Joe Piscopo put some swing into "The Star-Spangled Banner," singing it like Francis Albert Sinatra, not as Francis Scott Key intended. Piscopo had it all down, the phrasing, the ad libs, the gestures to the drummer at cymbal crashes and brass blasts. He should. He's been paying tribute to Sinatra for almost 40 years, since his Saturday Night Live...
Joe Piscopo put some swing into "The Star-Spangled Banner," singing it like Francis Albert Sinatra, not as Francis Scott Key intended.
Piscopo had it all down, the phrasing, the ad libs, the gestures to the drummer at cymbal crashes and brass blasts. He should. He's been paying tribute to Sinatra for almost 40 years, since his Saturday Night Live days in the early '80s. Paying tribute, not imitating.
Piscopo doing Sinatra was only part of the Jersey equation at a fundraising event last month. He was performing at a Colts Neck mansion, used in a few episodes of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey." Is that Jersey, or what?
The 200-guests were all-Jersey, too. Manicured and glammed up in that distinctive Jersey way, for which there are no adequate words.
Piscopo is an equally proud of both his heritages -- Jersey and Italy - and his self-effacing monologues between songs zeroed in on both, getting big laughs from the crowd.
They were there to help fund "Joey Benefit," a film Piscopo has wanted to make for more than a decade. It's a Jersey story.
"Joey Benefit is a guy from Bloomfield," Piscopo said. "You know, the kind of guy whose father once met Frankie Valli in a diner. We're shooting the whole thing in Jersey. We could do it cheaper in other places, but it has to have that Jersey feel."
That Jersey feel. Again, it defies description. But you know it when you see it.
Joe Piscopo before his show in Colts Neck to thanks his benefactors who are helping finance a new movie "Joey Benefit." (Mark Di Ionno | NJ Advance Media) Mark Di Ionno | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
The script for the film is by writer/producer Norman Steinberg (''My Favorite Year," "Blazing Saddles") and there was a lot of enthusiasm for the project before it stalled.
"We all got busy," Piscopo said.
His busyness includes "Piscopo in the Morning," a four-hour, drive-time radio show on WNYM (970 AM), a conservative station called "The Answer." Then he thought about running for governor in the last go-round. Then there's the matter of performance schedule. And his family.
"I got a kid at every exit," he said to the crowd.
Joey Benefit doesn't have those problems. The character Piscopo invented is a guy with talent, looking for the big break that never comes. Still, he dreams, and believes stardom is at his fingertips, waiting for him to grasp.
"He's a guy with a tuxedo who never says no," Piscopo said. "He takes any gig he can."
He's also a guy with a big heart. You have a charity? Get Joey Benefit.
This part of the fictional character is pure Piscopo.
In the coming weeks, he will be performing at the Towers to Tunnels 5K to benefit catastrophically injured veterans and first responders, and then at a fundraiser for Several Sources Shelters, an agency that provides for homeless women and children.
"Joe is an extraordinarily generous and committed guy, to people who need it the most," said Vic Richel, who ran several New Jersey banks and chairs boards at Trinitas Regional Medical Center and Union County College. "Especially the kids."
Twenty years ago, he started the Positive Impact Foundation for at-risk kids, then merged it with the Boys & Girls Club of New Jersey. He remains their spokesman.
The list of charities he has performed for is too long for this space.
Piscopo hopes "Joey Benefit" will him give a chance to show off another side of talent. He said, "There is a sadness to this character. He's older. He hears footsteps. I think of Mickey Rourke in 'The Wrestler,' or 'Broadway Danny Rose.' He's nickel-and-diming his way through life, which is beginning to pass him by."
For people who think of Piscopo as only the rubber-faced funnyman from his Saturday Live Days, Piscopo as Joey Benefit will surprise them.
"There's certainly depth there. That's the best way to explain it. Just a greater depth."
Joe Piscopo put some swing into "The Star-Spangled Banner," singing it like Francis Albert Sinatra and not as Francis Scott Key intended.
Piscopo had it all down, the phrasing, the ad libs, the gestures to the drummer at cymbal crashes and brass blasts. He should. He's been paying tribute to Sinatra for almost 40 years, since his Saturday Night Live days in the early '80s. Paying tribute, not imitating.
Piscopo doing Sinatra was only part of the Jersey equation at a fundraising event last month. He was performing at a Colts Neck mansion, used in a few episodes of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey."
The 200-guests were all-Jersey, too. Manicured and glammed up in that distinctive Jersey way, for which there are no adequate words.
Piscopo is an equally proud of both his heritages -- Jersey and Italy - and his self-effacing monologues between songs zeroed in on both, getting big laughs from the crowd.
They were there to help fund "Joey Benefit," a film Piscopo has wanted to make for more than a decade. It's a Jersey story.
"Joey Benefit is a guy from Bloomfield," said Piscopo, who was born in Newark and now lives in Hunterdon County. "You know, the kind of guy whose father once met Frankie Valli in a diner. We're shooting the whole thing in Jersey. We could do it cheaper in other places, but it has to have that Jersey feel."
That Jersey feel. Again, it defies description. But you know it when you see it.
The script for the film is by writer/producer Norman Steinberg (''My Favorite Year," "Blazing Saddles") and there was a lot of enthusiasm for the project before it stalled.
"We all got busy," Piscopo said.
His busyness includes "Piscopo in the Morning," a four-hour, drive-time radio show on WNYM (970 AM), a conservative station called "The Answer." Then he thought about running for governor in the last go-round. Then there's the matter of performance schedule. And his family.
"I got a kid at every exit," said the father of five to the crowd.
Joey Benefit doesn't have those problems. The character Piscopo invented is a guy with talent, looking for the big break that never comes. Still, he dreams, and believes stardom is at his fingertips, waiting for him to grasp.
"He's a guy with a tuxedo who never says no," Piscopo said. "He takes any gig he can."
He's also a guy with a big heart. You have a charity? Get Joey Benefit.
This part of the fictional character is pure Piscopo.
In the coming weeks, he will be performing at the Towers to Tunnels 5K to benefit catastrophically injured veterans and first responders, and then at a fundraiser for Several Sources Shelters, an agency that provides for homeless women and children.
"Joe is an extraordinarily generous and committed guy, to people who need it the most," said Vic Richel, who ran several New Jersey banks and chairs boards at Trinitas Regional Medical Center and Union County College. "Especially the kids."
Twenty years ago, he started the Positive Impact Foundation for at-risk kids, then merged it with the Boys & Girls Club of New Jersey. He remains their spokesman.
The list of charities he has performed for is too long for this space.
Piscopo hopes "Joey Benefit" will him give a chance to show off another side of talent.
"There is a sadness to this character," Piscopo said. "He's older. He hears footsteps. I think of Mickey Rourke in 'The Wrestler,' or 'Broadway Danny Rose.' He's nickel-and-diming his way through life, which is beginning to pass him by."
For people who think of Piscopo as only the rubber-faced funnyman from his Saturday Live Days, Piscopo as Joey Benefit will surprise them.
"There's certainly depth there," he said. "That's the best way to explain it. Just a greater depth."
