Chazz Palminteri on Comedy, Chris Rock, and Richard Pryor

One of the perks of doing Comedy Matters TV is getting to see movies before they hit the theatre. That’s still as much fun to me as when I go into The Comic Strip and make my own drink with the soda gun at the bar. I never get tired of doing that!

I’ve been a fan of Academy Award-nominated actor Chazz Palminteri for many years, or at least since I saw A Bronx Tale, which came out as a film in 1993. It had actually been a stage play before where Chazz acted out all 18 parts by himself.

So when I knew I was going to have the opportunity to sit down with him in a one-on-one, to talk about his new film Mighty Fine, I was kind of excited and really looking forward to it.

The interview went so great because Chazz started off asking me how much time we had so he’d know whether to make his answers short or long. I told him I’d stay as long as he could keep talking so we went for a good 30 minutes.

When Chazz did Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway, he played Cheech, a hitman with an affinity for writing plays, a comedic role he said only Woody Allen could have written. That part got Chazz the nomination for an Academy Award.

I felt that despite all the violence from his past films, Chazz also had a comedic side to him. So I felt it was important to make part of my interview about comedy, what he thought of stand-up, did he ever try it, and who were his favorite comics. He had some cool answers, and a lot of insight into the comedy world.

Check out the video to hear what he had to say about stand-up, Chris Rock, Richard Pryor and more, and go see Mighty Fine! You’ll definitely enjoy it!