Johnston was born and raised in Chicago. He attended Columbia College Chicago, where he studied acting and comedy alongside other future Mr. Show alumni such as Dino Stamatopoulos, Scott Adsit and Eric Hoffman. After graduating 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.\n', '

Jay Johnston\'s contribution to Mr. Show were generally of the "evergreen" variety, dealing with more or less universal themes as opposed to the more political and socially satirical material that his fellow writers and performers contributed to the series. As such, Jay was responsible for many of the show\'s memorable sketches and characters. Johnston often incorporated physical comedy into the show, most notably in "The Story of Everest" sketch, which features Johnston performing six identical backwards pratfalls into furniture.\n', '

Since the conclusion of Mr. Show, Johnston has made guest appearances in a number of television programs such as Arrested Development, Community, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Parks and Recreation, as well as appearing in films such as Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.\n', '

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