Interview · moment 5 of 18
Greg Carluzzo: Burying the Jersey Italian Comedian Persona
from "Bros" | The Tim Dillon Show #318 (ft. Greg Stone) · #318
5 min
Guest
Greg tells the story of his early stage persona 'Greg Carluzzo,' the broken Italian-accent joke he used to do at weddings and VFWs, and the John Travolta impersonator he saw perform Saturday Night Fever at a private Long Island party.
- Greg describes a John Travolta impersonator at a Long Island private school party who had abandoned comedy for impressions, seeing the buried pain behind the guy's eyes.
- Tim notes that political impersonators like Trump guys and bush impressionists probably still do their routines years later, trapped in outdated material.
- Greg saw Robert Klein doing Clinton-Lewinsky jokes at a comedy club around 2015-2016, material that was already stale by then.
- Tim and Greg discuss Scotty's Steakhouse, a comedy venue that restricts what diners can order to keep costs down.
- Greg watched a comedian at Scotty's spontaneously launch into a Ross Perot impression, material so dated the audience had no idea who Perot was.
- There's a whole underground level of comedy through sites like GigMasters where comedians perform at private parties and events instead of clubs.
- Greg did a gig in Lodi, New Jersey where he and a one-armed crackhead from a recovery comedy company had to pretend to be a band, then reveal they were comedians—the bit completely bombed with the audience.
- The recovery after the failed band reveal required someone to stand up and announce the comedy show, like telling people at a steakhouse they're actually serving vegan food.
Ross PerotRobert KleinGigMastersJohn TravoltaDana CarveyFour BridgesBilly Joel