Joe Pesci is joining the cast of ‘Bupkis’.
The “Goodfellas” star is slated to star in Pete Davidson’s Peacock semi-autobiographical sitcom as the 28-year-old funnyman’s grandfather.
The 79-year-old movie star – whose only other regular television gig was “Half Nelson”, a 1985 comedy series that only ran for nine episodes with a cast list including Dean Martin and Fred Williamson – will join former “The Sopranos” star Edie Falco, who will play Pete’s mother, on the cast list, according to “Variety”.
According to the press release, the show – which Pete is executive producing and starring in – “will combine grounded storytelling with absurd elements from the unfiltered and completely original world-view for which Davidson is well known”.
Susan Rovner, chairman of entertainment content at NBCUniversal Television and Streaming said: “Pete Davidson is one of the most sought-after comedians today with his smart, one-of-a-kind humour and honest point of view.”
Pesci’s last project was “The Irishman”, a 2019 Netflix Original movie directed by Martin Scorsese, which reunited him with his “Goodfellas” co-stars Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, who played Frank Sheeran, a mobster who claimed that he killed Jimmy Hoffa (played by Pacino), the head of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
It was an adaptation of the non-fiction book, “I Heard You Paint Houses” by Charles Brandt, a former homicide prosecutor.
In 2019, the typically media-shy The “My Cousin Vinny” star gave an interview to “Empire magazine” and detailed his love of “dabbling” in race horse breeding.
Pesci said: “I breed racehorses. I started with just my mare, Pesci, who was terrific until her last race. She came in second and we found out she had three fractures in her leg.
“So I turned her into a brood mare. I’m just dabbling in it, you know, because I love the business and I love horses. Always did.”