Joe Piscopo did “Saturday Night Live,” made movies, had his own HBO comedy special, guest-starred on major TV series, appeared in the long-running Broadway revival of “Grease” — and continues to pack them in to his retro, song-and-comedy nightclub act in Las Vegas.
And last week he played the Sorrento Cheese Festa Italiana in Ybor City. Performing between a raffle and the AkraFolk Band.
And loving every minute.
“I’m a proud Italian, what can I say?” gregariously explains Piscopo, 56. “It’s great what Sorrento does.” Indeed, the Passaic, NJ, native does several similar festivals each year. He uses such forums for his popular salute to Frank Sinatra.
The Festa Italiana performance harkens back to his SNL days where he honed his Sinatra impression. In fact, Piscopo actually contacted Sinatra and asked permission. Sinatra agreed, liked the send-up and eventually dubbed him the “vice chairman of the board.”
“We did it with the utmost respect,” recalls Piscopo, “and he was always gracious to me. So, it’s a blast to do these. Sinatra was one of the great entertainers. The old man laid the foundation. American royalty is what the Sinatra name is.”
But it’s more than an ethnic festival that brings Piscopo to Tampa. He’s played in “Grease” here, visited Busch Gardens with his kids and periodically hangs out with his best buddy, Tampa resident David Strokoff, who he’s known since they were 8 years old. They were each other’s best men. And Strokoff, who Piscopo says is the funniest guy he’s met, even has SNL writing credits from the Piscopo days of the early 1980s.
“Joe was always funny and animated,” Strokoff recalls. “We knew at 10 that he was something special. And a lot of people don’t know that he can play just about any musical instrument – and every one is self-taught.
“He’s a regular Jersey guy who always asks about your family,” he adds. “And he keeps profanity out of his show.”
*In 1997 Piscopo founded the Positive Impact Foundation, a non-profit organization with a charge to make a difference in the lives of at-risk New Jersey youth. “Perception becomes reality and some of these communities (cities such as Camden and Newark) look like war zones. Kids need role models and they need hope. We try to give them some self esteem and self confidence and teach them how to set goals. We focus on the good things that are happening. Little by little we’re helping to turn things around.”
*Some political insiders have urged Piscopo, a self-described “conservative Democrat,” to run for state office. He may yet.
*Show-business celebrities getting into politics: “It does get a little tiring sometimes. But Arnold Schwarzenegger or Rob Reiner could be good things. I do think we should all be involved.”
*Fondest memory from SNL days: “Hands down, working with Eddie Murphy. It was live as live can be; no delay. And he worked with reckless abandon. We ripped it up.”*Favorite SNL character: Pudge, the elderly gent who reminisced and rambled on about the good old days with his buddy Solomon (played by Eddie Murphy). “It was the most substantial, the most creative thing we did. We didn’t go for the laughs; it was just intrinsically funny. It was a bittersweet kind of sketch.”
*Impressions: They range from Winston Churchill, Andy Rooney and Paul Harvey to Barbra Streisand, Joan Rivers and Geraldo Rivera. Latest in the repertoire: Tony Soprano and David Letterman. “I used to get 36 hours to get an impersonation down on SNL. Sinatra, however, took about a month to get the speech pattern.”