Mayer was born on October 16, 1977, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Richard (a high-school principal) and Margaret Mayer (a middle-school English teacher). He grew up in nearby Fairfield, the middle child between older brother Carl and younger brother Ben. His father is Jewish, and Mayer has said that he relates to Judaism. As a middle school student, Mayer became close friends with future tennis star James Blake, and they often played Nintendo together after school.

In 2004, Mayer hosted a one-shot, half-hour comedy special on VH1 titled John Mayer Has a TV Show, with antics including wearing a bear suit while anonymously teasing concertgoers in the parking lot outside one of his concerts.  Steve Jobs invited Mayer to perform during Apple's annual keynote address at the Macworld Conference & Expo in January 2004 as Jobs introduced the music production software GarageBand. Mayer became a fixture of the event, including at the 2007 iPhone announcement. Volkswagen concluded a deal with instrument manufacturer First Act to include a GarageMaster electric guitar that was playable through the stereo system of six of their 2007 models; Mayer (along with Slash and Christopher Guest) were selected to endorse the campaign and was featured playing the guitar in ads. Mayer used and endorsed the BlackBerry Curve.  Mayer made many appearances on talk shows and other television programs, most notably, on a Chappelle's Show comedy skit, the Late Show with David Letterman and on the final episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Mayer made an appearance with Rob Dyrdek in the MTV show Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory. Mayer wrote the theme song to the OWN network show Rollin' with Zach, which features Zach Anner. CBS invited him to guest host The Late Late Show in early 2015 on three dates, February 4-6, after the retirement of Craig Ferguson.  Mayer makes a cameo as a truck driver in the 2014 comedy horror film Zombeavers. In the 2015 film Get Hard, he played a version of himself who is disgusted with the "monetization of the creative process." Answer this question using a quote from the following article:

what kind of media outlets is  he appearing at
comedy horror film