Piscopo holds Garden (State) party at Orleans

Monday, Oct. 4, 2004 | 8:29 a.m.

Entertainer Joe Piscopo is a fraud.

He isn't from New Jersey. He can't be. The comedic Jersey stereotypes are rude, crude, abrasive, pushy and obnoxious. They wear loud Dacron shirts, flared pants, tons of gold jewelry.

Piscopo, a potential candidate for governor of his home state, is none of these things. He's polite (almost to a fault), apologetic (almost to a fault), gracious, considerate and genial. And he wears tuxedos.

But there's that Jersey accent, the almost overwhelming self-confidence and the raw energy.

OK. Maybe he isn't a fake. Maybe he is a native of the Garden State.

But regardless of his origins, there is no question about Piscopo's many talents, which he put to good use during his four-night engagement at the Orleans last week.

The comedian/singer/musician/actor/former cast member of "Saturday Night Live" (1980-84) and neophyte politician sang, told jokes, clowned with his fans and demonstrated his prowess on several musical instruments -- sax, guitar, piano, drums.

He could have been a one-man show, but he had the inimitable 17-piece Vincent Falcone orchestra backing him.

Falcone, a longtime Vegas resident, and Piscopo have been friends for 25 years. One of the common threads in their lives was Frank Sinatra. Falcone was Sinatra's orchestra leader for many years, primarily 1976-86; Piscopo has practically made a career of imitating Sinatra, which he does quite well.

And so it was no surprise that Piscopo's performance was more of a tribute to the Chairman of the Board than anything else, with Piscopo singing a dozen or so of Sinatra's hits -- among them "Luck Be a Lady Tonight," "A Quarter to Three," "The Lady Is a Tramp" and "Summer Wind."

But there was ample comedy to fill in the time between songs.

Piscopo turned Sinatra's classic "That's Life" into a rap tune.

He told a couple of politically incorrect jokes, apologizing profusely in advance.

On a screen he showed a couple of clips from "Saturday Night Live," one with him as Sinatra doing a duet with his pal Eddie Murphy as Stevie Wonder. He made fun of his photo on Fitness magazine, taken during his bodybuilding days.

"I don't have time to do that anymore," said the still-lean, 53-year-old father of three (ages 25, 5 and 2), with one due in November.

Piscopo reminisced about his "SNL" days and his career; he frequently acknowledged Falcone, expressing great admiration and respect; he talked about his family life and did nothing to dispel the idea that he would run for governor.

Throughout the show he acted much like a politician on the campaign trail -- drawing his audience close to him, waving, smiling, pointing, nodding, taking names and talking to individual fans.

If Piscopo is elected the country will at last have a professional comedian in charge, instead of the amateur comics who now run the nation.