LAS VEGAS LEGEND
“Where's the greatness? Where's the greatness?” - Pat Cooper
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"I am a genius of myself" - Pat Cooper Here's a legendary talent that you can still catch on the Las Vegas Strip and in comedy clubs around the nation - Pat Cooper. This Italian hothead is a veteran of the Rat Pack days, he even opened for Frank Sinatra on occasion and appeared on Dean Martin's TV variety show. Pat Cooper was a popular guest on television, his first big exposure came from The Jackie Gleason Show in 1953. After that he became a hot opening act, then headliner, in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe, playing elegant showrooms where weary gamblers could find belly laughs, away from the slot machines, Crap tables and card games. Pat Cooper recorded a number of very funny comedy albums in the 1960s for United Artists Records with titles like "Our Hero", "Spaghetti Sauce and Other Delights", "You Don't Have to be Italian To Like Pat Cooper", "An Italian Wedding" and "More Saucy Stories From...". Watch this appearance on Tom Snyder's late night program, it's a revealing interview:
Pat Cooper told me in 2010: I opened for Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Perry Como, the list goes on and on and on. I played everything in Vegas. Everything. I played the Riviera, I played the Caesars, I played the Flamingo, I played the Sahara, I played them all. At that time Caesars was the best. The Sands started to collapse when that guy hit Frank Sinatra. Frank quit the Sands and went to Caesars and he brought all his people over to Caesars and it hurt the Sands. When I went downtown after working with Sinatra they would make fun of me. “How can you leave Sinatra and go downtown with Joe Williams?” I go, “Because when I work with Sinatra I get a thousand dollars. I work with Joe Williams I get five thousand dollars.” They all made fun of me. A few years later Frank goes downtown, if Frank went to a sh*t barrel youse’d all follow him. All of them went downtown because Frank was there. Pat Cooper was in fine form in 2007 on the Howard Stern Show where he has been a recurring guest for more than a decade. On this program Pat talks about being rejected by The Sopranos and was subjected to a surprise 'roast'.
The comedian has a great love of Italian culture and Italian food, when he was a guest on The Bill Boggs Show he demonstrated his Veal Parmagine recipe.
Here's a recording of a phone call I had with Pat Cooper, what a hilarious guy he is. And keep in mind when you listen that Jerry Lewis wrote the introduction to Pat's autobiography in 2010, the same year this was recorded.
Pat Cooper can be seen in motion pictures as well, including The Godfather, The Aristocrats, Analyze This and Analyze That. |
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