I guess you can say it all started on May 26th, 1965 when I was born in Rahway, NJ.  I lived in Colonia, NJ with my parents, Art and Eileen and my brother, Frank and my sister, Mary Eileen. Colonia was a great place to grow up and I did all of the normal kid stuff.  I went to grammar school at St. John Vianney and I still keep in touch with some buddies I met there to this day. Uniforms, bad ties, blue pants and of course, the nuns!

After that, I headed to Colonia High School-what a big switch from Catholic school.  I was small in high school.  In my freshman year I was only 4’ 10”, 90 lbs.  I wrestled 90 and under!!! Trust me, I was TINY!

Going to high school was great.  My older brother and sister were well liked so the teachers didn’t bother me much.  I was a true B-Student and played baseball my freshman year but switched to tennis as a sophomore.  I loved baseball, but, I was just okay and I knew I could play varsity tennis so that’s what I did.  I was a tough little player and still play to this day, except now I am fatter and slower! 

I had a great time in High School and have MANY friends that I still hang out with today.
At that point in my life I had no interest in show biz at all.

I graduated from Colonia High in 1983 and went off to Rutgers University.  I had a blast at Rutgers and became a HUGE fan of Rutgers’ sports.  I was into RU football for years and suffered through some AWFUL seasons.  So you can only imagine how pumped I am about their recent success.  Let’s hope head coach Greg Schiano keeps it up.  While at Rutgers I was a Journalism Major and I was in the KAPPA SIGMA fraternity.  While at Rutgers, I did a few small stints doing sports reports on WRSU 88.7 FM, so I guess you could say that was the beginning of my career.  But actually I was just so into sports and thought it was cool to be on the air!  I graduated from Rutgers in 1987.

After Rutgers, I had NO idea what I wanted to do and since my brother Frank was working in the computer industry, I took a job selling computers at a place called Clancy Paul Computers in Princeton NJ.

While it wasn’t a bad job and I met some good people,  I really wasn’t into computers at all.  Every Friday I couldn’t wait to get down to the Jersey shore in the summer.  But over the course of about 3 months a lot came together. 

One day a woman who was 7 months pregnant came into the store and was looking for a computer.  She had no money and was buying the cheapest computer we had with NO hard drive.  I told her she had to have at least a hard drive and we started having a few laughs at the store.  She came back 3 times and each time I made her laugh and had fun selling her the computer.  She told me she was directing a sketch comedy show near Princeton and that I should be in it.  I said I would come to a rehearsal and check it out.

I had fun at the rehearsal and I made my debut in PANCAKES from HELL, a sketch comedy show.

I even got reviewed in a small paper and they said nice things about me.  And that is when I got “THE BUG”

Around the same time, my best friend, Mike Ruane, was going to Jersey City State College for film.  We came up with an idea to shoot a short film about a guy about to get married.  Mike did MOST of the work and it was his first film.  It was called SHOE BOX BLUES.  We had a huge party in the backyard for the screening.  We made up programs and had beer and popcorn.  It was an awesome night.  And people seemed to really enjoy the film.  Now the bug was in full gear.


I read in the Star Ledger newspaper that they were casting a community theater play, Woody Allen’s PLAY IT AGAIN SAM.  I went down to the audition knowing nothing.  I didn’t have a headshot, I didn’t even know what a headshot was.  I strolled in like pompous ass and some lady in the lobby asked me what role I would like to read for.  I said “the biggest one I guess”.  She then told me to read for the Tony Roberts role, Woody Allen’s sidekick.  She gave me the audition material.  I looked it over and went up there and let it rip. A few days later, the director, Mary Mcginley called me and said she wanted to see me for a CALLBACK.  I couldn’t believe it!  So I went back a little nervous.  There weren’t that many people there and it looked like there were only two people up for my part.  It was a tall guy and me.  I figured well, if they don’t go tall I got a shot.  Well, they didn’t go tall!!

Doing that play was an awesome experience.  I was so green and naïve, but I had the bug!  I probably wasn’t great in the play but there were professional actors in the show and I think I held my own.  Not bad for a rookie.

From there I auditioned for a few other plays in the area and had a blast.

I then asked my Aunt Peggy, who was a stylist in New York, what I should do to get going in New York.  She put me in touch with some people and they all said to get headshots and buy BACKSTAGE and start going on auditions.

And that’s what I did- and I did that EVERY week without fail.  I send HUNDREDS of headshots to all kinds of productions.  I learned everything I know about auditioning from those BACKSTAGE auditions.

At that time, I met a guy named Artie Lange.  Most of you know him from the Howard Stern show and his standup comedy.  But when we met, he didn’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of!

We met doing a dinner theater show and hit it off immediately and I knew I had a friend for life.

I’ll never forget me saying, “Hey Art, I’ve been doing these Backstage open calls, do you want to come with me?”  He was totally into it as well.

We were both so blue collar.  We were not showbiz types and I think that helped us.  We got our headshots done by PHOTO’S BY LARRY.  They were awful but they looked like us and that was fine by us.  So was the $75 dollar price!

One day I got a call for a show called ALAN CHAN’S IMPROVABLES, an improv group in NYC.  I told Artie about it and told him to come in with me and maybe he can get in.  That audition was wild.  We had never done anything like that.  Artie was UNREAL.  He was and still is the funniest guy I have ever met.  He was like Michael Jordan.  He was just that good!  I must have had a good day myself because a few days later, we were at my house and I checked my messages and they were asking me to join the group.  Then Artie checked his machine and he got the same call. (AH yes…the days of answering machines and pagers!)  We were so pumped because this meant we were going to be performing in NYC!!! We celebrated by playing softball and having a few beers afterwards…well maybe MORE THAN A FEW!

We both did the IMPROV shows.  They were awful, “bringer” shows but to us it was Broadway!  A guy named Mike Stafford joined the group as well and Artie and I hit it off with him.  One day Alan Chan said he was giving up the group.  Stafford decided to take over and we formed a group called MIDNIGHT MADNESS.  Mike Stafford is responsible for much of my success in show biz.  He produced the group and did a lot of the leg work that I would have never done.  And from there, we got into sketch comedy. 
 
We did a big show at Caroline’s and Stafford packed the place.  We had a great night and in the audience was a friend of a friend named Peter Principato.  He was an agent at William Morris.  He liked the group and was looking to get into representing comedy groups at the time.  The next thing you know, the whole group was signed for commercials and voice-overs there.  This was a huge break for me.  I started to audition for voice-overs and TV commercials and that really began my career.

Stafford then added and subtracted members and I was lucky to make the cut each time.  We called the show LIVE ON TAPE and began doing shows.  Artie was a HUGE talent and Stafford was great as a young producer.  And there were guys like Joe Nelms and Jon Krevolin who really helped out the group.  I guess I must have been doing okay myself and I got my share of laughs.

There was an audition for a new show called MAD TV.  We had to do a sketch at the COMIC STRIP in NYC.  We did a sketch called THE DATE.  It was an awesome sketch about announcers announcing a first date!   It went very well and I felt like I had done great in it.  But only Artie and another girl from the sketch got to audition for MAD TV.  I was bummed, I thought I played well enough to get a shot.  Of course, Artie booked MADTV and his career took off.  It was fun to watch a buddy get a break.  It was exciting. We needed to replace Artie so we added three other people to LIVE ON TAPE.  Yes, we need 3 people to replace him!! And the group was now Amy Wilson, Mary Birdsong (Reno 911), Barbara Herel, Tony Mennuto, Alec Holland, Tom Bolster and myself.

I have never worked with group like this before.  They were all amazing.  It was like an All-Star team for me.  Not only were they funny and talented but they were great people and I’m still friends with them to this day.

NBC was looking for a late night show and somehow, someway, they chose us!!
We shot LIVE ON TAPE at NBC’s studios in the same place that they shot SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE.  It was awesome.  I got paid a ton of money and it was a great jumpstart to my career.

NBC didn’t pick up the show but it was a fun ride.  In my mind we were the best sketch group in New York at the time and I have the tapes to prove it!

During this time I was auditioning for voice-overs and commercials and even booked my first TV gig, ABC’s SPIN CITY.  I did a scene with Michael J Fox and that was a big thrill for me.

I was also having a blast at the Jersey shore in Manasquan.  It was great to audition during the week and then hang with my boys at the shore and nobody cared that I was broke or that I was in show biz.  And I still go there to this day.

I then began going out to LA more and more.  I lived there from September to May every year.  I lived in Valley Village CA with my good friend and actor HENRY POLIC II.  I was in “the Valley” and liked it there.  It was close to all the big studios and auditions. I booked a ton of TV Gigs while I was there.  Shows like Friends, ER, Without a Trace, NYPD Blue and other shows.  I was able to get a feel for the whole LA scene and do the whole Hollywood shuffle.

I also started doing standup comedy.  I haven’t mastered that arena as of yet: but I get better and better each time I perform!

I came up with the idea to do a short film about what happens 15 minutes before a softball game.  Artie Lange ended up writing most of it and Mike Ruane directed it.  It was called GAMEDAY.  My other buddy Michael Deeg was in it and so was LIVE ON TAPE veterans, Tony Mennuto and Tom Bolster.  That short came out great and people really loved it.  And it lead to us making the feature film ARTIE LANGE’S BEER LEAGUE, which Artie wrote with Frank Sebastiano.

I now live in Ramsey NJ and have a girlfriend named Stephanie Mallardi.
And that is where I am today.  I hope to have many more bookings and stories in the future.

Thanks for reading my bio and perhaps
I will chat with you soon.

 

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