Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS1OpC9xu48
hello freak [ __ ] coaches he worked with this girl Susan for years that helped you get a different perspective oh you know what I didn't think of that right I didn't think that way yeah you're right so that kind of [ __ ] now look ultimately you get on the set you're going to do what you do and the director's going to hey Steve you know you shouldn't be so angry there what whatever you know he thinks and the guy that wrote it you know what I mean but I work very hard at it and I worked for years now now don't forget I'm making a living for 16 years as an actor I left the Riviera in 2000 isn't that crazy yeah 16 years so and I've done a lot of [ __ ] this is you saying that 2000 was 16 years ago me go what yeah is that right yeah I left there I started on The Sopranos in 99 I I went back and forth for a year you know I didn't quit the I did six episodes I was still at the riv what is it like that one must have been [ __ ] strange I was still at the riv and then I booked it for 10 years I you know I booked the river until 2010 Chris Rock said you're still dipping your toe in that [ __ ] I said why not they're paying me what the [ __ ] how hard is it how hard is it to [ __ ] book three Comics a week I could do it in three days book up six months that's hilarious you know book I book guys that uh you know that didn't work much you know well I think your point is the really important part of what you're saying is like the getting a different perspective where a guy like gandini you would You' imagine he was so good you would imagine that he probably looked at it from all sorts of different angles yeah yes he did and you saw a lot of different colors but he you know he would work 16 hours okay 16 hour days on The Sopranos he's in he's there so I mean the guy gets up whatever time he got up then he's got to go home and learn tomorrow's stuff so sometimes he told me he'd be sitting in the chair he fall asleep for two hours he wakes up she's still there just waiting for him to wake up and they're going to work on the the stuff for tomorrow whoa yeah and then and nine months of that don't forget you know The Sopranos Jo they were when I got on the show it was like eight days I came on the second season so it was like eight days for an episode then nine then 10 at the last season it was we we shot nine
shows in nine months holy [ __ ] yeah you know it was like shooting a movie there's no commercial so it's a full hour but you know that's what it was man it was long it was like shooting the movie wow a month and episode I I the first episode was 17 18 working days lorine brocco said to me you're going to work more in this episode than will the whole season cuz she only worked one day in episode you know she had the greatest job in Show Business wow they shot that in one day oh that's beautiful for her you know was a great part too yeah it was great you know but I I I think the the coaching wise and I think a lot of it is you know you're Focus you're concentrate know your stuff know your lines I mean you're an actor you know know your [ __ ] don't come in and be like a smart ass yeah maybe I paraphrase know your stuff respect what's on the page you know that's I'm a I'm a big believer in that yeah Hest Sopranos you didn't add Li the word th and I'm not joking you there was a there was a time that I had to say uh I gotta go and the line was I have to go and they kept correcting me and correcting me correct because I just you know I got to go no I have to go I don't know why what where and I didn't question it you know I mean you know but that's a crazy amount of work when you're talking about with gandal that's really that's still [ __ ] with my head yeah now listen Jim was one of my closest friends couldn't find the better guy he worked hardly saw his kids you know his kid you know uh his daughter wasn't born you know uh uh while he was on The Sopranos but it was like no life you completely gave up your life not the rest of us because there was so many characters you know I didn't I had a couple episodes where I worked a real life but you know otherwise it just can't be good for your health well it was you know a lot of guys I mean i' I've read I think Jimmy Smiths I read years ago NYPD he said he couldn't take it was 18 18 hour days yeah and yeah he was making a fortune he said I couldn't do it anymore yeah no i' I've I've had friends that have been on dramas before and there the same thing they would tell me that I just they just couldn't do it they just they would do it and they would just they would be when the season would wrap they would go this has got to be my last season I can't do thism I
mean you know it's it's a point with the money now you know the thing what what I love about Blue Bloods is there's a lot of characters so there different story so it's not like that it's not my signature W it's hanging up it's it's you know like seven of us but it's not my signature how crazy is that someone's got a fake signature hanging up in a nice restaurant Bobby Baka with a fat fake stomach it's from the days when I wore the fat stomach oh they made you put like a proscia on for two years yeah then I got fat enough on my did you get fat enough just so you don't have to wear that thing no no one day chase you know I I you know when I got the role I was seeing all these jokes like your cows on with legs and your fat [ __ ] and you thing and I'm going I'm not that much fatter than get theeni I was starting to think that maybe they cast the wrong guy I'm not joking I'm saying could it be I mean these jokes don't make sense and then they called oh you got to come in for a fat suit so I wor this ridiculous thing then the second year they made it like a really nice one like a costume like a costume shop it had like tits and everything and a costume shop in like a Broadway costume thing and uh and then one year I was going back and I was at a fitting for the the fourth year you know like the the next year and uh he looked at me and he went you don't have to wear that anymore I said all right so I'm assuming it was pretty embarrassing at first at first I was prancing around they had an ass on me too like a big ass put a fake ass yeah and he was going too big and I was like going walking back and forth like C Jes Christ it's [ __ ] humiliating Steve Landsburg remember the comment he said to me did they ask your permission to do that and I said no Stevie I wouldn't have [ __ ] did that I I wouldn't have got the job you know that was a weird time when The Sopranos came out because all of a sudden there was like a lot of fake mob guys a lot of fake connected guys a lot of fake Italian you know what I mean they're still around I call it gig Guinea Act is Guild G but you know what I mean it's like that acting that way became in fashion they started they they used to hang
around wherever we were they were around they were extras they was they're still around but there was you know we did an appearance in the casino we us to do a lot of that stuff you know they were everywhere they were everywhere they were hoping to get on the show hey come on you did the show I could do I could do the show I remember Michael Imperioli one time we were up in uh Reno and there was one of them guys and he was playing Blackjack and you know and uh he said come on put me on a show I could do what you do I Michael just went off on him I've been [ __ ] trying for 20 years you know blah blah I've been acting and you you know him he got he he hit Michael and Michael was right he got really pissed off this is just one of those [ __ ] Goombas you know N I could do what you do you know oh they're the worst exactly there's like there's there's wannabes but there's something about gny wannabes there's a lot there's a handful out here oh yeah there's plenty and the thing here they congregate together yeah well they try to like clang Hey Joe you're T right you're me and you we're together what's the last name Rogan how come you got Rogan what the [ __ ] I I kind I kind of try to navigate away from them oh they're brutal even even in New York I kind of that's not my thing you know well Sopranos was so good that it almost killed the mob genre you know I think so I think you're right about that cuz you know what unless and I get a lot of scripts Joe you know of that crap you know they make these I call them backyard movies you know you're never going to see them you know whatever they're getting paid I'm not interested cuz it's that same thing I'll [ __ ] you a break your [ __ ] ass you know who I am you know who my uncle is it's like a d rera sketch absolutely but it's true but they write this and I say how does people give them the money how do you get the money to make these movies well I think for a while people were making them just because Sopranos was so popular but now unless you're going to beat Soprano's Good Fellas you know what's the great mob movies so you know show Sopranos Good Fellas Casino uh uh Raging Bull had mob elements right great movie uh what am I missing there was uh there's got to be a
few of them you know some great you know great great mob movies but now after The Sopranos I mean you don't see you know the Godfather Godfather one to you know there was some but you're going to have to beat that then they tried they tried to do some Mobby stuff uh I Ray Donovan's work and that's a good show that's a good show but that's from an Irish perspective well I think what happened with those movies was or or uh that show rather is it was those you had a movie every week exactly so like every subject was covered betrayal gambling [ __ ] Mur it was funny funny elements it was very smart that was something you know I would go I would be around and people go I don't like that show you on I'm a TI have you ever seen the show yes have you ever seen the show no I haven't seen it's like it's I asking somebody I I I don't I don't watch porn I hate porn have you ever seen it no well then how do you know you don't like it or did you see it or do you watch it you know what I mean but they're holding signs up no porn well that was a big thing right the Italian American blah blah blah Society was protesting against it tell how about this story I wrote a kids book Nikki Deuce okay uh it took place in Brooklyn and we turned it into a movie for Nickelodeon you know which I did and it's one of Gand the feeding's last movies and I had Michael Imperioli in it and cero and uh uh and Nickelodeon made the movie but when I was when I wrote the book I was doing book signings and you know it's about a kid Fish Out of Water who goes back to Brooklyn he grew up in the suburbs and he winds up with the kid tyan neighborhood Benson nurse in Brooklyn and he gets into some Mischief I don't even call it trouble but so this guy kept writing uh letters and [ __ ] and killing me on the internet and writing letters to the bookstores ahead of me getting there you know like saying that he's uh you know derogatory against Italians and he's uh now he's bringing kids into it blah blah blah blah blah so finally I get the guy's number and I call the guy I swear to you I say to him listen I think his name is I think his name is Anthony I said listen Anthony blah blah blah blah blah this is the world I know like rappers rap about what they know this is what I know you know and uh he said to me I said you know uh what
can I do tell me what I can do let's fix this I mean cuz you know you know you you blah blah blah blah blah he said well you can make a donation to my organization it was the Italian American [ __ ] I said you got to be kidding me and I hung up on true story he tried to shake me down and there's a whole bunch of when the movie came out we got some heat for the Nicki Deuce movie really and it's not really about mob it's you know they just want attention I mean exactly you know and they did that with the but people would say all the time you know Joe uh yeah I don't watch the thing I'm an Italian you guys talk bad about Italians no they didn't they they they showed what really was I thought it was very authentic you know oh well The Sopranos is as authentic as it gets if you know anybody like that you know those people exist absolutely and I think to pretend they don't exist is offensive exactly and I think it was a story that need to be told I don't think putting Italians down this is what it is well it was such a fascinating show because gandalfi was a bad guy like his character for yeah you're rooted for a bad guy murder rooted for a murderer who cheated on his wife stole Rob shook people down absolutely but he was your guy he was I think the first I I think I could be wrong the first like anti-hero that people rooted for on television I think you're right I I I can't imagine before that it was you know you root for the guy he was a real anti-hero murder a con man I mean all the above stole they they didn't just do it to people in the mob they did it to people you know like on the show they wasn't just within each other yeah they went outside they were robbing people and busting up uh uh you know businesses and doing all the stuff that they do yeah it was great show was good it very smart it was a very smart show and if it if they put it back on now they would get higher ratings than some of their shows now I I bet they would it's well it was so good I think a lot of people forgot how good it was and it also changed a lot if you go to the first episode the first episode was essentially like a slapstick comedy you remember that no I know you remember Lorraine Brock not Lorraine Bronco uh who was the woman that played uh his
wife Edie Falon Edie Falco Edie Falco had a [ __ ] machine gun and like the the daughter was trying to sneak out SE years she's outside with a machine gun pointing at her it was way more slapsticky it was weird it was like a comedy well they shot the uh the show aired in 99 right I think they shot that like in 98 if I'm not mistaken really if I'm not mistaken in 98 I I believe or 97 even they go back and then it took six months and then they started shooting them you know how how David Chase did it he didn't do it like a regular show where you shoot it and then in 3 weeks it's on the yeah you know he put them all in the can they were finished and locked and you know you know what I mean like he you know you finished your your whatever it took nine months and then he edited them and blah blah blah blah blah and then they aired you know it was done a completely different way wow you know also they would uh they would you know if they didn't like what you did I mean he replaced you and you never even knew it really yeah he replaced you you know like uh I had a scene with a guy and they called back you know a month or so later and so you got to shoot the scene again with a different actor for whatever reason whether you know the guy didn't do a good job or uh he looked too young or too old or just didn't fit he had the he had the uh capacity to just shoot it again if if a scene didn't work he rewrite the scene you shoot the scene again you know three months later what's interesting about those kind of shows too is that they're so big and so popular that you become that character whoever that character is you become that guy and you're that guy forever well that's of course I mean that and that that's part of the deal that's okay I had no career before that so it's not like I'm not saying with you but I'm saying like there's some people that have like you've worked since then and you'll continue to work but there's some people that were on that show that were really famous when that show was on the air and they vanished yeah yeah yeah well you're in the you know you got people all over the world watching it I mean I've been stopped with people literally for all over the world that have watched the show it it was like a cult hit like nothing that ever hit before like big pussy's big [ __ ] for
the rest of his [ __ ] life yeah yeah you know but Vinnie's also he he Embraces that too you know what I mean he Embraces that for him it works and right he's okay he works he does his things no he's always going to work he's a very good actor he's got his music he's a musician and stuff but I I hear you you know especially the name big [ __ ] that was a big thing people like to say that yeah yeah they do like to say that but also his you know the scene in the movie when they kill him like the whole the whole way it plays out it was very intense it was like whoo I can't believe they killed big [ __ ] well that was the big thing it was the first time uh too a regular cast member gets killed I mean they're not killing the you know uh the guy from friends you know exactly David schwimer Ain getting killed you know oh one you know one Friday night oh my God they killed David shrim there five friends now you know so that was a big character that gets killed and then big car just kept getting killed which is why guys were worried I mean it was a real concern that you were going to get killed off the show the more material they gave you yeah the more of shot you're getting killed you know yeah yeah I mean you know and and let's not kid ourselves it's not just you know you're out of work they just put you out of work in the biggest show when when gandal killed Imperioli I was like whoa holy [ __ ] pinched his nose there what like what but but you know what once you made it into the last season it was like Hey listen you know you know we're done you're paid however the story ends it's probably better if I would have got killed early on I would have felt really shitty I'll tell you and saw all the stuff that happened cuz you know right you know what I mean and plus you know we didn't we started making money towards the middle and the end you know not the guys at the beginning W making a lot of money well those shows are hard to make money on aren't they like HBO is n they don't worry you know HBO pays and they pay now even better and the shows off the air nine years wow no you know we wind up you know and then there was was other money coming in because you had opportunities to do other [ __ ] you know well that show was also groundbreaking in that it was one of the first shows like that and now HBO
specializes in those kind of shows and so does AMC and so does Showtime y I mean you know it all kind of came from The Sopranos is the first time that they're hiring you know a fat bald guy you know Jim wasn't a leading man you know I mean they they wanted you know you figure the good-looking mob guy you know what I mean but he was intense and charismatic and what a [ __ ] actor the girls loved him I me you know we used to joke you know they say TV puts 10 lbs on you I say it takes 50 off you well he was just he was such an interesting character he was so intense and like when he got into that murderous rage like you [ __ ] bought it hookline and absolutely when you acted with him you didn't have to uh you know you didn't have to act scared like if it was a scene I got to be scared you got to yell at me you know you was [ __ ] you know he gave you the whole thing you know we had that fight you know me and him had that fight in the first episode that last season I mean you know did we shot that for a day and a half whoa that was tough he was choking me he said listen you know let's try to take this as far as we can and we [ __ ] took I was pulling his hair he was [ __ ] choking me that I was getting cut from the I was wearing a you know necklace you know I was getting cut from that I mean we were banged up wow banged up for real and that's why it looked real it was like two fat out of shaped guys fighting [ __ ] each I mean they don't you know guys it's not Steven Sagal way you know what I mean you know look you you you know what the hell this was like a fight like a so when you do something like that like how hard do you hit each other you know as hard as you you know you could without really hurting and he had said that let's go as far as we could and we were you know he he saying pull my hair pull my hair you know he's [ __ ] pulling his hair and he's choking me go ahead go further you know you know like I said we you know we're good friends you you know if you do it with a stranger it could get a little funky you know what I mean like hey well you know you know [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]