Actor Vincent Pastore on the New York Yankees & why he prefers movies to sports

When you ask a New Yorker about the greatest television shows of all time, odds are that The Sopranos will be named promptly. While the HBO series stopped making new episodes more than a decade ago, many of the Sopranos cast members continue to work steadily. Vincent Pastore is a perfect example of long-term success from the Sopranos cast with more than a dozen films currently showing on his IMDb page for 2019 and 2020.

Prior to being cast as part of The Sopranos, Vincent Pastore had been seen in Goodfellas, Carlito's Way and The Basketball Diaries. Beyond acting, the Bronx native has done well in broadcasting, hosting the Wiseguy Show on Sirius Satellite Radio beyond stints with the New York radio station WVOX. Interestingly, entertainment did not become Pastore's main career until he was in his 40s, working within the nightclub business for decades prior.

Along with Sopranos co-stars Steve Schirripa and Michael Imperioli, Vincent Pastore will be performing as part of Sinatra Meets The Sopranos at New York's NYCB Theatre At Westbury on May 4th. Those Sopranos stars will be seen in Westbury, New York alongside singer Michael Martocci and host/comic Joey Kola.

Pastore and crew will be telling stories and answering audience questions -- as moderated by Kola -- about the acclaimed David Chase series while Martocci will be performing music from the actual charts helmed by Frank Sinatra's conductor and musical director Vincent Falcone.

Below are highlights from my phone chat with Vincent Pastore, while the full chat will be appearing at a later date on the Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz podcast.

I've read that you're a lifelong Yankees fan...

Vincent Pastore: No, that's [Steve] Schirripa.

Really? Do you have a team of choice in baseball?

Vincent Pastore: I like the Yankees. I'm friends with a lot of the Yankees, really close. I know Joe Torre, I know Lee Mazzilli very well. So I love the Yankees, but you know, if there's a choice of me watching something on HBO, or turning on a ballgame, I'll watch the project on HBO.

I don't have to sit there with the Super Bowl. Everybody's crazy about the Super Bowl tomorrow, but I grew up watching movies, you know? I'm into that, I'm a movie buff. I'll beat you in trivia in anything you ask me.

So in closing, any last words for the kids?

Vincent Pastore: Well, the kids... I'm glad that they were able to just watch the reruns [of The Sopranos] and watch us on DVD and stuff. You know these kids didn't see us, now they're watching us now. The adults are telling us they're watching them for the first time, that's pretty cool.