There’s funny and ‘Sopranos funny’
I enjoyed writing my last post about The Sopranos so much, I thought I’d do another one. As I mentioned in that post, one of the things I love most about this show is the comic genius sprinkled throughout. The main contributors are obvious: Paulie Walnuts with his neuroses and bizarre eccentricities, Christopher Moltisanti with his childlike hot-headedness and stupidity, and of course Tony himself with his self-delusions and amazing mispronunciation of words (“penisary contact with her volvo” being my personal favourite). But there are other more peripheral characters who never fail to crack me up. So, here they are…
Arthur Bucco
The man with the hand gestures. Artie for me is the funniest character in The Sopranos. He cannot open his mouth without using his hands to illustrate what he is saying. He is entirely weak, resentful of his wife Charmaine’s commanding presence in his life, and is completely out of his depth hanging out with Tony’s ‘family’. A tragic yet hilarious figure.
Little Carmine
I have already mentioned Tony’s mispronunciations, but Little Carmine Lupertazzi takes it to a whole new level. When talking about Louis XIV, he says “Lewis the whatever”. When talking about Versailles, he says “Ver-sails”. A veteran of the pornography industry, Little Carmine tries desperately to exude sophistication through ham-fisted attempts at using grandiose language – but only serves to highlight the fact that he is a cretinous sleaze merchant with massive delusions of grandeur. Comedy gold.
Georgie Santorelli
Poor Georgie. A well-meaning buffoon who enjoys sexual favours from strippers in exchange for access to the Bada Bing’s ‘VIP’ section. Whenever Tony’s temper is balancing on a knife-edge, you can always count on Georgie and his stupid comments (or inability to operate a telephone) to send him over. The thing is, he never really says anything that bad – he just has an uncanny ability to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
Johnny Sacrimoni
From the arrogant way he answers phone calls (by simply saying “speak”) to his cartoonish intonation whenever he raises his voice, Johnny Sacrimoni is my final candidate. He is more fashion-conscious than his New Jersey associates. For example, his outrage at being given patent leather shoes to wear to his daughter’s wedding sums him up perfectly. But his greatest moment features a conversation in prison with his brother-in-law, Anthony Infante. Infante tries to speak in mafia code and of course fails spectacularly. Johnny ‘Sack’ is at his most amusing when people irritate him.
My next Sopranos article will be on the characters I dislike the most – coming soon.
