Quick BIO:

Since making his stand-up debut in 1998, Tony has been entertaining crowds all over the country. His energetic and charismatic delivery of observational humor connects with all types of audiences and his experience as an elementary school teacher blends a unique feeling of nostalgia and silliness that has audiences crying laughing.

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Tony has been on ABC’s America’s Funniest People and his jokes have been published alongside greats like Chris Rock and Henny Youngman in "The Idiot’s Guide to Joke Telling" by Alpha Publishing.

Tony is proud to have opened for Gilbert Gottfried, Artie Lange, Ben Bailey, Jim Norton, Judah Friedlander, Darrel Hammond, Greg Giraldo, and Lisa Lampanelli.

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Venues

Caroline's On Broadway, Mohegan Sun Casino, Comix, Broadway Comedy Club, Ridgefield Playhouse, Funny Bone, Turning Stone Casino, Twin River Casino, Junior's Last Laugh, Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center and many more.

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Big fat Bio: (Autobiography)

I grew up in upstate New York listening to Eddie Murphy, George Carlin, and watching Three’s Company and SNL. At a young age, John Ritter and Dana Carvey became my inspirations for making people laugh. Before I knew it, I was staging pratfalls and showcasing my impressions of Dana Carvey’s latest character at every family event (there’s footage and it’s delightfully humiliating). Much to my teachers’ dismay, high school became a venue (without a two-drink minimum) to showcase my impressions and to recite the jokes I had heard from watching the Tonight Show the night before.

 

Carrying a love for all things comedy it’s only natural that I attended college to pursue a degree in Computer Science. On day one when I couldn’t line up the holes in the dot matrix printer paper, I decided to switch my major to theatre. Theatre was a much better fit for me and by the end of two years I was in a total of zero productions. All of my auditions were monologues of Frank Drebin from “The Naked Gun” movies and the directors didn’t see humor in any of them. In light of all my failed auditions, I did find success in a communications’ class where we were assigned to perform a stand-up set. Well, I got my dates messed up and when I walked into class on Monday morning I was surprised to learn that my stand up assignment was due. I wasn’t prepared, so I ended up improving an impression of the Muppet Babies and riffing on my hometown. I got laughs, awkward looks, and a C+. 

 

After college I moved to Florida because you know, hurricanes and runaways. With no real direction other than towards salty water, I happened to stumbled upon a magic shop. The owner looked like a weathered Bob Crane from Hogan’s Heroes and the shop was, well, magical! I quickly fell in love with card and coin tricks. Soon after, I got a job at a night-club performing jokes and close-up magic for drunk people.”Is this your card? Oh, you don’t remember? Okay how about this: a priest and a rabbi walk into…”

 

With an arsenal of card tricks and jokes I returned home to NY and began working in clubs and restaurants as a close-up magician. In 1997, I met a magician who produced “one nighter” comedy shows. So, at a Best Western in Sayre, PA I had my first real stand up gig. I did 10 minutes about The Price is Right, Kid’s Toys, and closed the set with a Muppets’ impression. I got some great laughs and I didn’t crap my pants, so the night was a success. Shortly after, I was performing one nighters all across the state of NY and PA. I was hooked and never looked back.

 

Fast forward a decade and a half, I found myself residing in Fairfield County, CT with thousands of shows under my belt. I’ve had the pleasure of performing at Caroline’s on Broadway, Mohegan Sun Casino, Broadway Comedy Club, colleges, and casinos up and down the East Coast. All the while, I managed to get a degree in Elementary Education, teach full time and moonlight as a comic. By day, I wrote lesson plans that taught my second graders how to craft jokes and perform Seinfeld scripts to increase their reading fluency. By night, I was proudly performing with the likes of Gilbert Gottfried, Artie Lange, Ben Bailey, Jim Norton, Judah Friedlander, Darrell Hammond, Greg Giraldo, and Lisa Lampanelli.

 

It’s been said that my energetic and charismatic delivery of observational humor connects with all types of audiences and my experience as elementary school teacher blends a unique feeling of nostalgia and silliness that keeps audiences laughing.

Somewhere in the middle of it all I appeared on America’s Funniest People on ABC, I won an Excellence in Education Award, and my material has been published in The Idiot's’ Guide to Joke Telling by Alpha Publishing.

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