History Creator / JoePiscopo

Piscopo first gained prominence as a cast member of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' in its infamous 1980 season. Tapped as a rising star, he along with Creator/EddieMurphy were the only two cast members to keep their jobs for the 1981 season. He left the show in 1984, but his subsequent career almost immediately fizzled, and today he is remembered mostly as one of the show's most notable flameouts.

Joseph Charles John Piscopo (born June 17, 1951 in Passaic, UsefulNotes/NewJersey) is an American comedian, actor, musician, writer, and radio talk show host best known for ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''.

He was married to Nancy Jones and Kimberly Driscoll and he has four children.

** ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' as Albert Romano (1 episode)

Piscopo was on ''Saturday Night Live'' during its notoriously awful sixth season (the first season without the original 1970s cast and Creator/LorneMichaels). Despite being brushed aside while Jean Doumanian set up Denny Dillon, Gail Matthius, and Charles Rocket to be the new stars of the show, Piscopo carried on, and ended up overshadowing the three when he paired up with a young, up-and-coming comedian at the time named Creator/EddieMurphy. When it came time for Creator/{{NBC}} to get rid of Jean Doumanian and her floundering cast (after the infamous "Charles Rocket says 'fuck'" fiasco on the episode hosted by Charlene Tilton with musical guests Music/ToddRundgren and Music/{{Prince}}[[note]]back when Prince released his album ''Dirty Mind'', and was the first time Prince ever appeared on ''SNL''[[/note]]), Murphy and Piscopo (and, for one episode, Dillon and Matthius) were kept on when Dick Ebersol was called to salvage the seemingly-unsalvageable ''SNL''. For a time, Piscopo and Murphy became the [[JustHereForGodzilla reason to watch the show]] after the disastrous sixth season (which was fine during its seventh season as the audience had no faith in the new cast being funny, but this became a problem in the eighth and ninth seasons, as funnier cast members were hired [such as Gary Kroeger, Brad Hall, and a pre-''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' Creator/JuliaLouisDreyfus] and the ones who stayed on who weren't Murphy and Piscopo [such as Robin Duke, Mary Gross, and Tim Kazurinsky] improved their comic talents). Piscopo was on the show from 1980 to 1984 (much like Eddie Murphy), though Piscopo left because he knew he wasn't funny without Murphy (while Murphy left to do movies and stand-up).

Piscopo did have some recurring characters, some of which were part of an ensemble (Mr. Wonderful from ''The Interesting Four'' or Froggy from ''SNL'''s take on ''Film/TheLittleRascals'') or one half of a recurring character duo (such as CampGay hairstylist Blaire[[note]]with Eddie Murphy as Dion[[/note]] or Doug Whiner[[note]]with Robin Duke as his wife, Wendy[[/note]]), but there were a few that were stand-alones, such as Paulie Herman (an annoying man from New Jersey who makes friends with whoever will tolerate him. This was Piscopo's only recurring character from when he was a Jean Doumanian-era cast member) and Mr. Blunt (a man who uses BrutalHonesty in any situation). Piscopo's notable celebrity impressions include: Creator/JerryLewis (in a ''Two Faces of Eve'' parody trailer that had Piscopo as the bitter, Vegas hanger-on Jerry Lewis while Eddie Murphy -- in a case of cross-casting -- played the obnoxiously childish Lewis as seen in his comedy films), Creator/DeanMartin (in a sketch on the episode hosted by the real Jerry Lewis where Lewis imagines his old comedy partner Dean Martin about to perform heart surgery on him after he's been drinking and hitting on the nurses), Andy Rooney, Music/BarbraStreisand, UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan, Creator/LeonardNimoy (on a parody of the series ''In Search Of...''), Music/FrankSinatra, Creator/DavidLetterman, and Ted Koppel.

Piscopo was on ''Saturday Night Live'' during its notoriously awful sixth season (the first season without the original 1970s cast and Creator/LorneMichaels). Despite being brushed aside while Jean Doumanian set up Denny Dillon, Gail Matthius, and Charles Rocket to be the new stars of the show, Piscopo carried on, and ended up overshadowing the three when he paired up with a young, up-and-coming comedian at the time named Creator/EddieMurphy. When it came time for Creator/{{NBC}} to get rid of Jean Doumanian and her floundering cast (after the infamous "Charles Rocket says 'fuck'" fiasco on the episode hosted by Charlene Tilton with musical guests Todd Rundgren and Music/{{Prince}}[[note]]back when Prince released his album ''Dirty Mind'', and was the first time Prince ever appeared on ''SNL''[[/note]]), Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo (and, for one episode, Denny Dillon and Gail Matthius) were kept on when Dick Ebersol was called to salvage the seemingly-unsalvageable ''SNL''. For a time, Piscopo and Murphy became the [[JustHereForGodzilla reason to watch the show]] after the disastrous sixth season (which was fine during its seventh season as the audience had no faith in the new cast being funny, but this became a problem in the eighth and ninth seasons, as funnier cast members were hired [such as Gary Kroeger, Brad Hall, and a pre-''Seinfeld'' Julia Louis-Dreyfus] and the ones who stayed on that weren't Murphy and Piscopo [such as Robin Duke, Mary Gross, and Tim Kazurinsky] improved their comic talents). Piscopo was on the show from 1980 to 1984 (much like Eddie Murphy), though Piscopo left because he knew he wasn't funny without Murphy (while Murphy left to do movies and stand-up).

Joseph Charles John Piscopo (born June 17, 1951 in Passaic, New Jersey) is an American comedian, actor, musician, writer, and radio talk show host best known for ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''.

Piscopo did have some recurring characters, some of which were part of an ensemble (Mr. Wonderful from ''The Interesting Four'' or Froggy from ''SNL'''s take on ''Fim/TheLittleRascals'') or one half of a recurring character duo (such as CampGay hairstylist Blaire[[note]]with Eddie Murphy as Dion[[/note]] or Doug Whiner[[note]]with Robin Duke as his wife, Wendy[[/note]]), but there were a few that were stand-alones, such as Paulie Herman (an annoying man from New Jersey who makes friends with whoever will tolerate him. This was Piscopo's only recurring character from when he was a Jean Doumanian-era cast member) and Mr. Blunt (a man who uses BrutalHonesty in any situation). Piscopo's notable celebrity impressions include: Creator/JerryLewis (in a ''Two Faces of Eve'' parody trailer that had Piscopo as the bitter, Vegas hanger-on Jerry Lewis while Eddie Murphy -- in a case of cross-casting -- played the obnoxiously childish Lewis as seen in his comedy films), Creator/DeanMartin (in a sketch on the episode hosted by the real Jerry Lewis where Lewis imagines his old comedy partner Dean Martin about to perform heart surgery on him after he's been drinking and hitting on the nurses), Andy Rooney, Music/BarbraStreisand, UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan, Creator/LeonardNimoy (on a parody of the series ''In Search Of...''), Music/FrankSinatra, Creator/DavidLetterman, and Ted Koppel.

Joseph Charles John Piscopo (June 17, 1951-) is an American comedian, actor, musician, writer, and radio talk show host best known for Series/SaturdayNightLive.

Piscopo was on ''Saturday Night Live'' during its notoriously awful sixth season (the first season without the original 1970s cast and Lorne Michaels). Despite being brushed aside while Jean Doumanian set up Denny Dillon, Gail Matthius, and Charles Rocket to be the new stars of the show, Piscopo carried on, and ended up overshadowing the three when he paired up with a young, up-and-coming comedian at the time named Creator/EddieMurphy. When it came time for NBC to get rid of Jean Doumanian and her floundering cast (after the infamous "Charles Rocket says 'fuck'" fiasco on the episode hosted by Charlene Tilton with musical guests Todd Rundgren and Prince[[note]]back when Prince released his album ''Dirty Mind'', and was the first time Prince ever appeared on ''SNL''[[/note]]), Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo (and, for one episode, Denny Dillon and Gail Matthius) were kept on when Dick Ebersol was called to salvage the seemingly-unsalvageable ''SNL''. For a time, Piscopo and Murphy became the [[JustHereForGodzilla reason to watch the show]] after the disastrous sixth season (which was fine during its seventh season as the audience had no faith in them being funny, but became a problem in the eighth and ninth, as funnier cast members were hired [such as Gary Kroeger, Brad Hall, and a pre-''Seinfeld'' Julia Louis-Dreyfus] and the ones who stayed on that weren't Murphy and Piscopo [such as Robin Duke, Mary Gross, and Tim Kazurinsky] improved their comic talents). Piscopo was on the show from 1980 to 1984 (much like Eddie Murphy), though Piscopo left because he knew he wasn't funny without Murphy (while Murphy left to do movies and stand-up).

Piscopo was on ''Saturday Night Live'' during its notoriously awful sixth season (the first season without the original 1970s cast and Lorne Michaels). Despite being brushed aside while Jean Doumanian set up Denny Dillon, Gail Matthius, and Charles Rocket to be the new stars of the show, Piscopo carried on, and ended up overshadowing the three when he paired up with a young, up-and-coming comedian at the time named Creator/EddieMurphy. When it came time for NBC to get rid of Jean Doumanian and her floundering cast (after the infamous "Charles Rocket says 'fuck'" fiasco on the episode hosted by Charlene Tilton with musical guests Todd Rundgren and Prince[[note]]back when Prince released his album ''Dirty Mind'', and was the first time Prince ever appeared on ''SNL''[[/note]]), Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo (and, for one episode, Denny Dillon and Gail Matthius) were kept on when Dick Ebersol was called to salvage the seemingly-unsalvageable ''SNL'' and became the [[JustHereForGodzilla reason to watch the show]] after the disastrous sixth season (which was fine during its seventh season as the audience had no faith in them being funny, but became a problem in the eighth and ninth, as funnier cast members were hired [such as Gary Kroeger, Brad Hall, and a pre-''Seinfeld'' Julia Louis-Dreyfus] and the ones who stayed on that weren't Murphy and Piscopo [such as Robin Duke, Mary Gross, and Tim Kazurinsky] improved their comic talents). Piscopo was on the show from 1980 to 1984 (much like Eddie Murphy), though Piscopo left because he knew he wasn't funny without Murphy (while Murphy left to do movies and stand-up).