Frankie Pace

Frankie Pace

At seven years old, his father gave him a trumpet in hopes that he would someday become a famous concert trumpet player.  Frankie played with jazz and rock bands and was also  a back up player for Larry Chance and the Earls.  Unfortunately he wasn’t satisfied. “I felt there was something missing in my life, that I was at a dead end”.

Disappointed, his father sent Frankie to plumbing school where he studied as an apprentice for five years before becoming a plumber mechanic. His first job was working on the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center. He was also involved with connecting the massive Globe Fountain that stood on its plaza. Married now with another child on the way Frankie still yearned for the bright lights.

His wife seeing his despair had noticed an ad in the papers for comedians and gave him that chance. He began on Long Island in a small club called “The White House Inn” owned by Richard M Dixon who did cameo appearances as President Nixon. Frankie worked at his craft alongside other comedians like Eddie Murphy, Bob Nelson, Jackie Martling and Rosie O’Donnell and after three years of training decided to hit the City clubs.

He auditioned for Rick Newman at Catch a Rising Star and was quickly accepted as a regular. Soon Frankie frequented The Comic Strip and The Improvisation along with The Comedy Cellar. It was a tough grind for the young comic working all day as a plumber, driving 65 miles home to Port Jefferson to shower, have dinner, kiss his wife and kids then drive back to the City and wait sometimes till 2am just to get a ten minute spot.

One night another comic (Mike Little) noticed Frankie slumped against a wall, almost asleep. After hearing of his situation Mike offered Frankie to stay at his first avenue apartment week days until something came up.” If it wasn’t for Mike Little I might have notmade it this far” Said Frankie to Dick Ebersol, just before going onto the stage of Saturday Night Live. Frankie was one of only a small hand picked group of comedians asked to perform as a special guest.

This was Frankie’s first national spot on that show. The audience response was enormous to the point that Frankie had to install two answering machines in his office.

Later Frankie performed on The Cosby Show, The Joan Rivers Show, Cinemax, Showoffs with Malcolm Jamal Warner and many numerous comedy shows and specials. He has been compared to Charlie Chaplin, Jonathan Winters and Red Skelton in some of his reviews.

“The laughter was so loud you wouldn’t hear a tractor-trailer falling through the roof” Bill Ervolino of The Daily News…ck this text to start editing. This image and text block is great for descriptions aboutyour business, products, or services. Double-click the image on the right to change it. You can also stack more of these blocks to describe items with imagery. Click this text to start editing. This image and text block is great for descriptions about your business, products, or services. Double-click the image on the right to change it. You can also stack more of these blocks to describe items with imagery.