From the April 24, 2005 issue of The Courier Post
Jersey Joe
By By ROBERT BAXTER
Courier-Post Staff
AFrom a four-year stint on Saturday Night Live to appearances in Atlantic City and Las Vegas casinos, Joe Piscopo has made America laugh.
Thursday, the popular comedian is coming to Mount Laurel to deliver a serious message to his audience at the seventh annual Regional Business/Arts Summit.
"We've got to keep funding for the arts up," says the funny man Frank Sinatra called "vice-chairman of the board."
"The arts play an important role in New Jersey, and the private sector must step up and support the arts. Theater and music can save people's lives."
Piscopo, 53, speaks from experience.
"I was not a great student - I'm being kind to myself!" he recalls with a laugh. "They used to kick me out of school for fights and disciplinary problems."
Then, in the ninth grade, Piscopo's sister, Carol, introduced him to the drama coach.
"He took all the kids with a discipline problem and straightened us all out. The discipline, passion and joy of art really straightened my life out."
Piscopo was one of three students at West Essex Regional High School in North Caldwell selected for a Lincoln Center Student Arts Award that enabled him to see plays and musicals on Broadway stages. He still speaks with excitement when he remembers watching Lee J. Cobb perform Shakespeare's King Lear.
"The schools could afford that kind of program 30 years ago. Now they can't do it without business sponsorships. Now you need businesses to step in and help."
Piscopo calls himself "a big public-private kind of guy" and asserts, "You need private enterprise to support the arts."
After earning a degree in broadcast management at Jones College in Florida, Piscopo began honing his theatrical skills at Theatre Jacksonville, the state's longest running community theater company.
Then he joined Mickey Rooney's Downington Inn Dinner Theatre in Pennsylvania, where he appeared in musicals such as Annie, Get Your Gun and South Pacific.
Piscopo planned to go into acting, but became a stand-up comedian instead. His comic skills quickly won him a spot on Saturday Night Live.
During a four-season run on the popular show, Piscopo won notoriety for his hilarious original characters and his over-the-top impersonations of celebrities including Sinatra, Dean Martin and David Letterman.
Saturday Night Live catapulted Piscopo to Hollywood and starring roles in Wise Guys (with Danny DeVito) and Johnny Dangerously (with Michael Keaton).
Piscopo appeared in TV shows before returning to New York for a Broadway run as disc jockey Vince Fontaine in Grease!
Piscopo makes an occasional guest appearance on Law and Order and continues to perform in comedy clubs and casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City.
"I have an absolute blast in Vegas, wearing a tuxedo and performing Sinatra songs with an 18-piece orchestra," he explains. "I like to get back to a club from time to time. That's where I started and it's nice to go back where you came from."
Piscopo has never forgotten he comes from New Jersey. Increasingly, he devotes much of his time to charitable activities.
He created Jersey Joe's Gyms, a program in Newark that brings police officers together with troubled teens for mentoring.
As a result of this work, Piscopo founded the Positive Impact Foundation in 1997. The foundation aims to raise awareness and increase support for programs helping young people.
At the same time, the foundation aims to produce positive media images for at-risk youth through a ground-breaking series of TV shows that mix education and entertainment to reinforce positive behavior and lifestyles for young people.
Positive Impact TV also is working with The Enterasys Networks to bring Internet and computer access to inner-city schools.
"My friends call me Joey Benefit!" exclaims Piscopo. "I'm a guy who can't say no to charity. You got a charity, I got a tuxedo. I come early and stay late. I can't say no."
Piscopo exemplifies the kind of arts and business partnerships promoted by the Business/Arts Summit. Corporate leaders serve on the board of the Positive Impact Foundation.
In January, Piscopo teamed up with Caesars Atlantic City to present a benefit featuring his friends the Blues Brothers, Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi. At the end of the evening, the foundation raised $300,000 to make more TV programs.
One of those programs will feature two members of the Boys & Girls Club of Camden County and a student at the Unity Community Center in Camden.
Piscopo discovered the Unity Community Center in the late 1990s and has championed the work of the center's founder and director, Robert Dickerson. He has taken the center's performing ensembles to venues around the country and has featured them on broadcasts of sporting events.
"Joe Piscopo is our friend and our best supporter," says Dickerson. "We are so grateful for him. All the best things that have happened for us came through Joe."
At Thursday's summit, Piscopo plans to talk about Dickerson and the martial and performing arts programs he sponsors in his storefront center on Mt. Ephraim Avenue.
"The Unity Community Center deserves the support of the business community," he explains. "Robert Dickerson is making a difference in the lives of young people in Camden. If we don't stand up and support him, who will?
"I've been blessed to perform on Broadway. I can tell you that what the Unity Community Center does is worthy of a Broadway stage. If you watch these youngsters perform, people say `Wow!' but how many people get to know their work?"
Piscopo's work has won him friends around the Garden State. Last year, a group of independent voters formed a committee to support Piscopo for governor (runjoerun2005.com).
"I'm very flattered," says Piscopo. "I was born and raised here and I live and breathe New Jersey. I love the state enough to make the commitment. The only problem is at what cost?"
In a Quinnipiac poll last month, 23 percent of voters interviewed said they wanted Piscopo to run for governor.
"The second my poll numbers go up, they (politicians) would destroy me. New Jersey politics are the most rough and tumble in the world."
Piscopo has until June 6 to declare his candidacy, but for now he is fairly sure he will not run. "I really could help the state, but my wife, Kimberly, says, `No way.'
"I will stay in the background. If a candidate implodes, I'll be ready. I know the issues. It's tempting, but maybe I could help more not running.
"The summit is giving me the chance to speak out about something I care a lot about. The business community has got to step forward and support the arts.
"A few dollars spent to bring the arts to children will make them productive citizens and keep them out of jail. That will lower everybody's taxes." IF YOU GO
|
|
|
