John Moschitta Jr.
“America’s Favorite Fast Talker,” John was born and raised on Long Island, in a family of 5 sisters. He says growing up surrounded by women forced him to talk fast, “just to get a word in edgewise.” At age 12, he read a notice that “Guinness” would be setting up a booth at an upcoming charity fair. When Coney Island turned down his request to break the roller coaster riding record he decided to take on the fast-talking record instead. “586 words per minute” later the record was his.
At 18, John moved into Manhattan appearing in several Off-Off-Broadway productions and working in television production which opened the door to a successful stint as producer, writer and performer for Warner Communications 2-way interactive cable system “Qube” and the brand new Nickelodeon Network in Columbus, Ohio. Two years later it was time for sunny California.
After roles in several TV shows, John landed a spot on That’s Incredible reviving his fast-talking. His appearance on the show led to the filming of the most award-winning commercial ever “Fast Paced World” for Federal Express. That was 1980, and as John says, “the phone hasn’t stopped ringing.”
Since then, he has performed worldwide, completed hundreds of commercials (Micro Machines, Minute Rice, Jet Blue) which have run in 37 countries, starred in four network television series, made many Guest Star appearances, was featured in over a dozen films, appeared on over 1000 talk shows (including Oprah and The Tonight Show starring Johnny, Jay and Jimmy), read the rules at the Academy Awards, sang and danced on the Emmy Awards, been the question to several “Jeopardy” answers, released two “best selling” audio books (“10 Classics in 10 Minutes” / “10 Minute University”), won dozens of awards including the “Clio,” worked for over 500 corporations, created the “Motor Mouth” board game (which can be found worldwide as “Tongue Tangle”), was the voice of the game shows Hollywood Squares, Your Place or Mine and Balderdash, hit the boards in scores of theatrical productions, and performed for 8 U.S. Presidents and other World Leaders. In his spare time, he volunteers his talents to many worthy causes and has raised over $20 million conducting charity auctions.
John was honored by the Emmys for his contribution to outstanding commercials, inducted into the Clio Hall of Fame, and named the “Most Effective Spokesman in the History of Advertising”. He can currently be heard on episodes of the animated series Adventure Time, American Dad, Transformers, Robot Chicken and Family Guy.
His combined YouTube videos have amassed over 125 million views.