Joe Nipote

Joe Nipote, who hails from Detroit, is best known for starring as Frankie Waters in NBC & UPN's Viper (1996) for five seasons and Steven Spielberg personally handpicked him to play the leader of the Ghostly Trio in the Amblin/Universal film, Casper (1995) as the title character's uncle, Stretch.

He also has a big college cult following for his role as Boomer in the film, Meatballs Part II (1984). Joe has appeared in dozens of sitcoms, TV pilots, late-night talk shows, cable shows and numerous films. His first stop in LA was The Comedy Store. Within 8 months of doing stand-up, various headlining comedians began to complain to club owners that they didn't care to follow Joe and in less than a year, he went from being a paid "Regular" to Headliner, to Starring on HBO's "5th Young Comedian's Special," featuring the new top 5 comedians of the year. The HBO special gave Joe the exposure he needed to begin Headline other comedy clubs sprouting up all across the country, and word of his likable, funny characters, and stand-up catapulted him to open for the likes of; Tina Turner, O'Jay's, Dwight Yoakam, Barbara Mandrel, Dave Mason, Judy Collins, Ben Vereen, Frankie Valli, Robert Goulet, Suzanne Somers, Freddy Fender, Captain & Tenille, Louise Mandrell, Tower of Power & more in Vegas, Reno, Tahoe & Atlantic City. Repeat Guest-Star Standup appearances followed on; Thicke of the Night, Into the Night With Rick Dees, Mtv Half-hour Comedy Hour, Showtime Comedy Club Network, Comedy Central, an Evening at the Improv, Comic Strip Live, and Laff-a-thon to name a few. Joe then began his transition in acting as he had always planning landing Guest-Starring roles on, "Happy Days", "The New WKRP," "The Jefferson's," "Normal Life," "Northern Exposure," "Murphy Brown," "Baby Talk," and more such as the TV pilots; It's True, Sibs, & Unhappily Ever After. Co-Starring roles in the films came along with; The Last Tenor, Back by Midnight, Cloud Nine, & Soul's Midnight as well as Viper, and Casper.