The Wise Guy Show - Report from Sirius Radio Broadcast

Missing The Sopranos already? Nobody gets whacked on The Wiseguy Show, but you'll find it’s still time well spent with “the family.”

At the head of the red-checkered table sits former Sopranos cast member Vincent Pastore (the late Sal “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero), hosting the three-hour SIRIUS Satellite Radio broadcast produced by another Sopranos figurehead, Steven Van Zandt (Silvio Dante).

Airing live on Wednesdays from 6 pm to 9 pm on channel 147, The Wiseguy Show features a crew of street-wise neighborhood Joes-in-the-know sharing their unique perspectives on current events, film, sex and meatballs.

Each week Vinny Vella, Joe Rigano, John “Cha Cha” Ciarcia, Steve Schirripa (Bobby Bacala Baccalieri on the Sopranos), and announcer “Brooklyn” Joe Causi join Pastore for sit-downs with prominent guests from the world of entertainment. In between interviews the Wiseguys dish out regular segments such as: “What the Hell Happened This Week,” “Last Week on the Sopranos,” “The Pussy Report” and “What’s Your Beef,” where listeners air their gripes. Here’s a sampling…

Vincent Pastore: “Whatsa’ matta? What’s your beef?”

(Call-in) Jimmy from California: I can’t lose weight.

Cha Cha (laughing): I can’t give you advice on that. I got the same problem.

Vinny Vella: Hey Jimmy, you’re asking 5 heavyweights over here.

Joe Rigano: A lot of sex. You lose a lot of weight.

Throughout the madness, you’ll hear music from Tony Bennett crooning about “The Good Life,” Dion describing “Donna The Prima Donna,” Frank Sinatra accepting “That’s Life,” and more.

Some original tunes introducing segments in the show are pretty catchy as well. “Last Week on the Sopranos” sticks out:

“Last week on The Sopranos/Oh my god I thought I missed a line/Last week on The Sopranos/Thank god it was repeated 7 times/Who’s with who and who’s a rat/And who’s been telling lies/Every look and every word, must be analyzed/Analyze this/Analyze that/All I wanna know is who got laid and who got whacked…etc.

(The Wiseguys bump each other off the mics, fighting for the last word like leftovers.)

You can almost smell the red sauce when Vella Rigano reports remotely from a 6th Avenue restaurant where the topic is “meatballs.”

“I haven’t seen this many guineys in one place since the John Gotti trial,” said Schirripa during Chianese’s interview.

During the May 26 broadcast, which I was fortunate to watch in-studio at SIRIUS, guests George Lopez from the “George Lopez Show,” singer/actor David Johansen from the New York Dolls, and another distinguished Sopranos member, Dominic Chianese (Uncle Junior) pulled up chairs.

Pastore described the new show best to Chianese saying, “Usually it’s like 5 guys in the back of a social club arguing about who has the highest card.”

Chianese answered questions about how life has changed since the show began, showing us that even a Soprano can be soft sometimes. When Vella asked what he first did when he started earning money, Chainese replied, “One of the first things I did do was buy a good guitar because I like to play.”

Subscribe to Sirius at: http://www.siriusradio.com/. But hold onto your canolli’s because there’s more action. Get out to Sophia’s restaurant (221 W. 46th St. –under the Hotel Edison) where Chianese plays a regular Monday night gig.

Originally published in The Aquarian Weekly (June '04).