MIDDLETOWN – John Pizzi can pinpoint the exact moment that changed the course of his life. It was one day when he was a 7-year-old boy, and he saw a friend’s older brother perform a magic trick.
“It was such a silly trick, but it changed my life at that moment,” he said. “I was so fascinated. I couldn’t accept it being magic. I just had to know how it was done. From then on, I wanted to be the world’s greatest magician and give to others that same moment of wonder.”
Pizzi was a shy, quiet kid, not the class clown that one might expect a future comedian to be. It wasn’t until later that he decided to add comedy to the mix when, in the 1970s, he saw the television series “Soap,” in which one of the characters, played by Jay Johnson, was a ventriloquist who constantly carried around his dummy named Bob.
“He said the rudest things and he got away with it because it was the dummy talking,” Pizzi said. “I loved it and I wanted to do something like that.”
Pizzi begged his father to buy him a dummy, and his father agreed. He watched “Soap” over and over again, teaching himself how to speak without moving his lips.
“That’s only part of it,” he said. “You have to be funny on top of that. But being diverse makes the job a lot more fun.”
Pizzi, a resident of Manalapan, has spent many years honing his magic, ventriloquist and comedic skills, and will show them of f when he performs at the Middletown Arts Center on July 18.
“I do a lot of interactive crowd work,” he said. “I’m like a new age Don Rickles with a dummy. I like to goof around with people in the audience – the dumb blonde, the bald guy, the guy with the ugly shirt. It’s always fresh and fun. It’s never the same show.”
He will also show of f his virtual ventriloquist act, a bit he spent a year perfecting before bringing it to “America’s Got Talent,” where he received rave reviews from all three judges.
“The show was a good shot in the arm for my career,” he said. “It was unique and different, and it brought the house down.”
Pizzi was raised in Brooklyn and Staten Island by his Italian immigrant father and his mother, a piano teacher. He went to college for a while, majoring in business, and held jobs on Wall Street, in a restaurant and at a car dealership. But he dreamed of a career in comedy, where he could do what he loved every day.
“I tried so many things, but I didn’t like any of them,” he said. “Everyone told me to get a real job, but I didn’t care if I made a good living. I just wanted to be happy. It feels good to see the joy I put on other people’s faces.”
When Pizzi and his wife were about to become parents 18 years ago, they wanted to raise their daughter in a more suburban setting. One night, when he was performing at a holiday party in Manalapan, he pulled into the development and the neighborhood immediately felt right to him. He and his wife ended up buying a home on the same street where that party was held.
“I feel like everything happens on purpose,” he said.
While Pizzi is able to make a living doing what he loves, he works hard, performing about 500 shows a year and spending most of his life behind the wheel of his car. So how does he keep up with the pace?
“I exercise, I take vitamins and I love what I do,” he said. “I’m an entertainer. Performing for people is such a great joy.”
Pizzi is a regular at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas and the Borgata in Atlantic City and is a member of the Friars Club in New York and Los Angeles. He has headlined at comedy clubs and theaters across the country and has opened for many entertainers, including Jerry Vale, Joy Behar and Weird Al Yankovic. His shows are as diverse as can be. He can put on shows for children, or shows that entertain both adults and kids. He has a clean routine, so clean he even performs for Orthodox groups. But Pizzi also has an X-rated show that can be tailored to focus on a particular person, similar to a Comedy Central Roast in which the guest of honor is teased in a humorous but often risqué fashion.
“I will do a custom roast, using the dummy and making jokes about the person’s life,” he said. “It’s very edgy.”
For the family-friendly show at the Middletown Arts Center, Pizzi will bring along several of his dummies and also perform the virtual ventriloquist routine, along with a little magic and a lot of laughs.
“My goal is to get people off their cellphones and experience live entertainment,” he said. “It’s more fun.”
The 8 p.m. show at the Middletown Arts Center is produced by Legends Promotions of Staten Island. The performance, hosted by Andy Hayward, also includes the musical talents of Vinnie Medugno and Charlie Poveromo performing hits of the 40s through 70s. Tickets are $35 and are available at
www.middletownarts.org. The Middletown Arts Center is located at 36 Church St., Middletown.
– By Mary Ann Bourbeau
Arts and entertainment writer Mary Ann Bourbeau can be reached at mbourbeau@tworivertimes.com.
