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It’s June 14, 2017, and it’s time to film another episode of the Late Night With Johnny P show. The studio audience is pumped, the guests and staff have been fed awesome Italian food courtesy of Nucci’s (great eggplant rollatini every time), sandwiches from Seguine Bagels (gotta love the cinnamon raisin bagels), and we're ready to roll 'em.
Tonight, Johnny Potenza’s guests are nutritionist Dr. Joe Kasper, Internet sensation Marsia (Aunt) Tucci, comedian John Mulrooney, and pop singer Domini Monroe. I’m telling you right up front – it was a great show. 
First things first. Potenza gives a shout-out to Angela Brooks for publishing a story about the Late Night With Johnny P show in her magazine, Talent In Motion. The issue can be found at http://timmag.com/. Thanks, Brooks!
Now Potenza lets us in on a little surprise; he and well-known radio personality Goumba Johnny have teamed up, and in the first two weeks of the fall, they will premiere “Goumba Johnny’s Comedy Nights” in association with Potenza entertainment. It will be on Staten Island – and he’s not allowed to say where yet – but it will feature top comedy acts. Can’t wait to hear more about that!
Potenza goes over ten of the top 50 network shows, and after announcing that football had taken three of the top ten spots, he tells us “Clap harder, you guys sound like a bunch of birds." 
Come on, my grandmother claps louder with her feet.
Dr. Joe Kasper, a health and diet expert and the CEO of PowerPack3 Vitamins, is the first guest. Speaking about health, he says diet programs don’t work because they are unrealistically sustainable. If you’re not happy, you will fail. There is no quick fix. You have to help yourself. A good coach or trainer will teach you to be self-sufficient, but in the end, it’s all about eating healthy and exercising.
Kasper also discusses diet supplements have side effects and how even products like mouthwash and shampoo can have adverse side effects; explains what he calls “Lumpy’s Lipitor Lie”, how the cholesterol studies are based on outdated research, and that bovine products are not digested well by humans so you should stay away from all things cow. He has a lot of good nutritional information to offer. As he said, your health is your wealth.
You can visit Kasper's website and read about his PowerPack3 Vitamins at https://powerpack3.com/about-dr-joe/ 
Who’s this in the stunning jewel-encrusted platform shoes and cute blue dress and is carrying a giant pasta pot? And a wooden spoon? Why, it's Marsia Tucci, you people!!
Marsia had promised Potenza some of her homemade pasta fagiole, and so she spent the previous night cooking for him and stirring the pot with her wooden spoon at her mom’s house in Philly. She brought him a batch, as promised! 
She says she needs the spoon to cook with, but says jokingly that she uses it for anyone that gets out of line. Turns out that Tucci is a school teacher in Florida; she helps Spanish/Creole kids to speak and read in English. She is also a graphic designer, which is apparent when you see her social media posts; she taught art for five years as well. Some of my best friends are teachers; you people don't get enough credit for all you do!
Now *that's* a shoe.
Her social media following began while looking for scungili to cook for dinner for her boyfriend. She kept posting videos of her shopping mission, and people started following her. When her friend Mary’s son Lucas started following her, she started calling herself “Aunt Tucci”. She tries to keep her videos and posts upbeat and positive, and tries to distract people from the craziness of the world. Tucci reminds us all that we should enjoy life, have fun, don’t be negative, don’t complain all the time, be with friends and family, and get rid of the toxic elements in your life. NO GRUMPY!
Tucci can be found on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc. at @MarsiaTucci. I follow her; she cracks me up. As I said before, she’s cool beans. Follow her, or you’ll get da spoon on da ass, lol.
John Mulrooney introduces himself, and welcomes the audience to Johnny P’s refrigerator in Staten Italy. Yes, it gets cold in here. Potenza always tells his audience ahead of time to bring a blanket in case they get cold, lol.
Mulrooney says he drove here from Brooklyn two days ago and just got here. He also needs a loan to pay the tolls at the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge (BTW, an official change to the spelling of the currently-spelled “Verrazano” is in the works. I’m not joking). 
Believe me, we're as frustrated with the traffic here as you are, Mulrooney.
He then references a clip Potenza showed us earlier in the evening. The clip was of Bill Maher and Ice Cube, and Cube explained to him exactly why he was incorrect in his recent use of a racial slur in what Maher saw as a joke. Everyone should see this clip, and everyone should just grow up and stop using the word already.
So, Mulrooney believes that the myth that there is strength in diversity is perpetuated. Diversity is inherently weak, hence the words divide, divorce, division; there is strength in one thing – there is strength in unity. We have to stop looking at our differences, and start looking at what we have in common. Differences are what separates us, but we have to be single-minded in purpose. I find it difficult to disagree with that.
He tells us some more about himself, his family; he demonstrated how Brooklyn guys can talk to each other without saying anything - including some sometimes-silent communication involving broccoli rabe, knowwhati'msayin? It turns out that Mulrooney is also a police officer in upstate New York, and serves the public when he's not on tour.. An audience member recognized him while he was in uniform. The story is pretty funny.
Mulrooney was a contestant on Star Search with Ed McMahon. Someone at the show suggested that all he had to do was tell McMahon that he looked like he’d lost weight and he’d like him better; after that, he was back every week and would do warm-ups and writing for McMahon. Hey, whatever works!
Mulrooney refers to Potenza as the “Joe Franklin of Staten Island”, which I know is a huge compliment to him. He knows a thing or two about hosting a talk show himself, because he hosted The Late Show With Joan Rivers; he was given the job after she left. We also heard a discussion about how Johnny Carson was the best of all the hosts; Long Live Johnny Carson! He tells a story about how Rivers was the center square when he was on The Hollywood Squares. Richard Simmons was also on the show, and Mulrooney gives us his best Simmons impression, which is actually pretty impressive. He talks about his former radio show Wolf and Mulrooney which beat Howard Stern in the ratings once; he thinks Stern is a genius, as do most of us around here. You can find Mulrooney on iHeart Radio and at www.MulrooneyComic.com.  "My costume is so good that is has a partner and a car that comes with it"
Potenza’s next guest is pop singer Domini Monroe; he needed good energy for the show and took her from the standby list for tonight’s guests. Monroe sings a beautiful ballad she wrote called Read Between The Lines; a link to the official video can be found below.
Monroe sits down with Potenza and we find out that she does charity work for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. She recently sang at a charity event called Kids For Kids. She advises us to love the unexpected because you never know what journey you’re going to go on.
Monroe has a new song coming out called "Can't Keep You Down"; keep a lookout for the release! She gives Potenza a ‘pinky promise’ that she’ll be back on the show when she makes it big, and that she won’t forget him. You can find her music on Spotify and iTunes; find out more about Monroe at www.DominiMonroe.com and on Instagram and Facebook. 
Already it’s time for our late night goodbyes! That went fast! Potenza announces that August 9 will be the next show, so get your seats not at www.JohnnyPTV.com.
Take care; comb your hair!
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CategoriesLate Night With Johnny PThere's a lot of excitement in the studio tonight. Even though the evening is bittersweet, there is this energy of the bigger and better things to come, and Potenza is the man with a plan. The final episode of the "Late Night With Johnny P" show is filming tonight, and the place is packed. |
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