss called Downey "patient zero" of Lampoon comedy writers. Together with Letterman, Downey wrote a week long ongoing joke featuring the "World's Largest Vase."

Return to SNL Downey became head writer for Michaels The New Show in 1984, As head writer, Downey introduced rewrite sessions on Thursdays, which had not existed during the shows first five years. and one of the few writers from the previous season to return to season 21 ).

Norm Macdonald, Update and firing Downey was responsible for Norm Macdonald becoming Weekend Update anchor in 1994, and beginning the next year wrote exclusively for that segment of the show after retiring as head writer. He recalls receiving the phone call "a couple things: Chris Farley is dead and you and Norm are fired."

Downey continued to write for the show until 2013, pausing only in 2005 to work on a novel. writing for the show working part-time, commuting from Upstate New York. In retirement, he would still occasionally suggest jokes to writers that would make it on the show. During the SNL 40th Anniversary Special Bill Murray performed "Jaws", a parody song written by Downey that was first thought up after the films initial release 40 years earlier.

Reception SNL creator Lorne Michaels called Downey the "best political humorist alive" and "the voice of the show" during its first 20 years, while Conan O'Brien said he is " great comedy writer that we all revere." Bill Murray has called him "the best writer that I ever worked with". 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."

In 2023, a still image of Downey appearing on the podcast Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend became an internet meme, referencing a joke by Downey pretending to not be aware of Jeffrey Epstein's sexual misconduct allegations and his death, calling him "Jeffrey Epstein, the New York financier."

He appeared in the Norm Macdonald movie Dirty Work (1998) as a homeless person. Downey also had a bit part in Paul Thomas Anderson's 2007 film There 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.

In 2025, Downey appeared in multiple projects. He had a bit part in Anderson’s Academy Award for Best Picture-winning One Battle After Another playing Sandy Irvine, a member of the Christmas Adventurers, a fictitious white supremacy organization. Downey also played a supporting role in HBO's The Chair Company.

Political views Given Downey's role in writing much of the political humor featured on Saturday 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 graduate commie", but later turned into "a conservative Democrat". He is a registered Democratic Party member. In 2008, he expressed his support for then-presidential-candidate Barack Obama. called Downey, and SNL, an "equal opportunity slasher" in political comedy.

Some have called Downey more right-wing than his self-description, including Shales, who described him in 2002 as "a Republican" and "pretty conservative". On a 2019 podcast, Al Franken described Downey as a "thoughtful conservative."

On Trump, Downey says "I was sick of him before he even ran for president", having already mocked him in SNL sketches he wrote in the 1980s and describing him as a "beat-up, ridiculous character" and "semi-literate". According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism the SNL sketches may have prompted tougher news coverage of Obama.

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."