More than ten years after The Sopranos season finale, and the interest in the series remains high-- clearly-- as we saw just recently when the show's creator, David Chase, accidentally let slip what his intentions were with the much-debated convoluted final scene.
While we were in the pandemic, HBO was offering free streaming of The Sopranos, which undoubtedly helped the TV series pick up steam for a new generation of watchers, which appears to be one of the driving factors that two of the former show's actors, Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti) and Steve Schirripa (Bobby 'Bacala' Baccalieri), decided to join forces and create a podcast about each episode of the series.
In promoting their new podcast, called "Talking Sopranos," both actors sat down at Joe Rogan's massive table to have a good ol' two hour and thirty-minute discussion.
During the new podcast episode, the three of course wind up discussing The Sopranos and James Gandolfini, who played Tony Soprano and passed away in 20013.
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Imperioli and Schirripa paint a picture of Gandolfini as a man, which may be surprising given how well he seemed to embody the role of Tony Soprano. "He wasn't like that, that's the other thing," Imperioli explained "he was more like a hippie, he was very laid-back, he wore Birkenstocks and a bandana on his head. He didn't really talk like that."
"A big music guy," Schirripa added, "He never wanted to do a talk show. I would say, everyone thinks your Tony Soprano, why don't you pick [a talk show] and show them the real Jim." He continued, "He never did a talk show, he said 'I'm not interesting.'"
As the conversation continued, Schirripa revealed that Gandolfini actually threatened to beat up Harvey Weinstein pre-controversy.
"He said, 'Harvey Weinstein called, he wants me to do Letterman, I said I don't do talk shows.' And he said he keeps calling, and he got fucking nasty with Jim. And Jim said, 'I will beat the fuck out of Harvey Weinstein! He fucking calls me again, I will beat the fuck outta him! For the money he paid me, I'm not fucking doing it!' Swear to God. And this is before all the Harvey Weinstein shit when he was still king shit," Schirripa said.
Check out the full podcast interview below.