Jonathan Kite Cooks Up Comedy in '2 Broke Girls'

If Jonathan Kite had gone by the breakdown, he never would have landed his role as Ukrainian cook Oleg on CBS's "2 Broke Girls." The part originally called for a bald 45-year-old Russian guy. "I am a 'guy' out of that," jokes the Chicago-bred actor. But Kite didn't let that stop him. For his audition, he bought a ridiculous outfit from Goodwill, completed it with mustard stains and a hairnet, and gave it a shot. "I never thought I'd get the part," Kite says, adding that his costume got a huge laugh from series creators Michael Patrick King and Whitney Cummings. "At the end, it came down to me and a guy who was between 45 and 50, bald, and much shorter than me. We were not really competing against each other; we were competing against type." Kite says he flipped out when he landed the role.

The character has garnered criticism as a shallow one-liner type, with little depth beyond his sexual comments. One example of an Oleg-ism is "Once you go Ukraine, you will scream in sex pain." However, Kite says audiences haven't gotten to know Oleg. "I approach him as a real person because that does him justice," Kite explains. "If you look at 'Cheers,' those were very specific archetypes in a bar in the beginning. But after you watch the series, those are human beings. We've only been through nine episodes. Hopefully, there's a lot more for everybody in the future."



One talent that helped Kite land the role is his knack for accents, a skill for which he has his childhood friends in Skokie, Ill., to thank. Growing up outside Chicago, Kite learned to imitate dialects by listening to his friends' parents, many of whom were eastern European immigrants. "My buddy Andy was actually born over there," Kite says. "I just picked up on it from being around him so much." Kite is something of a master mimic, and he learns accents and impersonations through immersion, whether it be watching YouTube videos of celebrities or hanging out with his Australian friends. "I don't like learning dialects from a textbook, because you don't necessarily get the rhythms of people," Kite says. "You really have to go to the source."

Celebrity impersonations are also Kite's specialty, and his favorites include Vince Vaughn, Seth Rogen, and Tom Hanks. Kite has performed his Vaughn impression for the star, who he says was very kind. (See a video of Kite's many impersonations here.)

Growing up near Chicago, Kite benefited from the city's extensive comedy scene. He studied at The Second City while stars Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch were on the Mainstage. Kite continues to work in improv and standup, performing gigs around Los Angeles and working with theaters such as iO West. "It prepared me for everything," he says of his improvisation training. "To just be in the mindset of always saying yes and always doing it for the greater good of the scene, it helps keep you selfless."

Kite doesn't do much improv on "2 Broke Girls," however, as he says it would take away from the voice of the show. His theater training from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign comes in handy, though, as the sitcom shoots in front of an audience. Filming this way helps the comedy of the show, he says, because it gets an immediate response in terms of what the audience thinks is funny. If a joke doesn't get a laugh, the writers can rewrite it and tailor the show to the audience. "It's like a tennis match with us and them, back and forth," Kite says. "If something's not working, the audience tells you immediately. It's not about being right; it's about making it work."

Another thrill of working on "2 Broke Girls" is that Kite gets to work with comedy icon Garrett Morris, an original cast member of "Saturday Night Live." With his comedy background and plentiful impersonations, Kite always wanted to be on "SNL," and although he'd still like to host one day, he says he's living the dream now by working on a show he believes in. "I really enjoy working every day," he says. "I don't even consider it work. It's easy to get up in the morning."