The three of you,
Michael Imperioli wanted to be here very much today.
He's been here before, he's our dear friend.
He had a scheduling conflict,
but you guys are in conversation, and on tour together.
Yeah. Yeah.
So that for people that
this was a big happening for them,
you can literally go
and be in conversation with you guys, right?
Yeah, so we been doin' this show for a couple of years.
It's called "Comedy and Conversation with the Sopranos"
and it's myself, Vinnie, and Michael Imperioli.
And we show slides and we have questions,
and Joey Kola, the warm up guy.
Joey, Joey. (audience cheering)
This is our guy.
Isn't he the best?
Joey's the best.
Isn't Joey the best?
Love Joey!
He's an honorary Soprano,
and he travels the country with us.
And we did Australia and we're doing a European tour.
Australia! We did Australia.
Oh my God! Seven cities.
You know, the show is 20 years.
And we have prepared questions
and then we take questions from the audience--
So it's truly a conversation.
It's a, you know what it is, it's a show.
I mean, I tell, it's a show, it's really a show.
It is a show, but people can actually talk to you
and be in conversation. Yeah, they ask us questions.
And you know, and so--
Kinda.
It's been goin' great, we pack 'em in everywhere.
Of course you do.
In Australia was just incredible.
And it's been great, I mean,
we're gonna be in Rochester November 2nd, the Kodak Theater.
Right. We'll put all
of the dates up on the website.
And uh, you know-- We're goin' to Syracuse,
we're goin' Atlanta.
But we give you a little peek behind the curtain
of what it was like to be on possibly the greatest show
in TV history.
(audience cheering and clapping)
It really is.
So talk to me, I wanna hear from both of you guys.
Can you give us,
you're saying you share these special moments with people.
Can you each give us either your favorite memory from Jim
in working with him or your favorite episode of his
or your favorite special moment off camera?
You know Jim, as great an actor as he was,
he was a better guy.
And I'm not kiddin' ya, he made everyone feel great,
it came from the top down, you know?
There was no problems of any kind.
He was a sweet, generous guy.
Yeah.
Anybody who had a problem, cast, crew,
he was there, you know?
Beautiful.
Jimmy helped me a lot with my work.
I was, you know, I was like a new kid on the block,
I mean I started acting late, as well as Steven.
And when the nominations came out for the Emmys
in the second season, my phone rang at 7 o'clock
in the morning and Jimmy said, "You were robbed,"
'cause I didn't get nominated.
And you don't think that's ever gonna happen again,
but that's how Jimmy was, he cared so much about all of us.
About everybody, the crew. (audience clapping)
Generous of spirit.
Just, you know, the crew and family
and there's another thing.
Michael, which I didn't know, and that's another thing
about the show, you're always learnin'.
Even I'm learnin' stuff new because I wasn't there
from the beginning and Michael was a writer--
But and even when you are all there at the same time,
you don't necessarily work with each other
through the episodes, right. Exactly, yeah.
Michael told me, and I didn't know this,
that Jim had paid off numerous people's mortgages.
He found out, and the people never know to this day
that Jim paid off their mortgages.
I love that.
I'm crying. (audience clapping)
So the final scene everybody was talking about this today
in my office and I sort of ended it.
Actually we collectively ended it, I said,
"Well, it doesn't matter because Tony wasn't real."
But there was great concern as to what happened
in the diner, of course, for the final scene.
Yeah.
Well, I mean to me it's obvious, like.
What, you didn't think that?
Grow up!
Anyway,
do you have an opinion? I think, my opinion,
Tony Soprano is alive and well and living in New Jersey.
That's my opinion. (audience cheering)
I don't know if I'm right, but that's my opinion.
That's what I would like to believe
because I miss Jim Gandolfini so much.
And what do you think?
I didn't watch it the first night
'cause that's the way I am.
Because they killed him off and he's pissed off!
(audience laughing)
So you're mad, you're mad.
Well I'm not mad all the time, I'm watchin' it now.
Anyway. (audience laughing)
I thought that-- It took him
a while!
It took me a while to get over that.
I feel that David left it open.
Yeah, on purpose.
Yeah, and there was conversations--
So that people could do exactly
what we're doing. There was conversations
that we would--
Have kitchen table talk, exactly.
That's right.
Oh you look, we're talkin' about it now,
20 years later. At a kitchen table!
Who knew!
Not a day goes by, seriously, not a day or a week goes by
where someone doesn't ask that question.
(audience cheering and applauding)