Kazurinsky was born in Pennsylvania, but spent most of his childhood in Australia, where he lived until the age of 16. Kazurinsky first began working in St. Louis, Missouri as an advertising executive and copywriter for a department store chain. He later moved to Chicago to start a comedy career and joined the Second City mainstage in 1978, where he was eventually discovered by Saturday Night Live and was hired to join SNL as a writer and cast member in 1981.

On Saturday Night Live, Kazurinsky quickly won over fans with his memorable characters and celebrity impressions, though there were reports that he often clashed with then-executive producer Dick Ebersol about the show's creative direction, Kazurinsky often felt the show's writing was weak. In 1984, he decided to leave SNL because of creative differences with the producers.

Recurring characters on SNL

• Dr. Jack Badofsky, a doctor appearing on Weekend Update (then called "SNL Newsbreak" or "Saturday Night News") with a list of punny names of diseases.
• Mr. Landlord from Eddie Murphy's "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood"
• Father Timothy Owens, an Irish priest
• Havnagootiim Vishnuuerheer, a Hindu wiseman who answered audience questions
• Wayne Huevos, a suave Latin-American businessman who often appeared on "Saturday Night News" with ideas to clean up New York City.
• Worthington Clotman, SNL's resident network censor who would interrupt sketches and point out any and all objectionable material that needed to be changed. Based on real-life network censor at the time, Bill Clotworthy.
• The husband to a chimpanzee on "I Married A Monkey"
• Although he appeared as himself on "Weekend Update", he usually did so to spoof the outrageous headlines of the New York Post. For instance, after the death of Yuri Andropov, he displayed several front page mock-ups with headlines that the Post might have carried. One such headline was "ANDRO-POOF!"

Celebrity impressions on SNL

• Mahatma Gandhi (in a movie trailer parody called "Gandhi and the Bandit")
• Billie Jean King
• Adolf Hitler
• Ozzy Osbourne
• Klaus Barbie
• Gary Hart
• Douglas MacArthur
• Deng Xiaoping
• Franklin Roosevelt
• Henry Thomas (as his character Elliott from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial)

Other work

Soon after he left SNL he co-wrote About Last Night and played the role of Sweetchuck in three of the Police Academy films.

Kazurinsky appeared on the season six Married...with Children episode "God's Shoes" as "God", who gives Al Bundy the idea to create "God's Shoes" when Al has a near-death experience. When the idea ultimately fails, it is revealed that he is merely an angel impersonating God, and that he was murdered by his own family when he lost their fortune on the original God's Shoe idea in the 1920s.

In the 2000s, Kazurinsky guest starred on popular TV shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm and According to Jim.

Kazurinsky also writes screenplays and television episodes. His most significant work is the 2001 film My Beautiful Son, starring Paul Reiser, Julie Walters, and Olympia Dukakis.

Personal Life

Kazurinsky lives in Evanston, Illinois with his wife Marcia. He has a son Pete and a daughter Zoe.