Martin Scorsesi: Goodfellas (1990) Joe Pesci & Ray Liotta: 'You Think I'm Funny?'

Source:Luis Rojas- Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta in Goodfellas (1990)

"Fact: The scene was never meant to be in the actual film. Joe Pesci acted out the scene to Martin Scorsese. The line was based off of real life events.

Goodfellas (1990) is regarded as one of the best mobster movies of all time. It contained some of the best actors including Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Ray Liotta, Paul Sorvino, and Frank Vincent. The film was based off of the real life portrayal of Henry Hill. Henry Hill was an FBI informant whose life was immortalized by the movie (he idolized local mafiosos, such as Paul Vario, a capo in the Luchesse crime family). Hill stated that Joe Pesci’s portrayal of Tommy DeSimone was 90-99% accurate, with one notable exception; ‘the real Tommy DeSimone was a massively built, strapping man.’

The “You Think I’m Funny?” scene was based off of Joe Pesci’s real life when he worked in a restaurant as a young man. Pesci told a mobster that he was funny. From the quote, the mobster wasn’t very happy and became angry. That is how that quote came about. In shooting the scene to which the line would carry life, Scorsese allowed Pesci and Ray Liotta to improvise the scene.

During around the time of shooting this scene, Ray Liotta’s mother passes away of cancer. Liotta explains that he uses the anger over losing his mother in specific scenes, like the pistol-whipping scene." 

“Amazing scene from the movie Goodfellas between Joe Pesci “Tommy DeVito” and Ray Liotta “Henry Hill.”

Source:The Wolf 914- Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta in Goodfellas. 

From The Wolf 

Yes Joe, we think you are funny and you’ve been one of the funniest people in Hollywood for a very long time because you are a natural comedian who doesn’t need funny lines to be funny. Because of what you bring to them and how you deliver them. My favorite types of movies are movies that aren’t supposed to be full-time comedies that do not set out to be hysterical, but just are because of the people in them and the characters they play. Breaking Bad on AMC is a perfect example of that and so is Goodfellas.

Joe Pesci’s character in this movie is a serious bad ass. Whose murdered probably hundreds of people, sort of like Sammy Gravanao from the Gambino Crime Family in New York. But he’s a very funny man who knows how to have a good time and a great story-teller. As you see in this scene, but Goodfellas is not supposed to be a comedy. But a real life story about people who are really bad, but who are also very funny characters.

Joe Pesci’s character Tommy in this movie is a big shot Italian mobster in New York City. Not a capo meaning captain in Italian, but a made guy with his own crew and people under him. Whose very successful with his cover business’s. Business’s that are legitimate technically, but are really there to cover illegal activity like a restaurant. Or a store and he’s a very good story-teller and Henry played by Ray Liotta in this movie mentions that to him. And Tommy jokingly takes that as Henry is insulting him and scares the hell out of Henry.

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