In his heyday, Joe Piscopo portrayed the “Chairman of the Board” Frank Sinatra, and sang “Ebony and Ivory” to Eddie Murphy doing Stevie Wonder. “Saturday Night Live” circa 1983.
When Piscopo left SNL he got physically buff, but his career tanked and he became the poster boy for bad career moves.
Well, dust off your Doug Whiner impersonation -- it was recently announced Piscopo will perform onstage in San Diego.
He’s scheduled to do two shows on May 23 at Anthology, in downtown’s Little Italy. Tickets range from $23-$63. His show will be a mixture of comedy and Sinatra music. When Ol’ Blue Eyes was alive, he gave his approval to Piscopo’s impersonation, dubbing him “The Vice Chairman of the Board.” (Not a good title in today’s economy.)
Anthology, a supper club with a million-dollar sound system, books acts that attract a more bluer-haired audience than, say, that which will watch Katy Perry sing about how she kissed a girl -- and liked it! -- at a House of Blues gig. Piscopo, hardly on the radar of the Taylor Swift crowd, will own the distinction of being the first comic to play Anthology.
Piscopo was once the SNL Newsbreak sports guy who spoke in rhyming, incomplete sentences. That character would have announced the Anthology booking this way: “Steroids? No way! Let him play. Music and jokes… will it bring out the folks?"
Ron Donoho, formerly executive editor of "San Diego Magazine," is a regular contributor to NBCSandiego.com who covers local news, sports, culture and happy hours.
