Joe Piscopo
Joe Piscopo (born
Joseph Charles John Piscopo on
June 17,
1951,
Passaic, New Jersey) is an
American comedian known for his work on
Saturday Night Live. Piscopo planned to study acting but went into
stand-up comedy in the late
1970s. In the summer of
1980 he was hired as a contract player for
SNL. 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 fans. 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
SNL in
1984, but unlike Murphy, did not find major success. He appeared in a few semi-successful films, appeared in an episode of
Star Trek: The Next Generation, and had his own
HBO comedy special, but was regarded more as a punch line to a bad joke about the doomed careers of most
SNL alumni.
During his time on
SNL, 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 early
1990s, Piscopo became a subject of controversy after his newly buffed-up 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 his body after battling
thyroid cancer from
1981 to
1982. He has also appeared in anti-steroid
PSAs.
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. One of his more amusing character parts was as ladies man Rocky in the contemporary version of
Herman Melville's
Bartleby (2001). He lives in
New Jersey with his wife Kimberly and 3 children. Many in his native
New Jersey have urged Piscopo to run for state office, and Piscopo considers himself "a
Democrat, but very conservative."
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Joe Piscopo at the
Internet Movie Database
