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Mike Bocchetti

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Mike Bocchetti
Born (1961-04-03) April 3, 1961 (age 63)[1]
Staten Island, New York
Medium
Alma materTottenville High School
Years active1992-present
Genres
Notable works and roles
The Artie Lange Show
The Howard Stern Show
Last Comic Standing
Opie and Anthony
Websitemikebocchetti.com

Mike Bocchetti (born April 3, 1961) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer from Staten Island, New York. He is most notable for his role as the announcer on The Artie Lange Show from 2012 to 2014,[2][3][4] and has acted frequently on film and television.

Bocchetti released a comedy album, Thank You, on Stand Up! Records in 2019.

Early life

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Bocchetti was born on April 3, 1961, in Staten Island[5][1][6] to a Catholic Italian family of what he once called "a very humble blue-collar background".[7] He is the oldest of five children.[8][9] He graduated from Tottenville High School in 1979.[10][1] Often bullied as a child for being overweight, he was inspired to become a comedian after hearing Redd Foxx and realizing that the audience was laughing with, and not at, Foxx.[5]

He joined the Marines in 1980 but washed out after a few weeks; he wrote about the experience for his 2019 stage show Space Cookie.[1]

Career

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Stand-up comedy/stage

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Bocchetti started performing comedy in 1992 and has performed on New York-area stages for decades,[4][11][7] including the Staten Island Comedy Festival[12] and New Jersey music festival The Bamboozle.[13]

Television

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Bocchetti was the announcer on DirectTV's The Artie Lange Show (originally titled The Nick & Artie Show) from 2012 to 2014. He had been friends with Lange since the 1990s as a fellow stand-up comic; before they were famous, Lange once told Bocchetti, "If I'm ever on TV as a talk show host, you are my Ed McMahon."[2][3][4] He has worked with Lange often after the show's cancellation.

Bocchetti's television work includes appearances on two seasons of NBC's Last Comic Standing in 2003 and 2006.[4][14] He played a homeless man in the 2004 Monk episode "Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan".[15] He appeared on the Louis C.K. series Louie in 2015.[16] He was a guest on 25 episodes of Mary Dimino's New York-area cable-TV series Nights With Mary between 2003 and 2012.[15][17]

He formed a production company with comedian Ken Burmeister, Blasted Films,[11] which made Tubby Man: Hero of the Bullied, a semi-autobiographical comedy web series with an anti-bullying message, for Blip TV in 2013.[8][9]

In May 2024, Bocchetti starred as the fictional President of the United States, Jimble, in Adult Swim's comedy cartoon Smiling Friends.

Radio and podcasts

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Bocchetti has been a frequent guest on talk-radio shows and podcasts including The Howard Stern Show and Opie and Anthony,[18] as well as The Jim Breuer Show, The Chip Chipperson Podcast,[19][20] The Dump with Steve Conti, The Anthony Cumia Show, The Miserable Men Show and The Slant.[5][18][4]

In 2014, Bocchetti started his own podcast, The Mike Bocchetti Show, which ran for 13 episodes.[7][18]

In December 2019, he began co-hosting a new podcast with Lange, Artie Lange's Halfway House.[21] Lange suspended the podcast in February 2020.[22]

At the end of 2022, Mike, with co host Jenny, relaunched his podcast The Mike Bocchetti Show on YouTube. The interview format has Mike and Jenny interviewing multiple guests on each episode.[23]

Film

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In 2002, Bocchetti played one of the Grand Masters of the Illuminati in avant-garde artist Matthew Barney's film Cremaster 3.[24][25][15] Other film work includes the 2003 indie comedy Chooch[26] and 2020 Christina Ricci drama Faraway Eyes.[27]

In 2009, Bocchetti starred in a short documentary directed by Lee Schloss, Who Is Mike Bocchetti?, covering his career and work with Lange, and including interviews with comedians including Colin Quinn.[14][28][29]

Albums

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Bocchetti's debut album, Thank You, was released in 2019 on Stand Up! Records. Comedy website Laughspin compared Thank You favorably with Rodney Dangerfield's darkly self-deprecating persona,[30] as did Richard Lanoie of The Serious Comedy Site, who also felt that Bocchetti "is not for the casual comedy fan and requires some patience to really appreciate."[31]

Books and writing

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In 2018, Bocchetti published an autobiography, Still Standing, covering his life from childhood through his 2017 heart attack.[6]

In 2015, he wrote an ongoing interview column, The Bocchetti Files, for website The Interrobang.[32]

Discography

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Personal life

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Bocchetti was diagnosed with obsessive–compulsive disorder at age 26[5][6][14] and is a recovering alcoholic who has been sober since 1997.[5][14] He had a heart attack in 2017.[33][6]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d O'Brien, Chris (March 15, 2019). "Space Cookie: The Mike Bocchetti Tapes". Composite Beast. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  2. ^ a b Rosen, Daniel Edward (2013-11-09). "Artie Lange on Saving Himself". Esquire. New York City. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  3. ^ a b McCarthy, Sean L. (2014-04-29). "DirecTV cancels The Artie Lange Show". The Comic's Comic. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  4. ^ a b c d e Bocchetti, Mike (January 1, 2015). "A New Years Inspiration, Mike Bocchetti's Transformation". The Interrobang. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  5. ^ a b c d e Sal Coladonato (July 23, 2017). "Episode 119: Odyssey of The Space Cookie". The Slant (Podcast). Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  6. ^ a b c d Jim Norton & Sam Roberts (2019-02-28). "Mike Bocchetti Releases a Run-on Book, Jim & Sam Review". O&A Fan Videos (Podcast). YouTube. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  7. ^ a b c Bocchetti, Mike (2014-06-22). "Mike Bocchetti, My Dream Gig With the Artie Lange Show, and How I Lost It". The Interrobang. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  8. ^ a b Jacoviello, Dana (November 14, 2014). "Bulllying is No Laughing Matter with Mike Brochette". Bullies Keep Out. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  9. ^ a b Jacoviello, Dana (November 21, 2013). "Tubby Man Press Release". Bullies Keep Out. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  10. ^ "Tottenville High (THS) Class of 1979 Alumni List". Tottenville High School. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  11. ^ a b Bocchetti, Mike (May 15, 2014). "Mike Bocchetti's New York Comedy Class of 1992". The Interrobang. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  12. ^ Bailey, Rob (2012-04-12). "Live from New York, it's the 5th Annual Staten Island Comedy Festival". Staten Island Advance. Staten Island, New York. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  13. ^ "Set Times, Lineup, and Downloadable Timecards". The Bamboozle. Archived from the original on 2007-05-06. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  14. ^ a b c d "Dopey 284: Bonus Episode with Mike Bocchetti, Alcoholism, Recovery, New York City, Artie Lange". Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction (Podcast). March 3, 2021. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  15. ^ a b c Mike Bocchetti at IMDb
  16. ^ "All New "Louie" Tonight With Guest Star Mike Bocchetti". The Interrobang. April 16, 2015. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  17. ^ Criscitiello, Alexa (August 1, 2019). "Mary Dimino Returns To Stapleton Waterfront Park". Broadway World. New York City. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  18. ^ a b c "Mike Bocchetti Show". Stitcher. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  19. ^ Chip Chipperson (June 28, 2020). "148: The Winner". Chip Chipperson Podcast (Podcast). Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  20. ^ Chip Chipperson (November 2, 2020). "165: Good N Creamy". Chip Chipperson Podcast (Podcast). Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  21. ^ Kuperinsky, Amy (November 18, 2019). "Artie Lange sets premiere date for 'Halfway House' podcast". NJ.com. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  22. ^ Kuperinsky, Amy (March 13, 2020). "Artie Lange: I'm not on drugs, but I'm canceling my shows (and not because of coronavirus)". NJ.com. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  23. ^ "The Mike Bocchetti show". YouTube.com. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
  24. ^ Doeringer, Eric. "Cremaster 3 Characters". Cremaster Fanatic. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  25. ^ Gonzalez, Ed (June 7, 2002). "Review: Cremaster 3". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  26. ^ John Willis; Barry Monush (1 April 2006). Screen World: 2005 Film Annual. Hal Leonard. pp. 206–. ISBN 978-1-55783-668-7.
  27. ^ "Faraway Eyes". FilmAffinity. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  28. ^ "Who Is Mike Bocchetti?". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  29. ^ "Mike Bocchetti - A Career in Stand Up Comedy". Having the Talk (Podcast). Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  30. ^ Martinez, Nicholas C. (February 26, 2019). "Album Review: Mike Bocchetti takes on the Rodney Dangerfield mantle in Thank You!". Laughspin. Archived from the original on 2019-03-31. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  31. ^ Lanoie, Richard (March 7, 2019). "Thank You! Mike Bocchetti". The Serious Comedy Site. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  32. ^ Bocchetti, Mike (March 13, 2015). "The Bocchetti Files: An Exclusive Interview With Dave Hill". The Interrobang. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  33. ^ Gurian, Jeffrey (February 13, 2017). "Mike Bocchetti Suffers Heart Attack, News on Jerrod Carmichael's Special, Nick Di Paolo Records Amazing Hour With Ron Bennington and More!". The Interrobang. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
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