Famed showbiz haunt the Friars Club is making a comeback — sort of.
Members of the legendary New York private club — once known for its comic roasts and celeb members — gathered at Italian restaurant Patsy’s on W. 56thSt. in NYC for a mini-reunion on Tuesday night.
The four-hour dinner, on the Frank Sinatra floor, included performances by crooners George Pettignano, Jenna Esposito and Sal Viviano — who closed out the evening performing three Sinatra songs.
“The Friars are at Patsy’s! Finally, we’re back! 55th Street to 56th Street,” Viviano said referring to the club’s former Midtown home.
The club shuttered amid a debt crisis following the COVID-19 pandemic, we reported.
Viviano cracked a few jokes in between sets. “One day I put my drink down and someone put their teeth in it,” he quipped as he searched for his drink. The crowd yelled back: “That’s a Friar joke!”
“The View” warmup comic Regina DeCicco hosted the evening, which included memories and stories from former board member, Ralph Compagnone, as well as singer Julie Budd, 70, who, at 16, was the youngest opening act for Sinatra at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
She arrived with copies of her brand new CD, “Remembering… Mr. Sinatra.”
Compagnone said the point of the evening was to, “reminisce and discuss future items and events,” revolving around the Friars.
“I have spent 25 years of my adult life at that club,” he said, adding he developed “many wonderful relationships from that great club.”
Budd added, “I have always felt that the Friars was a second family… Friends were there and they were a great support for whatever was going on in your life… even though we’re not in the old building, we are the old building…. I hope that we will continue to have evenings like this for many years to come.”
We hear they plan to make it a quarterly meet up.
The evening ended with Viviano and the crowd singing – what else – Sinatra’s “My Way.”
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