Joe Piscopo

Joseph Charles John Piscopo (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; born June 17, 1951) is an American actor, comedian, and conservative radio talk show host. He was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984, where he played a variety of recurring characters. His film roles include Danny Vermin in Johnny Dangerously (1984), Moe Dickstein in Wise Guys (1986), Doug Bigelow in Dead Heat (1988) and Kelly Stone in Sidekicks (1992).

Early life and education

Piscopo was born in Passaic, New Jersey, on June 17, 1951, and grew up in North Caldwell, New Jersey.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> He attended West Essex High School and was a member of the drama club "The Masquers."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="SoJersey">Template:Cite news</ref> He developed a reputation for never playing a part the way it was written. After graduating in 1969, Piscopo attended Jones College in Jacksonville, Florida, where he received a degree in broadcast management.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Career

Saturday Night Live

In the summer of 1980, Piscopo was hired as a contract player for Saturday Night Live. The show had gone through a major upheaval when all the writers, major producers, and cast members left that spring. The new cast bombed with critics and fans with the exception of Piscopo and Eddie Murphy. As a result, they were the only two cast members to be kept when Dick Ebersol took over the show the next spring. With the success of SNL, Piscopo moved to the quiet upscale borough of Alpine, New Jersey.<ref name="SoJersey" />

Piscopo is best known for his impressions of celebrities including Frank Sinatra. Piscopo rewrote the lyrics for a Sinatra sketch with the help of Sinatra lyricist Sammy Cahn and recalled that "by the grace of God, the old man loved it."<ref>Template:Cite episode</ref> Piscopo later reprised his role as Sinatra in a series of stop-motion animated ads for Lipton Brisk Iced Tea.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> He had an occasional spot on the Weekend Update segment as a bombastic sports commentator who would pose a series of questions and usually follow them up with a loud, "Who cares?" Piscopo and Robin Duke also played The Whiners.

Post-Saturday Night Live career

Piscopo left Saturday Night Live at the end of the 1983–1984 season. In 1984, he starred with Michael Keaton in the movie Johnny Dangerously, which received mixed reviews. He also starred in an HBO special and wrote a book for Pocket Books titled The Piscopo Tapes. An album, New Jersey, for Columbia Records, followed in 1985<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and an ABC special titled The Joe Piscopo New Jersey Special in May 1986.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1987, Piscopo was mentioned in the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers single "Jammin' Me".

In the mid-to-late 1980s, Piscopo developed an interest in bodybuilding. While doing impressions of Bruce Springsteen on SNL, he first became involved with it.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He appeared on the cover of Muscle & Fitness magazine in April 1988 and again in June 1990. In the 1990 issue he said, "Some people in Hollywood think I'm nuts with this bodybuilding stuff. They'll say, 'You're getting too big. You'll hurt your career.' But they don't understand that high that comes from a workout, the challenge, and the personal victory."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Since January 2014, Piscopo has hosted Piscopo in the Morning, a radio show from 6:00 am to 10:00am weekdays on 970AM The Answer in Hackensack, New Jersey.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> From the inception of his radio program until June 2020, the show was produced by Frank Morano, who also served as an on-air contributor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Beginning on December 13, 2020, Piscopo began to host the Ramsey Mazda Sunday Nights with Sinatra on 770 AM WABC in New York City and WABC's sister station 107.1 FM WLIR in Hampton Bays, New York.<ref>Ramsey Mazda Sunday Nights with Sinatra Hosted by Joe Piscopo Promo Video (Retrieved from the 77 WABC Official YouTube channel on December 15, 2020)</ref>

Piscopo considered running as an independent for governor of New Jersey in 2017 based in part on the political success of Donald Trump, for whom he campaigned in 2016. He was encouraged by a number of political figures, including former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, in May 2017, he decided not to run.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He has been active in a band and performed stand up and music at a political rally hosted by businessman Mike Lindell in May 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

In 1973, Piscopo married Nancy Jones. They had one child and divorced in 1988. In 1997, he and Kimberly Driscoll married. She was his son's nanny when Piscopo was married to Jones. Driscoll and Piscopo had three children and divorced in 2006.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Piscopo is a resident of Lebanon Township, New Jersey and has lived in Tewksbury Township, New Jersey.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Piscopo was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 1990.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Awards

In 2013, Piscopo was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	King Kong	Bit Part	Uncredited
1977	American Tickler	Announcer	aka Draws
1980—1984	Saturday Night Live	Main cast
1984	The House of God	Dr. Fishberg
	Johnny Dangerously	Danny Vermin
	The Joe Piscopo Special	Himself	Television special
1986	Julian Lennon: Stick Around	Rival	Video short
	New Jersey Vice		Short
	The Joe Piscopo New Jersey Special	Himself	Television special
	Wise Guys	Moe Dickstein
1988	Dead Heat	Doug Bigelow
	Star Trek: The Next Generation	The Comedian	Episode: "The Outrageous Okona"
1992	Sidekicks	Kelly Stone
1993	Batman: The Animated Series	Mugsy, Manager	Voice, episode: "Read My Lips" (credited as Joe Piscapo)
1994	Huck and the King of Hearts	Max
1995	Open Season	Hamlet
	Two Bits & Pepper	Zike, Spider
	Captain Nuke and the Bomber Boys	Mr. Wareman
	Multimedia Celebrity Poker	Himself	Video game<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1999	Law & Order	Jeff Stahl	Episode: "Ambitious"
2000	Baby Bedlam	Jack
2001	Bartleby	Rocky
	Law & Order	Jeff Cahill	Episode: "Formerly Famous"
2004	Law & Order	Jarret Whitestone	Episode: "Cry Wolf"
2006	Last Request	Angelo
	Dead Lenny	Louis Long
2012	Joe Piscopo: A Night at Club Piscopo	Himself	Television special
2013	How Sweet It Is	Jack Cosmo
2018	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Albert Romano	Episode: "Mama"

External links

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