Lazlow Jones

Lazlow

Lazlow Jones is a real-life American talk show host who is involved in writing and producing Grand Theft Auto games, widening his influence and recognition far beyond that of a local radio host.

In the Grand Theft Auto series

Lazlow (born 1962, age 46 according to GTAIV's LCPD Database) is a national and regional celebrity in the Grand Theft Auto version of the United States, whose successes as a popular radio personality are equalled by his total failures that cause him to regularly find himself out of work as a popular radio personality.

Lazlow first made it big in the 1980's as an intern for the V-Rock radio station in Vice City. He was the sidekick of then-DJ Cousin Ed. Within a short amount of time, however, Lazlow moved up the radio hierarchy and became the head DJ of the rock station, displaying a bad boy attitude (or at least a good attempt at one) and a greatly inflated ego, the latter of which came back to bite him; he was kicked off the radio station shortly after the events in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Lazlow then reemerged in the early 1990's on the national scene as the new host of the syndicated radio show Entertaining America, replacing the original host after his untimely death at the hands of a roid-raging Jack Howitzer. Lazlow got to associate with some of the big wigs in the State of San Andreas before once again losing his job for unknown reasons (though an apparent arrest in 1994 for stalking may have something to do with it).

Lazlow found work once more in the late 1990's as the host of the popular talk radio station Chatterbox FM, where he took calls from random listeners and interviewed a variety of whackos. A pair of payola scandals in 2001 and 2004 that got him in hot water with the LCPD may have resulted in his subsequent sacking.

Down on his luck, Lazlow ended up getting a divorce and developed a tendency to expose himself to old women on the streets, getting arrested for such an offense once in 2005. However, Lazlow raised enough funds in 2008 to start up a new radio station in Algonquin, named Integrity 2.0. Although he has returned to the radio, it seems as if his fame has waned; the people on the street whom he interviews show disdain for him (even as "Lazlow 2.0") and for radio in general (even as "Radio 2.0"). In addition, Lazlow runs ZiT, a program that will identify the song playing on the radio.

Although the GTA III Era games and GTA IV are not related, Lazlow's story seems to be an exception, as he often refers to the events of GTA III era games. A possible explanation for this is the fact that he never mentions GTA III era specific locations, etc, so a duplicate storyline may have taken place in the GTA IV universe. He does mention Chatterbox FM, a radio station in GTA III, but unlike locations, non-existent radio stations are easily explainable. The station may have shut down.

In real life

Behind the scenes, Lazlow is one of the writers for the game's script, providing political and cultural satire on the radio and when passing by pedestrians on foot.

Grand Theft Auto III featured Lazlow’s first appearance, in which he produced, scripted and hosted the popular Chatterbox FM radio station made famous for comic sketches, political satire and clever wit. He co-wrote all of the radio stations with Dan Houser of Rockstar Games.

After great success Lazlow took a larger role in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Rockstar hired Lazlow's production company Radio Lazlow to co-write and produce all the radio stations in GTA Vice City as well as minor character and bystander scripting. He was also the host of Vice City radio station V-Rock, referring to a comment made offhand in GTA III', that he only worked at Chatterbox "because fired from the rock channel".

In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, he also co-wrote and produced all of the in-game radio, as well as hosting Entertaining America on WCTR after the original host was killed by game character Jack Howitzer on air.

He also returned as host of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories' version of the Chatterbox radio show, although in a much smaller role as the in-game chronology has Chatterbox as merely a show on a channel, not an entire channel on its own.

Lazlow returned in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, as an intern at V-Rock working for his real life friend, Couzin Ed. Earlier in Lazlow and Couzin Eds' real-life radio careers, Lazlow was the sidekick of Couzin Ed.

Lazlow returns as a member of the cast in Grand Theft Auto IV. He is referred to on other channels as the host of the "long-defunct" Chatterbox FM, and is raising money for a new venture. This new idea, the channel Integrity 2.0 (wherein Lazlow wanders Algonquin and interviews random pedestrians), goes on-air when the player gains access to Algonquin.

Lazlow also arranged voice cameos in the Grand Theft Auto games for several key figures from the hacker magazine 2600, including Emmanuel Goldstein, Bernie S., and Kevin Mitnick.

External links

• Official Site
• Wikipedia entry