Joe Piscopo

Joseph Charles John "Joe" Piscopo (born June 17, 1951) is an American comedian and actor best known for his work on "Saturday Night Live".

Early life

Born in Passaic, New Jersey, Piscopo attended West Essex High School [Strauss, Robert. [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/07njPERSON.html?_r=1&oref=slogin "So Jersey, He Deserves His Own Rest Area"] , "The New York Times", August 7, 2005. Accessed October 25, 2007. "Mr. Piscopo's father, also named Joe, was a lawyer and the family mostly lived in Essex County, the younger Joe graduating from West Essex High School in North Caldwell. With his "Saturday Night Live" fame, he moved to one of the richest corners of New Jersey, Alpine, persuading Mr. Murphy to join him there in that wealthy enclave by the Palisades."] and was a member of the drama club "the Masquers". He developed a reputation for never playing a part the way it was written and was quite a clown on stage. When he was not clowning around he could usually be found lifting weights with his cousins Paul LaMagna and Bill Dolphin, both shameless self promoters. Although his father wanted him to become a lawyer like he was, Joe ultimately went into stand-up comedy in the late 1970s, becoming a cast member of the short-lived sketch-comedy series, Madhouse Brigade in 1978.

aturday Night Live

In the summer of 1980 he was hired as a contract player for "S.N.L.". The show had gone through major upheaval, as all the writers, major producers and cast members had left that spring. The all-new cast bombed with critics and fanatics. Piscopo and Eddie Murphy were the exceptions and the only two cast members to be kept when Dick Ebersol took over the show in spring 1981. Piscopo was best known for his boorish impressions of celebrities such as Frank Sinatra (he wrote Sinatra a letter asking his permission; Sinatra agreed and jokingly dubbed him "vice-chairman of the board"). Piscopo left "S.N.L." in 1984, but unlike Murphy, did not find major success. He appeared in a few successful films such as Johnny Dangerously and in a couple episodes of "", he also had his own HBO comedy special, but was regarded more as a punch line to a bad joke about the doomed careers of most "S.N.L." alumni.

One of Piscopo's more successful bits on SNL included his sports commentary on the "Weekend Update" portion of the show (called "SNL Newsbreak" at that time), where his commentary about current sports events was lead by a series of rhyming or otherwise associated words, rather than a sentence, leading up to his first story. One example surrounded one of Muhammad Ali's last bouts during the 1980s, with Eddie Murphy in Rick Baker makeup as Ali.

"The big story, Muhammad Ali! Last night...fight...drama...Bahama...LOST!"

and...

"The big story! Baseball! Yankees! Billy Martin hired! The big question: When will he be fired!"

Piscopo's sports reports impressed NBC network officials enough to allow him to continue his persona on NBC's Sportsworld program in the early 80's.

During his time on "S.N.L.", Piscopo recorded the hit single "The Honeymooners Rap" in which he impersonated Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden of "The Honeymooners". (Also appearing on the single was an uncredited Eddie Murphy as Art Carney's character, Ed Norton). "The Honeymooners Rap" also appeared on Piscopo's 1985 comedy album "New Jersey".

In the 1980s, Piscopo starred in and made a series of Miller Beer commercials.

In 1986 Joe was in the Lets Go Mets music video.

In 1992 he provided the voice for Sheriff Terrorbull in the Saturday morning cartoon series "Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa".

In the early 1990s, Piscopo became a subject of controversy after his newly buffed physique and appearances on fitness magazines led many to speculate he was using steroids. Piscopo has repeatedly denied the allegations and says he began a campaign to improve himself after battling thyroid cancer from 1981 to 1982. He has also appeared in anti-steroid public service announcements (PSAs). Piscopo lampooned the controversy in his HBO Special, wherein he appeared to have a drug test during the show.

In more recent years, Piscopo appeared in the long-running Broadway revival of "Grease", guest-starred on major TV series such as "Law & Order" and toured with other "SNL" alumni such as Kevin Nealon and Victoria Jackson. Piscopo is most often cast as a villain in comedies most like the Chuck Norris vehicle "Sidekicks" and "Johnny Dangerously". He appeared as ladies man "Rocky" in the contemporary version of Herman Melville's "Bartleby" (2001). Some in his native New Jersey have urged Piscopo to run for state office, and Piscopo considers himself "a Democrat, but a little conservative".

Personal Information

Piscopo married his first wife, Nancy Jones, in 1973 and divorced her 15 years later. They had one child together - Joe Jr. born in 1979. [ [http://www.famoushookups.com/site/relationship_detail.php?relid=8316&celebid=10218&name=Joe_Piscopo Joe Piscopo and Nancy Jones Relationship Details] on FamousHookups.com]

Piscopo's second wife, Kimberly Driscoll, filed for divorce on July 10, 2006. They have taken out restraining orders on each other, and both have alleged domestic abuse. Piscopo first met Kimberly when she was a nanny to his son, Joey. Piscopo and Kimberly were married in 1997 and had three children together. Piscopo has been reclusive from the media in recent years due to widespread internet allegations of child abuse, inflamed by the "shaking incident" in late 2006. Piscopo denies any wrongdoing.

Piscopo currently resides in Northern Jersey, Lebanon Township, in a two-story ranch-style house.

Recurring characters on "Saturday Night Live"

* Blaire, a homosexual hair stylist. Friends with Dion (played by Eddie Murphy)
* Doug Whiner, one half of the Whiner couple (Wendy Whiner was played by Robin Duke)
* Froggy from "SNL"'s parody of The Little Rascals
* Harry Schliemer from Schliemer and Laub Songwriters
* Mr. Blunt
* Mr. Wonderful of the Interesting Four
* Paulie Herman, an annoying, high-voiced young man from New Jersey (This was Piscopo's only recurring character he did when he was a castmember for Jean Doumanian)
* Pudge, an elderly man who plays the piano in a run-down bar. He rambles about the good old days with his friend, Solomon (played by Eddie Murphy).

Celebrity impersonations

Pop culture references

*On a season five episode of "The Simpsons", "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", Homer refers to 1985 and says "..and a young Joe Piscopo was leaving "Saturday Night Live" to conquer Hollywood." The people making the show intended this as a joke, referring to the fact that Piscopo's career didn't really proliferate significantly after he left "SNL".
*In the Scrubs episode, My Mirror Image, Dr. Cox is interrupted during his workout, and asks the interns, "What does this outfit tell you?", to which Dr. Kelso responds, "You are entering a Joe Piscopo look-a-like contest?"
*On the Family Guy episode, Meet the Quagmires, Peter says that not taking Lois to the movies is worse than the time he gave Joe Piscopo a barbell set. It then shows Peter and Joe in a room with a barbell. Peter says "Ok Joe, just take it easy." Joe replies "Don't worry Peter, I'll only do it on my down time."
*Appeared on the Star Trek the Next Generation episode "The Outrageous Okona" in the form of a holodeck comedian.
*He was mentioned on an episode of Married With Children by Al Bundy, in order to distract a security officer at a filming studio.

References

External links

*
* [http://www.joepiscopo.com/ Official site]