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[0:10] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's the Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon.

[0:16] Robert Bannon: Okay, everybody, listen, you know him by his first name. He's an Academy Award nominated actor. He's a writer, a director, he's an icon. And listen, don't let Robert Bannon fool you. My mother is Rosa Antonio Di Meglio from Fort Lee, New Jersey. So if you're Rosa Antonio Di Meglio, we grew up with this man's work. Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only Mr. Chazz Palminteri is here.

[0:36] Chazz Palminteri: Oh my goodness. Hey, it's good to see you.

[0:39] Robert Bannon: Good to see you, Robert. How are you? So good to see you again. Thank you so much for being here.

[0:44] Chazz Palminteri: I am so excited because your one man show version of A Bronx Tale is back on tour. You are touring, you play 18, 19 characters?

[0:54] Chazz Palminteri: 18 characters.

[0:55] Chazz Palminteri: Oh, and you know, it's pretty a lot of well, more people are starting to know now, because I've been on tour on and off for like the past 30 years. People really didn't realize that Bronx Tale started with this.

[1:10] Chazz Palminteri: Robert De Niro saw this show. That's how A Bronx Tale got made. When I did it back, I wrote it in 1988, 1989, and I performed it back then. It became the hottest property in the world at the time. Robert De Niro's store said it was the greatest one man show we ever saw. And everybody wanted my play to make a movie, but they didn't want me. They wanted to put a star in the role. And I refused.

[1:40] Chazz Palminteri: I had 200 in the bank at the time in 1988. And they offered me 500,000. Well, the first offer was 250, then 500, 750, 1 million, 1 million and a half. And I kept saying no, and I had 200 in the bank. And then one night, Robert De Niro came to see it. I didn't know he was in the audience. And somebody told me that De Niro just saw it, and he's in the dressing room waiting for you. I was like, Bob De Niro? He goes, Yeah.

[2:08] Chazz Palminteri: So I went in the dressing room, and there he was sitting there, you know, and he said that he loved the piece and he was very kind. He said, Look, if you sell it, they're gonna come to me anyway. But he goes, I know what you want. He goes, You should direct, you should write it, because it's your life. You'll be great as Sonny. He goes, I'll play your father and I'll direct it, and that's the way it'll be. And you know what? He kept his word, and that blew me up, and I became a star from that day on.

[2:37] Robert Bannon: Well, I mean, and there's the poster, the rest is literally history. It lives on forever for sure. And there's so much about your life of reading about your life. You know, you're from the Bronx, you're Sicilian family. Your father was a bus driver. You did witness this murder at nine. Like it is your life.

[2:53] Chazz Palminteri: Yes, I mean, it's exactly the way it happened when I was nine years old. I was sitting on my stoop, and this guy, Sonny, killed this guy right in front of me. And I kind of just stared at him, you know. I was like, and he looked at me and I looked at him, and the next minute I knew I was flying up the steps. My father ran down and grabbed me by my arm. And then when you know, when the cops came, I even at nine years old, I was smart enough to know you don't rat on anybody. So I didn't rat on him.

[3:21] Chazz Palminteri: And then the next day he saw me, and he was like, Yeah, he looked he just smiled and he pointed at me like, you know, like good kid, you know. And then I would hang around there, and I would, you know, make cappuccino and cut up the lemons and the limes at the bar for the guys, and you know, go get them sandwiches or cigarettes or things like that. And my father was very upset by that.

[3:45] Chazz Palminteri: Because even though Sonny, like I said, he was a look, don't get me wrong, he was a wise guy and he was a tough guy and a killer, but he wanted the best for me, just like my father did. So that's what makes the story so interesting. It's not about black and white. Sonny wanted me to be go to school, go to college, and make something out of my life. Well, also my father, but my father kept saying, You will be influenced by him. Trust me, stay away. And my dad was right. He was because I was getting influenced.

[4:17] Robert Bannon: Well, it worked out pretty well for you and the story for short. It touches on so many different things that are contemporary in time, too. I mean, it takes place in the past, but you know, you were talking about it is about relationships, it is about race, it is about family, it's universal theme. So it's as relevant now as ever.

[4:37] Chazz Palminteri: Right, Robert. It's more, it's almost even more powerful today than it was when I first did it. It's you know, they're archetypes, the characters, you know. They just it's a standard of archetypes in the thing, the father, the mother, Sonny, you know, the racism. And people, like I said, people who've seen the one man show, the movie, and the musical say that they like the one man show the best. Because it's me. I'm Claudio, I'm the little boy, and I'm telling you the story, and I'm directing all and I excuse me, and I'm acting all the parts.

[5:13] Chazz Palminteri: So it's just a great, great show. If you never saw it, you know, you gotta come and see it. You know, Alfred Hitchcock used to say, There's only three things you could do to an audience, and if you do two out of three, yeah, you got a great, great movie. Or a play. And the three things are you can make someone laugh, you can make someone cry, or you could scare them. That's it. Only three things. And in Bronx Tale, I do all three. I make you laugh, I make you cry, and I scare you.

[5:44] Chazz Palminteri: I mean, people stand up and cheer at the end. It's uh I you know I don't brag about anything that I've ever done. I've done 70 movies, I don't really talk about that. But when it comes to the one man show, I am so proud of it and so excited by doing it. I mean, I'm gonna be um I'm gonna be on this tour is like an incredible tour. So I'm really excited about doing it. If you go to ChazzPalminteri.net.

[6:17] Robert Bannon: You're in Jersey.

[6:18] Chazz Palminteri: I I'm gonna take my dad. I'm coming to I'm I'm coming to the Mayo Center because he is the biggest fan of this movie and this show.

[6:25] Robert Bannon: Oh, you gotta.

[6:25] Chazz Palminteri: And so we're coming. And you gotta bring him backstage and say hello.

[6:29] Robert Bannon: Or then that's a deal because he's you're in Morristown, New Jersey, you're in Long Island, you're in coming to Staten Island, you're at Sagerstrom in California, which is beautiful, you're in Pennsylvania. Go to ChazzPalminteri.net, make sure you get your tickets, the seat all the parts played by this gentleman right here.

[6:48] Chazz Palminteri: Morristown, Morristown is May 15th, and that's my birthday. So I will be there on my birthday. So I always say, you know, God, come and see the show. Like I said, ChazzPalminteri.net, or you can go to my podcast. I have a great podcast, Chazz Palminteri Show at gmail.com, Chazz Palminteri Show on YouTube, and it's all over. So either one is perfect.

[7:14] Robert Bannon: Do you thank you? I love you, you are such the everything you do is from television to film to Broadway. Here's here's the playbill of when the show ran.

[7:25] Chazz Palminteri: Um, the tour, and what a beautiful run you guys had in New York and everywhere, and continues.

[7:33] Chazz Palminteri: Yeah, and it just continues. And there are people who saw the show. I think the record, the record of somebody seeing the show over 34 years is 127 times. I mean, come on.

[7:46] Chazz Palminteri: I have that be. I told these people it's a couple, a young couple, they followed me. I said, look, you guys gotta get a life. You know, but most people have seen it 10, 20 times. When I did it on Broadway, he said it was the only no, he said there were only three shows that ever where the people left the theater and got online again to buy tickets again.

[8:11] Chazz Palminteri: So um believe me, I'm not bragging. It's you come and see it and you'll see what I'm saying. Uh I saw the I saw the musical. We went for my father's birthday because he's a gigantic fan, and um with my brother, who is not a musical or a theater person at all. He's a he's a police, he's a detective in New Jersey, and we they loved it. They're favorite because it's just such a beautiful, wonderful story. Um so thank you for sharing. Thank you, thank you, Robert. I appreciate that. And uh like I said, anybody wants to know where I'm doing it, ChazzPalminteri.net or go to Chazz Palminteri Podcasts, and you'll get all the info.

[8:52] Chazz Palminteri: Uh before we we I just have to say, after you were on with the cast of the Bronx Tale on our broadcast reading series, you had mentioned that you have a restaurant in New York City and one by where you live out in Westchester. And uh and we went. Oh, you're what? This was us. We went where we went as a big group. We went for a birthday, and let me tell you, it was delicious. The matrix D was so nice. The waiter was so great. We talked about you. We had the best time. If you want to leave a reservation, go to ChazzPalminteriMIC.com and come go to go to New York. You have to delicious Italian food, but special, not just your running mill kind of food.

[9:41] Chazz Palminteri: No, no, no, no, no. It has to be great because my name's on it. I have two restaurants, 30 West 46th Street in Manhattan, and 264 Main Street in White Plains, New York. Delicious. We had uh the most wonderful meal. It's break some bread, have a glass of wine, and and celebrate with someone special. Come go to those restaurants for sure. Um, I know you're always up to something. Your podcast, your touring, everything that you've said, all the lessons you exhibit to everyone, but but what I take away when I watched the movie the other day again, and what it remembers is wasted talent for someone like me. Yeah, for 20 years, I left doing stuff like this and and tried to be normal and have a regular job. And the line in the movie and the lesson that's taught you, and that there's so many children out here and kids and adults that have that are afraid. How did you have the courage to just keep going and not actually that's I'm glad you brought that up?

[10:37] Chazz Palminteri: That actually is my father's line who said that. There was a great fighter back then named Billy Bellow. He fought for the light heavyweight, uh no middleweight championship. And then two weeks later, they found him on a rooftop with a needle stuck in his arm. And my father was devastated. And he told me, he said, the saddest thing in life is wasted talent. That was his line. So he when I was nine years old, he wrote it on a card. In fact, you know what's funny? I have the card here. This is not the card, but uh this is a replica of the card. The saddest thing in life is wasted talent. I sign it, and I actually you could you can purchase this on my website, ChazzPalminteri.net. I always carry little cards with me when I meet a young actor or a young person, and I tell them, I said, here, take this card, I sign it.

Because it it inspired me. I keep looking at it. I was looking at it when I grew up, and obviously it worked out really good. I put it in my daughter's room and my son's room growing up, and I drilled it into the head. My son just graduated the top musical school in in Boston, Berkeley College, and my daughter is going to the top program in University of Michigan. So you know, the card works. I inspired, you know, it's it's an inspirational card.

[11:57] Chazz Palminteri: Um, and it's an inspirational line in the movie. So thank you for sharing that because it's been in my head and swimming in my head for the for the past. Yeah, that's my dad. So many lines I'm very proud of it. Yeah, my dad's so many lines. It was my mantra my whole life. Do you feel before I let you go, that the stage and being all the characters? I can't even imagine how you know the line. I know you've been doing it for so many years, but like um being uh on television and film versus the stage, is it the audience? Is it that it's one time and it's done instead of resetting and take what is the magic of being on the stage versus in on the screen?

[12:34] Chazz Palminteri: You know what? It's like walking a tightrope. When you do a film, which I love, and when you do a uh TV, I love, but you know, you're walking a tie, you're walking like a plank with a big net underneath you. Because if you mess up, you know, they go cut, all right. Let's go over the lines, let's take it again. Oh, let's try that. That didn't work. On stage, this is it. This is it, babe. You're walking the tightrope, there's a live audience, they're watching you. We're all looking at each other, the actors, or if I'm doing a one-person show, uh, that's it. And it's spontaneous, you know. It's just things happen, you know, things happen. Um, any any minute, something could they laugh certain things that you didn't think they would laugh at?

They they don't laugh. Yeah, it's it's like amazing. So uh to me, it's like walking the tightrope. And you know what? As an actor where I started in theater, I'm a member of the actor studio where I go every Wednesday. I still go there to work out and train, and that is acting, theater is like aerobics. You do the aerobics, it's like the nuts and bolts of acting. If you could do theater, usually you could do film and television, but the opposite is not true.

[13:48] Chazz Palminteri: There are many big stars who I know, I won't mention their names, who do theater, who do film and television, huge stars, and they look at me and they go, Chazz, I won't go near that. I don't care how much money they pay me. It's just too hard. It's just too hard. But you know what? It's the real essence of acting, as far as I'm concerned.

[14:11] Robert Bannon: Agreed. Oh my goodness. I could talk to you about acting for hours. Because as an acting student myself, you are you are one of the greats because you do the comedy. I mean, there's not an airplane without seeing you pop up on Modern Family, or then seeing you on Law & Order, or seeing you on Blue Bloods, or you know, you on Down to Earth with Chris Rock is one of my favorite. Like you have done, there's a wide range of roles and work that you've done, and that's all the craft, and your love and attention to the craft of acting is what makes the difference for sure.

[14:39] Chazz Palminteri: Oh, thank you. Thank you. That's that's exactly what it is. It's the craft. You have to have the craft. People think they could just get up there and and act. You know, uh sometimes you could do that one role, you know, if you're really right for it. But if you really want longevity and you want to be an actor in this business, you have to learn the craft because sooner or later, you know, it'll come out of a wash. You'll do something, and you go, uh oh, I'm not prepared for this. So you have to have the craft to back you up.

[15:08] Robert Bannon: Well, we're all gonna go to www.chazzpalminteri.net. And if you're in the new California in the LA area, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, and more, more dates added, and more dates not even listed. Yes, make sure you get your tickets. One man, all the roles, the story that you love. Chazz Palminteri, the Bronx Tale One Man Show is coming to your neck of the woods. Make sure you get tickets. And Mr. Palminteri, it is always such an honor and pleasure to talk to you. It's really is uh something special.

[15:37] Chazz Palminteri: Well, God bless. Thank you, Robert. You you ask great questions, that's why I like seeing you.

[15:41] Robert Bannon: Thank you. Thank you, and I'll see you in Jersey in May.

[15:45] Chazz Palminteri: Absolutely. Bring your dad.

[15:47] Robert Bannon: That's a deal.

[15:47] Chazz Palminteri: Okay, thank you so much.