Joe Piscopo - Saturday Night Live

In the summer of 1980, he was hired as a contract player for Saturday Night Live. The show had gone through major upheaval when all the writers, major producers, and cast members had left that spring. The all-new cast bombed with critics and fans with the exception of Piscopo and Eddie Murphy; thus they were the only two cast members to be kept when Dick Ebersol took over the show the following spring.

With the success of SNL, both Murphy and Piscopo moved to Alpine, New Jersey.

Piscopo was best known for his impressions of such celebrities as Frank Sinatra, although he feared for his life due to Sinatra's alleged Mafia ties. Piscopo thus rewrote the lyrics for a Sinatra sketch with the help of Sinatra lyricist Sammy Cahn, and recalled that "by the grace of God, the old man loved it." Piscopo left SNL in 1984, but unlike Eddie Murphy he did not find major success. He appeared in a few successful films such as Johnny Dangerously and Wise Guys, and also had his own HBO comedy special.

One of Piscopo's more successful bits on SNL included his sports commentary on the Weekend Update portion of the show (called "SNL Newsbreak" at that time), led by a series of rhyming or otherwise associated words, rather than a sentence, leading up to his first story. One example surrounded one of Muhammad Ali's last bouts during the 1980s, with Eddie Murphy in Rick Baker makeup as Ali.

"The big story, Muhammad Ali! Last night... fight... drama... Bahama... LOST!"

and...

"The big story! Baseball! Yankees! Billy Martin hired! The big question: When will he be fired?"

Piscopo's sports reports provided NBC network officials enough confidence to allow him to continue this persona on NBC's Sportsworld program in the early 1980s.

During his time on SNL, Piscopo recorded two singles. The first, "I Love Rock 'n Roll (Medley)" was released in 1982, and included big-band arrangements of the title song by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, "Cold as Ice" by Foreigner, "Under My Thumb" by The Rolling Stones, "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" by Pat Benatar, "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen, "I Know What Boys Like" by The Waitresses, "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple, and "Life During Wartime" by The Talking Heads.

The second single was "The Honeymooners Rap," in which he performed as Jackie Gleason's character Ralph Kramden of The Honeymooners. Also appearing on the single was Eddie Murphy as Art Carney's character Ed Norton. "The Honeymooners Rap" also appeared on Piscopo's 1985 comedy album New Jersey.

In the character of Paulie Herman, Piscopo lampooned Piscataway Township, New Jersey, triggering an immediate outcry from officials of that Township, and the character was dropped. Part of the reparteé of the Paulie Herman character was a Piscopo catchphrase in response to other characters mentioning New Jersey: "You from Jersey? What Exit?!"

In the 1980s, Piscopo starred in a series of Miller Beer commercials.

In 1986 Piscopo appeared in the "Lets Go Mets" music video. He also co-starred with Treat Williams in the 1988 film Dead Heat.

In 1988 he appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Outrageous Okona as a holographic comedian, for which he provided all of his own jokes and dialogue.

In 1992 he provided the voice for Sheriff Terrorbull in the Saturday-morning animated series Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa.

He also supplied the voice of a manager in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series and The Dogfather in the revived Pink Panther series in 1993.

He also lent his voice to the Canadian animated special The Real Story of Rain, Rain Go Away.

In the early 1990s, Piscopo became a subject of controversy after appearances of his newly buff physique on the covers of fitness magazines led many to speculate he was using steroids. Piscopo has repeatedly denied the allegations and says he began a campaign to improve himself after battling thyroid cancer from 1981 to 1982. He has also appeared in anti-steroid public service announcements. Piscopo lampooned the controversy in his HBO special, wherein he appeared to undergo a drug test during the show.

In more recent years, Piscopo appeared in the long-running Broadway revival of Grease, guest-starred on major TV series such as Law & Order and toured with other SNL alumni such as Kevin Nealon and Victoria Jackson. Piscopo is often cast as a villain in comedies such as Sidekicks and Johnny Dangerously. He appeared as ladies man "Rocky" in the contemporary version of Herman Melville's Bartleby (2001). Some in his native New Jersey have urged Piscopo to run for state office, and Piscopo considers himself "a Democrat, but a little conservative."