Steve Schirripa's Got a New TV Show, a New Movie, and Lots of New Stories About Vegas

Steve Schirripa, an I-Fave for all sorts of reasons, is the host and executive producer of a new show on ID Discovery called Nothing Personal about—what else?—hitmen. Surprisingly, not all the stories are mob-related.
 
“There’s a story about a wife who hired a hitman to kill her husband, and then a hitman to kill the hitman,” Schirripa said. Another tale centers on two teenagers, 13 and 16 years old, from Laredo, Texas, who worked for the Mexican drug cartels and killed more than 50 people. Nothing Personal, it seems, is not for the faint of heart.
 
Neither is Schirripa’s new movie, Kill the Irishman, which debuts this week and co-stars Christopher Walken and Val Kilmer. The film is based on a real-life mobster from Cleveland named Danny Greene, whom Schirripa described as “brilliant,” even though he never went to school.
 
“He’s a real sharp guy,” Schirripa said of Greene, who was killed by a car bomb in 1977. “He’s obviously a bad guy, but kind of a good guy.”
 
Kill the Irishman was shot on location in Detroit, which doubled for 1960s and 70s Cleveland, because Michigan offers huge tax breaks to filmmakers. “It’s really a shame that this country would let a city like that go in the dumper,” Schirripa said of Detroit, where he and his co-stars, a bunch of “tough guys,” were afraid to go outside, even during the day.
 
As many others before him have reported, working with Christopher Walken was nothing if not interesting. While shooting an exterior scene on a Detroit street, a woman popped her head out of her house, and offered the cast and crew to come inside for anything they needed, like a drink or a bathroom.
 
Walken’s reply? “He goes, ‘Would you make me a tuna fish sandwich, if I asked?’” Schirippa said, wisely choosing not to impersonate Walken’s distinguishable voice.
 
Having spent many years in Las Vegas as the entertainment director at the Riviera Hotel, Schirripa returns to Sin City often, most recently to attend a fundraising event where he sat next to actress Teri Hatcher, of "Desperate Housewives" fame.
 
“She makes believe she doesn’t know who I am,” Schirripa said. Later in the evening, after dinner rolls were served, Hatcher’s companion, a female friend seated on her other side, finally addressed Shirripa. “She leans over and says, ‘If you’re not going to eat that dinner roll, can Teri have it?’”
 
Confused as to why Hatcher would not ask this question herself, Schirripa played along. “I say, ‘Uh, sure.’ I pick up the plate with the roll, and hand it over Teri to the girl. Then I wait a few minutes and I go, ‘Does Teri want any butter?’”
 
Leading him to conclude, aptly, “I think she’s out of her mind.”
 
But that’s not unusual for Vegas, where Schirripa said everybody has had plastic surgery, making them look “like burn victims.”  He once witnessed a toupee-wearing man sweat so much at a restaurant that the toupee glue began dripping down his face. Given his experience dealing with the Vegas freak parade, it takes a lot to shock Schirripa; but the evil on display in Nothing Personal takes madness to a whole new level.
 
One of the featured hitman was in the hospital, waiting for his wife to give birth, when the boss called with a job. “He leaves the waiting room, goes and kills the guy, goes home, takes a shower, something to eat, goes to sleep,” Schirripa said. “The next morning, he picks up his new wife and baby.”
 
Schirripa is understandably pumped for Nothing Personal, but had less kind things to say about reality television, particularly "Jersey Shore" and "The Apprentice". In fact, he’s been offered a spot on "Celebrity Fit Club," but turned it town. “The day I go on TV with no shirt on, that will be my last day on Earth,” he said.
 
After all, his hefty build has garnered him much success, even though people commonly mistake him for other famous fat guys. “I was out recently in a suit and tie, going to some affair, and this older couple comes up to me,” he said. “They say, ‘Listen we gotta tell you—we really love you, and we think you’re doing a great job.’”
 
Befuddled, Schirripa kindly thanked the strangers, who then said, “You are the Governor of New Jersey, aren’t you?”
 
-Julie Kanfer