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A panel called the Advisory Committee on Extrajudicial Activities put the kibosh on Sicari’s standup act, claiming his material could imply bias and a lack of impartiality.
And even though his engagement on the bench is over the end of the year, everyone has their statute of limitations. So Sicari (whose name in Italian means “hit man”) is meeting his commitment for a three-show gig at Caroline’s, beginning Monday. Then he’s taking his act on the road — to Trenton — insisting that he be able to belong to a club that wouldn‘t have him as a member.
He just has to be careful to resist any urges to tell Chief Justice Stuart Rabner: “I never forget a face. But in your case, I’ll make an exception.”
It’s amusing that Sicari once worked with Frank Lucianna, one of the most entertaining defense attorneys playing North Jersey courtrooms today. Sicari was also a prosecutor and, more recently, has done mostly criminal defense work solo, first in Ridgewood and then Paramus.
Sicari has played other clubs besides Caroline’s. He’s been in commercials, on TV shows — the whole shebang. But there’s no record of him ever mixing careers. Not once has he asked both sides to approach the bench for a sidecar.
At 41, Sicari has hit his stride. He could disrobe quietly, but you don’t become a stand-up comedian by being anyone’s patsy.
Sicari was appointed as South Hackensack’s municipal judge at the town’s 2007 reorganization meeting. Officials didn’t just think he was amusing; they knew he moonlighted — same as several other attorneys, some of whom play in bands, others who operate nightclubs and other businesses.
“In his comedy, he doesn’t get into the fact that he’s a lawyer. He doesn’t get into the fact that he’s a municipal court judge,” defense attorney E. Drew Britcher, of Britcher, Leone & Roth in Glen Rock, told the New Jersey Law Journal. “Most of his performances are driven by improvisation and there is never a mention of his daytime profession.
“Judge Vincenzo Sicari and Vince August are two separate and distinct entities running parallel with one another,” Britcher said.
There’s a joke in there somewhere. Sicari will probably find it.
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