Born on June 17, 1951, Joseph Charles John Piscopo, better known as Joe Piscopo, is an American actor, comedian as well as conservative radio talk show host. He played a plethora of recurring characters that were quite well-loved by fans on the show “Saturday Night Live” from the years 1980 to 1984. He played the pivotal role of Danny Vermin in the 1984 film Johnny Dangerously. His other movie appearances include Kelly Stone in Sidekicks (1992), Doug Bigelow in Dead Heat (1988), and Moe Dickstein in Wise Guys (1986).
Piscopo was born and raised in Passaic, New Jersey, and gained international recognition through his career on Saturday Night Live. It began when he was hired as a contract player in the summer of 1980. The show was going through a major revamp of sorts as all the writers, producers, and cast members had left the show in the spring of that year.
With the exception of Piscopo and Eddie Murphy, the new cast was an instant failure amongst both fans and critics and was not well-received. Consequently, they became the only two actors who were kept as recurring cast members on the show after Dick Ebersol took over the show the following spring. SNL’s global success in the industry led to Piscopo moving to the wealthy areas of Alpine, New Jersey.
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Professional Career besides SNL
Besides his acting gigs, he was also famous for his impressions of various celebrities, including Frank Sinatra. With the help of Sinatra’s lyricist Sammy Cahn, Piscopo rewrote the lyrics of a Sinatra sketch, and he claimed that the “old man” loved it. He was later seen in a series of stop-motion animated ads for Lipton Brisk Ice Tea as Sinatra. He occasionally appeared as a bombastic sports analyst on Weekend Update. He would ask a series of questions and then loudly say, “Who cares?” after each set. Piscopo also performed as The Whiners alongside Robin Duke.
He developed a keen interest in bodybuilding in the mid-to-late 1980s and first became involved with the discipline while performing an act on SNL, simultaneously making an impression on Bruce Springsteen. His interest in bodybuilding made him the cover star of the Muscle & Fitness magazine in April 1988 and again in June 1990.
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When asked about his fascination with it, he said that some people in Hollywood just thought he was out of mind when he started pursuing “this bodybuilding stuff.” According to him, these people would tell him that he was getting unnaturally big, and thus he had a chance of hurting his career. But what they did not seem to understand was the satisfaction that Piscopo receives from a workout, the challenges involved in it, and the sense of personal victory that he would experience.
Personal Life
In the year 1990, tragically enough, Piscopo was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He married Nancy Jones in the year 1973, and the couple had a child before getting divorced in 1988, after roughly 15 years of marriage. He remarried in the year 1997 and tied the knot with Kimberly Driscoll. Interestingly enough, she used to work as his son’s nanny while he was married to his first wife, Nancy Jones. The couple had three children, after which they got divorced in the year 2006. His four kids are named Olivia, Alexandra, Joey, and Michael.
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A resident of Lebanon Township, New Jersey, Piscopo has also lived in the Tewksbury Township of New Jersey. He is an avid New Jersey Devils fan and held the position of emcee for the team’s 2003 Stanley Cup championship celebration. To honor him and his impressive work in the industry, he was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in the year 2013.
Joe Piscopo’s Net Worth
The 71-year-old celeb has reportedly made his fortune with his role in King Kong, Two Bits & Pepper, and How Sweet It Is. Piscopo, the actor, comedian, television producer, and screenplay writer, currently resides in New York, according to a few internet sources. Joe Piscopo’s Net Worth is $3 million. He is one of the most well-known comedians of all time, and he has amassed a fortune over the course of his nearly 40 years in the entertainment business.
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