John Pinette
American comedian and actor (1964–2014) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Paul Pinette (/pɪˈnɛt/ pi-NET) (March 23, 1964 – April 5, 2014) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and Broadway performer. He toured the comedy club circuit beginning in the 1980s and appeared in cinema and on television. Besides stand-up Pinette did various impressions, among them Michael Jackson, The Chipmunks, Elvis Presley, Gollum from The Lord of the Rings, Hervé Villechaize (Tattoo from Fantasy Island), an Ewok, actor Marlon Brando (notably Brando's role in The Godfather), as well as a range of regional accents. He occasionally sang in his stand-up routines; for example, "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz, "Will You Be There" from Free Willy, and "Don't Cry for Me Argentina".
| John Pinette | |
|---|---|
Pinette in 2010 | |
| Birth name | John Paul Pinette |
| Born | March 23, 1964 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | April 5, 2014 (aged 50) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Resting place | Sts. Peter & Paul Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Medium |
|
| Genres | Observational comedy |
| Subject(s) |
|
Early life
Pinette was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 23, 1964,[1][2] the son of Robert Pinette Sr. (1929–1988) and Louise Pitre (Petrie) (1927–1982).[3] His mother was of Acadian ancestry, with both her parents from New Brunswick, Canada. He graduated from Malden Catholic High School in 1982.
He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Lowell in 1986 with a degree in accounting.[4]
Career
Summarize
Perspective
He started a six-month[4] career in accounting[5] but, on the advice of friends, left to pursue a career in comedy.[5]
An early break for Pinette was being asked to tour with Frank Sinatra. Pinette was a regular guest on The Tonight Show and The View.[5]
Pinette appeared in the films Duets, Simon Sez, The Last Godfather, Dear God, and Junior. In 2004, Pinette played Bumpo in Artisan Entertainment's The Punisher, starring Thomas Jane and John Travolta.
In 1991, he was a regular cast member on the reality show The Grudge Match as the referee on the series. He was a regular on the series Parker Lewis Can't Lose and, in 1998, played the carjacking victim in the final episode of the sitcom Seinfeld.
Pinette was named Stand-Up Comedian of the Year by the American Comedy Awards in 1999 and received a Gemini Award nomination for his televised performance at Montreal's Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in 2000.[6] At the time of his death, he still held the record for the highest-selling one-person show in the history of Just for Laughs.[7]
In 2004, Pinette joined the touring cast of the musical Hairspray in the role of Edna Turnblad, remarking to The Globe and Mail that "The irony is having to work my ass off six days a week on the treadmill in order to play a fat old woman."[8][9][10] He later went on to the Broadway production in 2005, and continued in the role until May 28, 2006.[8][11] In his 2006 concert I'm Starvin', he said it was the first musical theater production he had been in since high school.
Pinette was on board the cruise ship MS Monarch (formerly Monarch of the Seas) during a grounding incident off the coast of St. Maarten, referencing it in his 2005 DVD special 'I Say Nay Nay'.
In 2004, Pinette's stand-up material was featured in Comedy Central's animated series Shorties Watchin' Shorties. In 2007, Pinette performed at the 42nd annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. He performed at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2008, and toured in cities in 2010 beginning in April. During this tour, Pinette recorded a Comedy Central special titled John Pinette: Still Hungry. The taping took place at the Vic Theatre in Chicago. The world premiere of Still Hungry was on July 29, 2011, on Comedy Central.[12]
Pinette was a host of the E4 Laughs at Edinburgh podcasts, showcasing comedians from the Edinburgh Festival in 2008.
In 2012, Pinette was one of the comedy acts in Ron White's Comedy Salute to the Troops on CMT.[13]
He was the host of All You Can Eat, a TV series taking a humorous look at American cuisine. The show debuted on the H2 network in the United States in late June 2013.
In August 2013, Pinette cancelled a nationwide tour of Canada whereupon he checked into a rehabilitation facility after developing a dependency on prescription pain medication, telling his fans on Twitter the following January that he was "physically spent" after "losing a bunch of weight and several small surgical procedures" and would be taking three-and-a-half months off to recover.[4][14] He later resumed touring the U.S. comedy circuit in March, performing shows in California.[15][16]
Style
Summarize
Perspective
Pinette often turned to his experiences with his weight as a key element of his comedy and the challenges posed by his size became a regular source of humour on stage alongside his takes on different foods and regional cuisines. When asked about this in 2011 by The Comic's Comic, he explained: “What comics do is put their life on their table, and what I was doing was putting as much of my life on the table, and what was on the table was cake. A lot of cake.”[17] He told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2001 “I don’t do fat jokes per se. I’d rather talk about the trials and tribulations of a large mammal in our society.”[18]
Pinette further summed up his comedic style in his Twitter bio, repeating a mantra he often restated in interviews and on stage: "I talk about my life, it's the funniest thing I can think of. For some reason, people enjoy seeing me lose my cherub like [sic] demeanor."[18][19]
Chortle founder Steve Bennett described the experience of watching Pinette's "I Say Nay Nay" set at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2008 by saying: "it is not until you leave the show and get your breath back that you realise that you have learned nothing, no boundary has been pushed, no preconception questioned. There is no theme, no grand point other than to make the audience laugh hard and laugh solidly, and Pinette hammers this point home masterfully."[20]
Death
Pinette died on April 5, 2014, at the age of 50, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he had been attending a family wedding.[18] Pinette's personal doctor signed off on his cause of death as pulmonary embolism.[21][22] Pinette's funeral services were held near his home in Springfield, Pennsylvania.[3]
In a memorandum following his death, Just For Laughs revealed that they had been working with Pinette's team in preparation for another cross-Canada tour that would have been centred around a belated 25th anniversary celebration of his 28-year-long career in stand-up, highlighting his most famous catchphrases and routines, with the festival organisers going on to describe him as "a master of his craft and a true legend".[23]
Discography
- Show Me the Buffet (CD, 1998)
- I Say Nay Nay (DVD, 2005)
- I'm Starvin'! (DVD, 2006)
- Making Lite of Myself (CD, 2007)
- Still Hungry (DVD/CD, 2011)
Filmography
Films
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Thanksgiving Day | Delivery person | Television film |
| 1992 | Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation | Trevor Gulf | Television film |
| 1993 | Reckless Kelly | Sam Delance | Feature film |
| 1994 | Junior | Clerk | Feature film |
| 1995 | Hart to Hart: Secrets of the Hart | Television film | |
| 1996 | Dear God | Junior | Feature film |
| 1999 | Simon Sez | Micro | Feature film |
| 2000 | Duets | John | Feature film |
| My 5 Wives | Stewart | Feature film | |
| 2002 | Do It for Uncle Manny | Sammy Levine | Feature film |
| 2003 | Piece a' Cake | Sammy | Short film |
| 2004 | The Punisher | Bumpo | Feature film |
| 2010 | The Last Godfather | Macho | Feature film |
Television series
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Smart Guys | Nick Byrd | Television series; episode: "Pilot" |
| 1990 | ALF | Howie Anderson | Television series; episode: "Make 'em Laugh" |
| 1991 | The Grudge Match | Himself (referee) | Game show |
| Studio 59 | Various roles | Television series | |
| 1992 | Vinnie & Bobby | William Melvin Belli | Television series; 7 episodes |
| 1992–1993 | Parker Lewis Can't Lose | Coach Hank Kohler | Television series; 15 episodes |
| 1995–1996 | High Tide | Bob-O DiBella | Television series; 4 episodes |
| 1998 | Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist | John | Television series; voice; episode: "Phone Luv" |
| Life's Work | John the Bellhop | Television series; episode: "Pregnancy" | |
| Seinfeld | Howie | Television series; episode: "The Finale" | |
| 2013 | All You Can Eat | Himself (host) | Television series; 19 episodes |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Impire | Ba'al-Abaddon | Video game; voice |
See also
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.