Pat Cooper

Cooper was born as Pasquale Vito Caputo on July 31, 1929 in Coney Island, Brooklyn and grew up in the nearby neighborhoods of Midwood and Red Hook.[2] His father Michele Caputo was a bricklayer[1] from Mola di Bari, Italy and his mother, Louise Gargiulo was born in Brooklyn. Cooper often made reference to his Italian heritage in his stand up comedy routines.[3]

He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1952 as was stationed at Fort Jackson in South Carolina but was discharged soon after because of his hammer toes caused by his mother making him wear shoes that were too small when he was a child.

Cooper started performing in the 1950s. His big break came in 1963 on The Jackie Gleason Show.[2] Afterwards, he played top nightclubs such as the Copacabana, and Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas among others, opening for major entertainers such as Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Tony Bennett, Jerry Lewis, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, Liza Minnelli, and many others.[2][4]

In the early 1960s he Americanized his name to Pat Cooper.[2]

Billboard gave his album Our Hero (1965) a special merit review and said that it "does for the Italian-American community what Jackie Mason did for the Jewish-American community."[5] The following year, it stated that his Spaghetti Sauce and Other Delights (1966), an album which consists of one side of spoken comedy and one side of parody songs, was stronger than Our Hero.[6]

In May 1969, Cooper and singer Jimmy Roselli premiered in their two-man show at Broadway's Palace theater in New York City.[7] During the 1970s, Cooper was a frequent guest on The Mike Douglas Show and also appeared on the Merv Griffin Show and Dean Martin Show.[2][7] Cooper made an appearance on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow Coast To Coast show on March 6, 1981, in which he decried "headliners" in the club circuit who often worked with comics as their second act.

He performed at many celebrity roasts at the New York Friars Club[1] which he also played in an episode of Seinfeld titled "The Friar's Club" and was also a frequent guest on many radio shows, most notably The Howard Stern Show.[7]

Cooper played fictional mobster Salvatore Masiello in the film Analyze This[1] and in the sequel Analyze That, as well as playing lawyer, John Bruno in the 2003 film This Thing of Ours. He also guest-starred on television series such as Vega$, Charlie's Angels, It's a Living, and L.A. Law.[8]

Cooper was an occasional contributor to Colin Quinn's late-night show on Comedy Central, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. In 2005, he released a DVD called You're Always Yelling[9] and in 2010, he co-authored with Steve Garrin and Rich Herschlag his autobiography called How Dare You Say How Dare Me!.[1]

Cooper was married three times. He has two biological children (Michael and Louise Caputo) from his first marriage to Dolores Nola and one adopted daughter (Patti Jo Cooper) from his second marriage to singer Patti Prince.[1] Cooper also has two grandsons and three granddaughters. In 2018, he married his third wife, Emily Conner, who he met at the New York Friars Club in 2010. She was a theater producer and the daughter of Diane Decker, one of the original members of The Serendipity Singers.

Cooper lived in Las Vegas, Nevada, after retiring. He publicly feuded with his children on his radio appearances and was estranged from all members of his biological family.[1] He died at his Las Vegas home on June 6, 2023, at the age of 93.[2]

• Pat Cooper's Autobiography
• Pat Cooper at IMDb
• Pat Cooper discography at Discogs
• Kliph Nesteroff interviews Pat Cooper, February 16, 2011 - Part One
• Kliph Nesteroff interviews Pat Cooper, February 16, 2011 - Part Two