'Sopranos': You're no Nikki Leotardo
Posted: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 1:09 PM by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
Filed Under:
TV
"The Sopranos" finale seems so long ago now, but if you remember this post, you will remember that after the last episode aired, lots of people were buzzing about an email claiming the guy in the Members Only jacket (at the diner counter) was Phil Leotardo's nephew, Nikki Leotardo.
This would have thrown a wrench into the works because many viewers believe the cut-to-black scene at the very end of the show meant Tony had been whacked, and who would have more of a reason than a relative of pancake-head Phil?
I had never heard of Nikki Leotardo, and was pretty sure I had seen all the "Sopranos" episodes, so I rewound my TiVo and watched the credits twice, in slo-mo. No Nikki Leotardo was credited. And this Philadelphia newspaper article talked to the man who played Members Only guy, and he'd never been on the show (or any show) before.
Now, according to an interview in the Dallas News, one ordinary "Sopranos" viewer made up Nikki Leotardo and managed to circulate an email with his made-up character name in it.
"I made it intentionally ridiculous. I picked the name 'Nicky' because there was a Nicky in Casino and I think in GoodFellas, but I spelled it 'Nikki' just to make it even sillier," says Christopher Swenson, who claims authorship of the email that started it all.
This in itself is pretty funny and not that surprising, but where it gets a little scary was how many people were willing to take a "fact" thrown out in a random email as fact. Some even made it sound as if they remembered Nikki from a previous episode. Good thing the email wasn't about something more important than a TV show; we would have had another "War of the Worlds" on our hands. The Martians are coming! And Nikki Leotardo is leading the charge!
Just check out some of the comments left on Test Pattern:
"The trucker who was sitting at the bar stool, who the camera kept focusing in on, is Nikki leotardo, Phil Leotardos nephew, he was in one of the early season episodes where Phil and Tony have a sit down.... heres where the genius comes in..." --John Doe
"At this point the camera switches back (to) Nikki Leotardo who goes in the bathroom..." --Brian
"One more tidbit of supporting evidence... multiple bloggers have claimed that this "Members only" guy (real name Jimmy Spadola) also played the part of a Leotardo family member on an earlier episode." --Chicagoland
"The guy at the end of the bar who walks to the bathroom is Phil Leotardo's nephew, Nick." --Cory Rice
"The guy at the bar is credited as Nikki Leotardo. The same actor played him in the first part of season 6 during a brief sit down concerning the future of Vito. That wasn't that long ago. Apparently, he is the nephew of Phil. Phil's brother Nikki Senior was killed in 1976 in a car accident. Absolutely Genius!!!! " --John
