Todd Montesi Is More Than A Comedic Walk On Role
By Matt Levy
When watching a really funny TV show, we often take for granted the actors that have just a few lines. You see them — they’re the waiters, cashiers, bus drivers with a throwaway aside — but they may not register. They’re sort of like an invisible reality-filler to the untrained eye that simply fleshes out what’s going on in the lead actor’s story. They’re there and then they’re gone forever.
Well, on HBO’s Crashing, creator and star Pete Holmes along with showrunner Judd Apatow made sure to fill those one-line walk-on roles with New York comedy legends so even the smallest moments were made juicy and injected with personality and humor. One of the ringers they chose was a more than deserving veteran comic. His name is Todd Montesi, he introduced Pete to the stage in the pilot and he’s more than just a comedian.
Montesi, a half Jamaican/half Haitian Pisces Sun & Moon, Libra Rising, INFJ with a 4 wing 3 enneagram dreamed for years of being validated with a role on a premium cable station. When the call from Apatow and Holmes came, he knew he had made it. The road there was bumpy though.
Todd, born, raised and still living in Brooklyn, NY was brought up by his grandparents. His grandma worked as a lunch lady in public schools five days a week until she retired. Despite the love and support of his grandmother, Montesi said, “My childhood sucked. Growing up in NYC in the late 80’s early 90’s was no joke. Playing video games and watching television kept me away from all the negativity.” While watching TV as a youngster, he had an affinity for stand-up. In his mind, he hatched a plan. Todd wanted to grow up and “tell it like it is” while getting paid for it.
Like any good comic, he spent his formative years observing. While in high school, he was quiet and kept to himself. However, despite his introverted nature, the extrovert was about to explode from within. At 17, he started doing stand-up in the back of the Times Square restaurant, Hamburger Harry’s. That shy and reserved kid saved all his personality for the late nights doing comedy. Montesi was an English major soon after but dropped out of college to pursue comedy more seriously. Creating is what made Todd happy. He sighed and said, “It’s the only thing that keeps me going.”
Todd’s act was shaped by the proverbial Mount Rushmore of comedy: George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Andrew Dice Clay and Sam Kinison. Outside of playing comedy albums on repeat, he spent his free time in his late teens and early 20s watching professional wrestling, listening to music and collecting sneakers. In fact, he maintains those hobbies to this day. He joked, “I’m a forever teenager.”
After a while, his tastes became more sophisticated and he began branching out to pursue film after having been captivated by directors as wide ranging as Martin Scorcese, Francois Truffaut and John Cassavetes. As he says, “I literally go my own way and create my own lane.” This burgeoning interest in film led to his impressive ongoing comedic web series PN & Friends that he writes, directs and stars in (his acting style is a mixture of Lucille Ball, Jerry Lewis and Eddie Murphy if you can believe it), a unique cable access talk show Working Title with Todd Montesi and the long running UG Comedy Show that he’s still producing daily despite a pandemic. The man is a comedic artist, through and through.
He’s no one-man band though. Todd has a group of regular collaborators but his most frequent and favorite person to work with is Nick Albano. Albano’s been one of his best friends in comedy since they met back when he started in the late 90s. He goes so far as to say, “He’s the Larry David to my Seinfeld,” which, not to editorialize, is a very 90s reference. Todd continues saying, “Nick is one of the funniest comedic minds period. If society doesn’t fall apart because of the pandemic, the world will soon discover him.”
These days, while quarantining, Montesi is focusing on making content. Producing PN & Friends and running daily UG! Quarantine Shows on his Instagram Live give him a sense of purpose to keep chugging along making people laugh.
Most recently, he premiered a brand new episode of PN & Friends called ‘The Quarantine Years Part. 1’ featuring a whacked out cameo (literally) from THE Anthony Scaramucci.
Further down the line, once this is all over, Montesi sees himself showrunning PN & Friends on a premium platform.
If that doesn’t happen, Todd quipped, “I really hope society doesn’t collapse due to this pandemic but knowing humanity and the cycle of civilizations it’s not looking too good. Here’s hoping for extraterrestrials to abduct, er I mean “adopt” me into their orbit!”
Still, he said, “Don’t take things too seriously, because at the end it’s just a comedy.”
Who knew the guy that said, “Coming to the stage, Pete Holmes!” had such an incredible backstory? Well, now you do.
You can follow Todd on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. The UG Comedy Show can be found on Tumblr. PN & Friends is on Instagram and YouTube.
On Juneteenth (June 19, 2020), Todd released a special episode titled The Quarantine Years Part One where PN & Friends are coping through uncertain times. It’s a comedic banger, very timely and highly recommended.
If you want to check out what Todd’s watching, reading and listening to over quarantine, here are some of his favorites:
Movies: The Godfather Parts 1 & 2, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas
TV: The Sopranos, I Love Lucy, Happy Days, The Simpsons
Literature: The Iliad & The Odyssey by Homer and anything by the authors Louis Ferdinand Celine, Virgil, James Joyce, Herman Melville and Ralph Ellison.
Music: Wu Tang Clan
