John Moyer was born
just over the bridge from Philly; a South Jersey native raised just
minutes away from a landfill the EPA ranked one of the top ten most
toxic in the country. His father George was a blue collar kind of a
guy who believed that good old fashion family values were instilled
by using the belt -- then followed up with screaming "Now shut up
before I really give you something to cry about!"
At
age eleven two Mormon missionaries knocked on John's family's front
door and his parents asked them in to hear the message. Before
long, the Moyer family gave up caffeine, tithed ten percent of their
gross annual income, and went to church for three hours every Sunday
by converting to Mormonism. John's parents felt they found the
answers to bring their family back to God.
But
by the age of seventeen if anybody was going back to God it was
every man for himself because after four kids and thirty one years
of marriage, John's parents divorced.
A
broken home aside, John hung in there and at age nineteen was the
one knocking on front doors serving a full time, two year Mormon
mission dodging gunfire among the urban streets of Detroit. Toss in
a marriage at the ripe old age of twenty two while still attending
college at BYU, then an inevitable divorce of his own by age twenty
four... you have hours of life impacting situations to discuss with
a therapist.
Only
John didn't have medical insurance to cover the costs of therapy. So
he became a stand up comedian instead.
Since 1994
John has performed at comedy clubs and colleges throughout the
United States and Canada. In addition to his headlining appearances,
John's been the opening act for such comedians as Louie Anderson,
Pauly Shore, Lewis Black, and The Chappelle Show's own Charlie
Murphy. John has also performed at a myriad of corporate events for
companies and organizations like America Online, Jet Blue, Marriot
Hotels, Intermountain Health Care, and the United States Air Force.
Along the way he took first place in the Salt Lake City, UT round of
the Anheuser- Busch Comedy Competition.
Expanding
on his stand up comedy, in the summer of 2000 John wrote a script
called The Singles Ward based on his own life experiences as
a stand up comic and a single member of the LDS church. With the
popularity of the LDS film market on the rise, John was approached
by fellow film school friend Kurt Hale of HaleStorm Entertainment
about making an indie film. John mentioned he had a comedy script
about Mormons that just might fit the niche. The Singles Ward
was on its way to being produced. Initially director Kurt
Hale figured John to play the lead. After all, this was his life,
and the lead character, Jonathan Jordan was essentially John.
However, producer Dave Hunter immediately eliminated any possibility
of John starring as the lead arguing that "John wasn't attractive
enough to play himself."
However, the success of Singles
Ward allowed John to establish himself as a produced
screenwriter leading to several more of his scripts being produced.
John's grand finale for his efforts in LDS cinema was to capture
the true experience of the culture shock of someone from Jersey who
suddenly find themselves living in Utah. John wrote the script for
Mobsters and Mormons, the story of a Mafia family from Jersey
placed in the witness protection program to an all Mormon-community
in Utah. How much more fish out of water could one get?
Wanting
to make sure the vision on paper was carried to the screen, John
took it upon himself to direct Mobsters and Mormons as well.
Marking his directorial debut, the film was praised by audiences and
critics alike.
"An entertaining fish-out-of-water comedy
made primarily for insider consumption, "Mobsters and Mormons" is
also the directing debut of screenwriter John E. Moyer, whose
previous three comedies -- "The Singles Ward," "The R.M." and the
"Tommy Boy"-inspired "The Home Teachers" -- single-handedly
pioneered the Mormon comedy subgenre... Moyer and distributor
HaleStone clearly aren't playing it safe -- of the four films Moyer
has written, all of which HaleStone has released, "Mobsters and
Mormons" is by far the most fully realized, weaving broad comedy
into the context of a story meant less to mindlessly amuse its
target audience than prod them to self-reflection. Intermittent
shortcomings notwithstanding, that's no lightweight task.
" -- Wade Major, Boxoffice.com
John
currently lives just outside of Salt Lake City. There are no toxic
landfills nearby, however each summer he visits the desert of
Southern Utah's nuclear testing grounds of the 1950's. It's the
closest thing Utah has to the Jersey Shore.