Marc Lanzoff, 'cantankerous doorman' at the Court Tavern in New Brunswick, has died

Marc Lanzoff, the perpetually grouchy and memorable doorman at the former Court Tavern of New Brunswick, died Friday, Feb. 17, at JFK University Medical Center in Edison after a brief illness, said long-time friend Robert Kaplow.

He was 71.

For nearly 30 years, Lanzoff manned the door at the Court, a hotbed of up-and-coming musical talent that closed in 2012. In an article published in the Home News Tribune in 2000, he said he did not enjoy answering what he called “stupid” questions:

“What’s going on here?"

"What’s that?"

"You have what here?"

"How much is it?"

"Do you have a special rate if I miss the first band?"

Lanzoff didn’t like the manners of club-goers, he said.

“People are becoming more inattentive to things,” Lanzoff said. “A lot of people expect to step into a situation where the information is there for them rather than seeking it it out. That’s what I’m reacting to, that sense of entitlement. People who are just 21 now who are the children of parents who made money in the market and have everything they ever wanted, they come to the bar and want everything they always got before. I’m not prepared to do that.”

Yet Lanzoff’s gruff demeanor was in keeping with the Court Tavern’s “Cruel But Fair” motto. National bands like the Smithereens, Gaslight Anthem and God Forbid got their start there.

“Sometime people will ask ‘Why?’ ” about Marc,” said Court Tavern owner Bobby Albert in 2000. “But Marc is probably the most honest and loyal employee I’ve ever had. I never have to worry about the bands being ripped off.”

The abrasiveness was a “persona” that he assumed at the club, Lanzoff said.

“That’s the role that he loved playing, the cantankerous doorman who won’t take (blank) from anybody,” Kaplow said. “I think it was a performance that he enjoyed. It was a character that he could play that people knew and could identify, and they threw their hands up in exasperation, which delighted him.”

Lanzoff was born at Fort Belvoir, Va. — an Army brat whose father was in the service. The family eventually settled in Old Bridge and Lanzoff made his way to New Brunswick, where he found a creative outlet for his artistic side. He had small roles in the early days of the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, and he was a member of the Punsters, whose musical parodies were played on National Public Radio, WNEW-FM in New York City and elsewhere.

“We started doing more comedy songs and Marc would do funny vocals and he had ideas and he became part of the band,” said Kaplow of the Punsters.

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In 2009, Lanzoff received a credit in the movie “Me and Orson Welles,” which starred Zac Efron and Claire Danes. The film was based on Kaplow's book of the same name, and producers were having trouble casting the pivotal role of Welles until Lanzoff spotted Christian McKay in an off-Broadway play called “Rosebud: The Lives of Orson Welles.”

“Marc called me up and said, ‘You have to see this show, this guy is Orson Welles,’ ” said Kaplow, who subsequently told the director Richard Linklater about McKay. “The nice thing was Richard Linklater, realizing what Marc had done, ... put Marc’s name in the credits of the movie.”

McKay’s performance in “Me and Orson Welles” was nominated for more than two dozen awards, and he subsequently appeared in more than a dozen films, including “The Theory of Everything,” “Rush” and “Creditors.”

When Lanzoff was not at the Court Tavern, he was often at a Rutgers women’s basketball game, or at his day job as a patient escort at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.

“Marc was never grouchy to my husband or me, though I certainly watched him give a hard time to many people over the years,” said Kelly-Jane Cotter, former music writer for the Home News Tribune and Asbury Park Press. “I can’t count the times we hung out on those backstairs, laughing at Marc’s jokes and stories.

"He could also be quite caring. He visited us in the hospital when our daughter was recovering from cancer surgery, and he was empathetic and kind. There was a lot of mystery about him, and I don’t think he had the easiest life. But he was an honest person. You always knew where you stood with him, and he was loyal to the scene and supportive of so many bands and creative people.”

In recent years, Lanzoff worked as a freelance editorial assistant at the Metuchen Times, which is edited and published by Kaplow.

Lanzoff, who lived at the Residence at Roosevelt Park for the last seven years, did not marry and had no children. A service is not presently planned.

“Well, Heaven has a new doorman,” said Doug “Sluggo” Vizthum, bartender and musician at the Court, on social media. “You better have exact change.”

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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; cjordan@app.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Court Tavern doorman Marc Lanzoff has died