Joe Pesci is finally making his way back to the big screen after a lengthy sabbatical. In the new Peacock sitcom Bupkis, starring Pete Davidson, Pesci has been cast as Davidson’s grandpa, according to an announcement made by Universal Television. Similar to Larry David’s hit HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm, Davidson’s Bupkis is partially based on his own experiences. Edie Falco, from The Sopranos, will portray Davidson’s mother. Davidson will play himself. The King of Staten Island, a film directed by Judd Apatow and set to be released in 2020, will not be the first recent work to represent Davidson’s life in some form.
Pesci hasn’t had a regular TV job since the 1985 NBC detective drama Half Nelson, in which he played a Hollywood bodyguard who solved crimes, and Bupkis will be his first regular TV appearance in almost 30 years. Pesci has had a varied and interesting career in show business. He began as a singer and was in a comedy duet with regular co-star Frank Vincent. In Raging Bull, Martin Scorsese’s biography of boxer Jake LaMotta, he played LaMotta’s long-suffering brother, a part that launched his career and made him a household name for the next two decades. Pesci featured as a wide range of brash characters in both dramatic and comedic films, including the Oscar-winning Goodfellas, the highly acclaimed Casino, and the box office smashes Home Alone and the Lethal Weapon sequels.
Having abruptly retired from acting in 1999, he has only made a handful of appearances since then, including cameos in Robert De Niro’s 2006 directorial debut The Good Shepherd, Taylor Hackford’s 2006 brothel thriller Love Ranch, and Martin Scorsese’s 2019 mafia epic The Irishman. Pesci has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor on three separate occasions for his roles in Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and The Irishman. He accepted the award for Goodfellas with the words, “It’s my honour, thank you,” making his one of the shortest acceptance speeches in Oscar history.
Pesci has continued to release music throughout his career as an actor and beyond; his most recent album, Pesci…Still Singing, was released in 2019. In 1998, he released an album as Vincent Gambini from My Cousin Vinny. Davidson’s longtime boss at SNL, Lorne Michaels, will serve as an executive producer for Bupkis with Broadway Video’s Andrew Singer and Erin David. Davidson will not only appear in the film but also write and produce it alongside his longtime buddy and partner Dave Sirus and comedy veteran Judah Miller. I Want You Back director and co-executive producer Jason Orley will helm this romantic comedy. The series has yet to have a debut date announced. There will be no other streaming platforms but Peacock where Bupkis may be seen.