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Joe Piscopo
Joe Piscopo, 2009
Born	Joseph Charles John Piscopo (1951-06-17) June 17, 1951 (age 73) Passaic, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Actor/Comedian
Years active	1976–present

Joseph Charles John "Joe" Piscopo (pronounced PIS-ka-po) (born June 17, 1951) is an American comedian and actor best known for his work on Saturday Night Live where he played a variety of recurring characters.

Born in Passaic, New Jersey, Piscopo attended West Essex High School and was a member of the drama club "the Masquers".^[1] He developed a reputation for never playing a part the way it was written. When he was not clowning around he could usually be found lifting weights with his cousins Paul LaMagna and Bill Dolphin (Scarecrow). Graduating high school in 1969, Joe went on to attend Jones College in Jacksonville, Florida. There he received his degree in broadcast management.^[2] Although his mother wanted him to follow in his father's footsteps and become a lawyer, 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.

In the summer of 1980, he was hired as a contract player for Saturday Night Live. The show had gone through major upheaval when all the writers, major producers, and cast members had left that spring. The all-new cast bombed with critics and fans with the exception of Piscopo and Eddie Murphy; thus they were the only two cast members to be kept when Dick Ebersol took over the show the following spring.

With the success of SNL, both Murphy and Piscopo moved to Alpine, New Jersey.^[1]

Piscopo was best known for his impressions of such celebrities as Frank Sinatra, although he feared for his life due to Sinatra's alleged Mafia ties. Piscopo thus 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."^[3] Piscopo left SNL in 1984, but unlike Eddie Murphy he did not find major success. He appeared in a few successful films such as Johnny Dangerously and Wise Guys, and also had his own HBO comedy special.

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), led 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 provided NBC network officials enough confidence to allow him to continue this persona on NBC's Sportsworld program in the early 1980s.

During his time on SNL, Piscopo recorded two singles. The first, "I Love Rock 'n Roll (Medley)" was released in 1982 using his impression of Frank Sinatra, and included big-band arrangements of the title song by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, "Cold as Ice" by Foreigner, "Under My Thumb" by The Rolling Stones, "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" by Pat Benatar, "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen, "I Know What Boys Like" by The Waitresses, "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple, and "Life During Wartime" by The Talking Heads.

The second single was "The Honeymooners Rap," in which he performed as Jackie Gleason's character Ralph Kramden of The Honeymooners. Also appearing on the single was Eddie Murphy as Art Carney's character Ed Norton. "The Honeymooners Rap" also appeared on Piscopo's 1985 comedy album New Jersey.

In the character of Paulie Herman, Piscopo lampooned Piscataway Township, New Jersey, triggering an immediate outcry from officials of that Township, and the character was dropped. Part of the reparteé of the Paulie Herman character was a Piscopo catchphrase in response to other characters mentioning New Jersey: "You from Jersey? What Exit?!"

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

In 1986 Piscopo appeared in the "Lets Go Mets" music video. He also co-starred with Treat Williams in the 1988 film Dead Heat.

In 1988 he appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Outrageous Okona as a holographic comedian, for which he provided all of his own jokes and dialogue.

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

He also supplied the voice of a manager in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series and The Dogfather in the revived Pink Panther series in 1993.

He also lent his voice to the Canadian animated special The Real Story of Rain, Rain Go Away.

In the early 1990s, Piscopo became a subject of controversy after appearances of his newly buff physique on the covers of 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. Piscopo lampooned the controversy in his HBO special, wherein he appeared to undergo a drug test during the show.

In 1973, Piscopo married television producer Nancy Jones (Wheel of Fortune). The couple divorced in 1988.

Piscopo's second wife, Kimberly Driscoll, filed for divorce on July 10, 2006. Piscopo is a resident of Lebanon Township, New Jersey,^[4] and is an avid New Jersey Devils fan. Piscopo starred in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Gateway Playhouse in August 2009, playing 8 performance per week for a three week run.

He has also been a resident of Tewksbury Township, New Jersey.^[5]

• Blaire, a homosexual hairstylist. Co-worker of 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 of Schliemer & Laub, songwriters
• Mr. Blunt
• Mr. Wonderful of The Interesting Four
• Paulie Herman, an annoying, high-voiced young man from New Jersey (This was the only recurring character he performed during the Jean Doumanian years.)
• Pudge, an elderly man who plays piano in a run-down bar. He rambles on about the good old days with his friend Solomon (played by Eddie Murphy).

• In the season 5 episode "Not Even Close... Encounters" episode of Psych, Shawn's dad says that Shawn believed Joe Piscopo had been abducted by aliens to which Shawn replies, "That remains my theory until someone can pinpoint the man's whereabouts."
• Piscopo is mentioned in four episodes of The Simpsons. In season four's "Brother from the Same Planet," Bart is seen watching "Tuesday Night Live," starring Krusty the Clown, and comments, "I miss Joe Piscopo." In another season four episode, "Lisa's First Word", Marge prefaces a flashback to 1983 with the line "A young Joe Piscopo taught us how to laugh...". In season five's "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", Homer refers to 1985 and says "..and a maturing Joe Piscopo was leaving Saturday Night Live to conquer Hollywood." This was intended as a joke, referring to the fact that Piscopo's career did not really flourish after he left SNL. In season twenty's "Coming to Homerica", Marge Simpson, talking to her new nanny in front of her baby Maggie, references Piscopo's relationship with his former nanny Kimberly Driscoll and says "Maggie, you now have a nanny, just like the ones Joe Piscopo and Ethan Hawke left their wives for."
• 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're entering a Joe Piscopo lookalike 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 workout equipment. Peter says "Ok Joe, now don't get carried away with this." Joe replies "Don't worry Peter, I'll only work out in my down time."
• He was mentioned in three episodes of Married With Children: once by Al Bundy to distract a security officer at a filming studio, a second time in the episode "A Tisket, A Tasket, Can Peggy Make a Basket?" where Al and Peggy recognize him (off screen) as an usher at a basketball game, and lastly in "Kelly Knows Something" where a sports trivia game show host tells Al that his popularity was classified as being "between Joe Piscopo and the fat kid who played on Head Of The Class". He is actually referenced a fourth time, when Kelly, Bud, and Al are discussing names for the supposedly upcoming new arrival to the Bundy family. After hearing his kids' suggestions, Al Bundy deadpans 'Piscopo'.
• A caricature of Piscopo appears very briefly in the animated made-for-TV movie, Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Summer Vacation. Near the end of the closing credits, one of the numerous "joke credits" reads "Our Only Regret: Joe Piscopo."
• He is mentioned in the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song, Jammin' Me.
• The Nintendo 64 game Gex 64: Enter The Gecko tells the player to "Don't take career advice from Joe Piscopo".
• On the Viktor Vaughn album, Vaudeville Villain, Joe Piscopo is referenced in the song "Saliva", with the lyrics: "Cock diesel and still tell a joke like Joe Piscopo".
• The Das Efx song, "Mic Checka" from 1992, features the line: "My Saturday nights are liver than Joe Piscopo".
• At the beginning of the episode "The House That Peg Lost" in season 3 of Married...With Children, Al is heard watching a program about "the luckiest men in America" and the Robin Leach-like presenter mentions Joe Piscopo.
• In season 4 of The Golden Girls when Rose asks Dorothy if she's upset because Blanche may sell the house, Dorothy responds she's really upset because Joe Piscopo didn't get the lead in Rain Man.
• Piscopo's Showtime special Club Piscopo was harshly criticized by Opie & Anthony on their show on November 29, 2012. Piscopo made an appearance a week later.

• Joe Piscopo at IMDb
• Joe Piscopo at Memory Alpha
• Johnny Dangerously film trailer
• Official website

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