Comedian Vic DiBitetto is getting ready to perform in his backyard this week, but seriously, he does not want his fans coming to his Manalapan home and lining up on the driveway for the show.
The “backyard” that DiBitetto, 56, will be performing in is the Millstone Performing Arts Center, 5 Dawson Court, Millstone Township, at 8 p.m. Sept. 23. For ticket information, visit www.sept23vicmillstone.eventbrite.com or call 732-899-3900.
“Please, do not come to my backyard. Some people think I’m going to have chairs and drinks set up by my pool, but I’m not,” the funnyman said in a Sept. 12 interview. “The thing I love about this show in Millstone is that I can be out of my shower and at the venue in 20 minutes. People can see me in Millstone and not just on the deli line at Wegmans.”
DiBitetto, a Brooklyn, N.Y., native who has been in show business for more than 30 years, now calls New Jersey home and said he likes the suburban lifestyle. He has been busy traveling this year, performing at venues on Long Island and in New England, Charlotte, N.C., and Chattanooga, Tenn., among other locales.
Following his show in Millstone Township, DiBitetto will be off to performances in an ever-expanding universe that includes Milwaukee, Las Vegas, Chicago and Raleigh, N.C.
DiBitetto continues to maintain a daily presence on social media, creating what he calls vignettes in which he discusses the New York Yankees, the New York Giants and his wife, Lucy, who, according to DiBitetto, is a very frequent shopper at Home Goods and brings home a never-ending array of eclectic items to be displayed in their residence.
“I created a Frankenstein” with the videos, said DiBitetto, who recognizes as a man in his 50’s that he is reaching millennials and drawing them to his shows with social media, the favored medium of the new century.
DiBitetto said his standup act is different from the vignettes he posts online each day; they are “two different animals,” as he put it.
Politics will not be a standup topic the former sanitation worker and school bus driver delves into on Sept. 23, but being married, raising a family, his recent trip to Italy and life as it happens to him each day will be on the agenda for laughs in Millstone.
And in part of his words about life, DiBitetto said, “I talk about how my son came out several years ago. I’m not on a soapbox … there are jokes … and I have parents come up to me thanking me for talking about this. You know what I say to them? I ask them if they would rather have their child come out of the closet or hang himself in a closet.”
The comedian who has spent the better part of his life striving for success in show business said he continues to be amazed and thankful for the recognition he is receiving now from fans of all ages, including two little girls, Giovanna and Rosina, who post their own videos online and poke fun at characters like Tony Gaga that DiBitetto has created.
The recognition extends to his neighborhood.
“I take a walk every morning and the other day a school bus driver honked at me and gave me ‘the look.’ I doubled over,” DiBitetto said, referring to the signature look of exasperation he often gives of a man who spends his days trying to figure out and make sense of the world around him.
For more information, visit www.vicdibitetto.net