Joe Piscopo

Now, some of you may be saying, "Who the hell is Joe Piscopo?"  That's a fair question, however, most will remember this Jersey-born, not-so-iconic comedian.  But in the dark days of Saturday Night Live, from 1980-1985, Joe Piscopo was kind of the man.  Really.  He was only eclipsed by Eddie Murphy, who at that time was probably the most revolutionary thing in comedy since George Carlin.  But then Piscopo left SNL, and went promptly into the "Where Are They Now?" fame.  But don't tell Joe that.  No, Joe still thinks he's the man.  And it'd almost be admirable if it wasn't so sad.  I'm sorry, I don't want this to come off as mean, but he might be the most delusional man about his own talent and stardom that I ever heard.

My fascination with Joe Piscopo started a few years ago when I was listening to my favorite radio show, Opie and Anthony (I really miss the show), and co-host Anthony Cumia started bashing Joe Piscopo's recent Showtime special "Club Piscopo".  For the next 3 hours, Opie and Anthony proceeded to watch Joe Piscopo clips on YouTube and absolutely destroy Piscopo.  It was hysterically funny (NSFW).  Then things only got better, when Piscopo called in and took his beating like a good sport, and won over the audience.  Since then, watching Joe Piscopo clips on YouTube is one of my favorite things.  Some of his impressions are cringe inducing, and his singing is downright laughable (but not as bad as his rapping).  And yet, in the end, I love the guy.

I have to admit, his Sinatra impression is very good.  However, when Phil Hartman came along to SNL, he blew it Piscopo's impression out of the water.  And Joe's Bruce impression is kind of hacky.  Oh yeah, another thing about Piscopo, he's obsessed with being from Jersey.  Listen, I've lived in NYC for the past 4 years, but in my heart I still am a Jersey guy.  I get it.  It's in the blood, and hard to let go of.  But Joe takes it to a new level.  So I was not shocked at all to see this video from Joe's mid 80's comedy special.  Piscopo's most famous impression from SNL, the biggest rock star at the time, and it's all in Jersey?  It's the Joe Piscopo Holy Trinity.