Mr. Show's Jay Johnston to plead guilty for insurrection participation
Best known as the voice of Jimmy Pesto, Johnston will enter a guilty plea in July
Photo: Noel Vasquez
Known for playing a poor sap whose “Story of Everest” was overshadowed by repeated pratfalls, comedian Jay Johnston will reportedly plead guilty to charges stemming from his participation in the Capitol Riot on January 6, 2021, per NBC’s Ryan J. Reilly. Johnston was arrested and charged last year with felony obstruction of officers and several misdemeanors. Johnston had spent the 2000s on celebrated comedies like Arrested Development, The Sarah Silverman Project, and Anchorman. As Reilly notes, Johnston is “the only known man to have participated in both the News Fight in Anchorman (2004) and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol (2021).” He’s also probably the only one from the News Fight to have his picture tweeted by the actual Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In March 2021, the FBI posted that they were looking for any information about the man in photo 247, who looked curiously like Mr. Show cast member Jay Johnston. Though nothing was confirmed, Johnston’s then-alleged participation became a whispered in-joke in comedy circles, particularly those featuring Mr. Show veterans.
By December 2021, Johnston had been quietly fired from his job at Bob’s Burgers. His final appearance, season 11’s “Bridge Over Troubled Rudy,” aired on May 2nd, 2021. Johnston has since been replaced by voice actor Eric Bauza. It would take another two years for authorities to catch up with the man in photo 247.
Speaking with The Daily Beast in 2021, the director of Johnston’s last screen credit, Wing Dad, Lucas Astram said Johnston admitted to him that he was at the Capitol to protest because “he believed there was fraud” (there wasn’t), and he “wanted to show his support” (boy, did he ever). Perhaps he can woo a jury with some well-timed falls into a collection of thimbles.