After graduating from California State University, Northridge, with a degree in graphic arts, he designed album covers for bands including Poco and America.

In 1986, Hartman joined the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL) as a cast member and stayed for eight seasons until 1994.

He also starred as Bill McNeal in the sitcom NewsRadio, voiced Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure on The Simpsons, and appeared in supporting roles in the films Quick Change (1990), Greedy (1994), Jingle All the Way (1996), and Small Soldiers (1998).

Dan Snierson of Entertainment Weekly wrote that Hartman was "the last person you'd expect to read about in lurid headlines in your morning paper ... a decidedly regular guy, beloved by everyone he worked with".

[3][7][8] As a child, Hartman found affection hard to earn: "I suppose I didn't get what I wanted out of my family life, so I started seeking love and attention elsewhere.

[9] They first lived in Lewiston, Maine, then Meriden, Connecticut, and then on the West Coast, where he attended Westchester High School and frequently acted as the class clown.

He developed and operated his own graphic art business, creating more than 40 album covers for bands including Poco and America, as well as advertising and the logo for Crosby, Stills & Nash.

He also worked as a voice actor in animated television programs, including The Smurfs, Challenge of the GoBots, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, and in Dennis the Menace as Henry Mitchell and George Wilson and most of the adult male characters.

[1] He had been recommended for the show by fellow Groundlings and SNL cast members Jon Lovitz[19] and Laraine Newman, as well as Jumpin' Jack Flash director Penny Marshall.

[10] In one of Hartman's sketches as Clinton, the president-elect visits a McDonald's restaurant and explains his economic policies and support for Operation Restore Hope, the military intervention in Somalia, by the metaphor of eating other customers' food.

[21] Hartman said he thought it was time to leave because the show was "getting less sophisticated" and his style of humor did not fit with the less intellectual comedy of newer cast members like Adam Sandler.

[20] Hartman had originally planned to leave the show in 1991, but Michaels persuaded him to stay to raise his profile; his portrayal of Clinton contributed to this goal.

[21] He planned to "reinvent the variety form" with "a hybrid, very fast-paced, high energy [show] with sketches, impersonations, pet acts, and performers showcasing their talents".

[31] Hartman had publicly lambasted NBC's decision to repeatedly move NewsRadio into different timeslots, but later regretted his comments, saying, "this is a sitcom, for crying out loud, not brain surgery".

To give Hartman a larger role, they developed the episode "A Fish Called Selma", which focuses on Troy McClure and expands the character's backstory.

[37] The Simpsons creator Matt Groening said that he "took [Hartman] for granted because he nailed the joke every time",[1] and that his voice acting could produce "the maximum amount of humor" with any line he was given.

Bilko, So I Married an Axe Murderer, CB4, Jingle All the Way, the English Disney/GKIDS dub of Kiki's Delivery Service, and Small Soldiers, the latter of which is his final theatrically released film.

Hartman called it "a sort of a merger of horror and comedy, like Beetlejuice and Throw Momma From the Train", adding, "It's an American nightmare about a family torn asunder.

They live next to a toxic dump site, their water supply is poisoned, the mother and son go insane and try to murder each other, the father's face is torn off in a terrible disfiguring accident in the first act.

It was that quality that we all find so hilarious, his delightful ability to poke fun at himself and at life with a tongue-in-cheek attitude comparable to, say, Tim Conway or Mel Brooks or Carol Burnett.

In contrast to his real-life personality, which was described as "a regular guy and, by all accounts, one of show business's most low-key, decent people",[46] Hartman often played seedy, vain or unpleasant characters as well as comedic villains.

[18] He described his standard character repertoire as the "jerky guy" and "the weasel parade",[11] citing Lionel Hutz, Bill McNeal, Troy McClure, and Ted Maltin from Jingle All the Way as examples.

Ryan concluded that "what made [Hartman's impressions] so funny and spot on was Phil's ability to add that perfect touch that only comes from trial and error and practicing in front of audiences and fellow actors.

[49] Ken Tucker summarized Hartman's comedic style: "He could momentarily fool audiences into thinking he was the straight man, but then he'd cock an eyebrow and give his voice an ironic lilt that delivered a punchline like a fast slider—you barely saw it coming until you started laughing.

[1][3] On May 27, 1998, Hartman's wife, Brynn, visited the Italian restaurant Buca di Beppo in Encino, California, with producer and writer Christine Zander, who said she was "in a good frame of mind"; they had drinks.

[7] She entered his bedroom some time before 3:00 a.m. PDT on May 28, 1998, and, as he slept, she fatally shot him once between the eyes, once in the throat and once in the upper chest with a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson Model 15 revolver.

[56] In accordance with their wishes, both Hartman's and Brynn's bodies were cremated by Forest Lawn Memorial Park and Mortuary, Glendale, California, and their ashes were scattered over Santa Catalina Island's Emerald Bay.

"[46] Dan Snierson of Entertainment Weekly concluded that Hartman was "the last person you'd expect to read about in lurid headlines in your morning paper" and "a decidedly regular guy, beloved by everyone he worked with".

[75] A campaign was started on Facebook by Alex Stevens in 2007, and endorsed by Hartman's brother Paul, to have Phil inducted to Canada's Walk of Fame.

[76][77] Among the campaign's numerous publicity events, Ben Miner of the Sirius XM Radio channel Laugh Attack dedicated the month of April 2012 to Hartman.