(actual photo)

It goes without saying that one of the highlights of being a TV blogger is keeping tabs on what Tony Danza’s doing, so I’m pleased to report that Danza most recently interrupted a priest during his friend’s funeral. To be more specific, Danza was at the wake for crime author Philip Carlo, and he reportedly got upset that the priest wasn’t properly eulogizing the writer. From the New York Post:

“Tony, who was one of Carlo’s closest friends, walked right up to the priest and said angrily, ‘Excuse me, but this is not about you. It’s supposed to be about my friend, and if you can’t do that, maybe you should let someone else speak!’

“Yo, Father, I’ma let you finish, but Michael Jackson had the best celebrity funeral OF ALL TIME!”

“People were stunned, while the priest was visibly shaken. He tried talking about Carlo before quickly wrapping things up. Danza took over and eulogized Carlo with memories from their younger days. ”When someone then heckled Tony, he said, ‘Will you give me a break? Will you stop and let me talk?’”

In all seriousness, that sounds like a terrific wake. I want people to get heckled at my funeral. It would only be appropriate.

This is the first promo for A&E’s “Teach: Tony Danza,” which premieres October 1st. After initially planning to teach in New York City, Danza spent last year teaching at Northeast High School in Philadelphia. Here’s the YouTube description:

After more than 30 years in entertainment as an actor, talk show host, Broadway star, cookbook author, pro boxer and song and dance man, Tony Danza faces his toughest audience to date – high school students. Long before the launch of Danza’s showbiz career, he hoped to be a teacher and even earned a degree in history to pursue that dream.

I don’t want to crap in this punch bowl, but I’m not exactly bowled over by the way the trailer portrays Danza as some kind of hero for leaving showbiz to become a teacher. I’d be more impressed with Danza becoming a teacher if it wasn’t for a reality show, and if I were going to watch a reality show about teaching, I’d prefer to see one about actual teachers.

But hey, congratulations on teaching for a single year, Tony Danza. Do it for another 20 or 30 years and you’ll be as admirable as a real teacher.

[Philly.com]

Tony Danza will star in a new A&E reality show in which he spends a year teaching English at a New York City high school. And you better believe it took every fiber of my being not to write “Who’s the Boss NOW?” as a lede.  From the NY Post’s Starr Report (via BWE):

In the untitled project, Danza — who earned a degree in history education from the University of Dubuque before launching his acting career — will spend a year teaching 10th grade English at a New York City school.

“I was talking about going back and answering the call to service and doing something different with my life,” Danza told me yesterday. “I’m going to teach 10th grade English and have some other duties, maybe a drama class, and all of the things that come with teaching, like cafeteria duty.

“I’m trying to do what I call ‘responsible reality,’ ” says Danza, 58. “I don’t want to do that other [reality] stuff and I don’t want to do a game show and nobody’s knocking down my door for acting jobs.”

Wow, that’s kinda sad and mildly heartwarming all at once.  And it’s not like today’s high schoolers grew up watching him bicker with Judith Light and buy training bras for Alyssa Milano. **flashback to pubescent sigh** So hey, why NOT do something good and teach?  Also, I want to see it just for the chance something like this might happen:

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