Tony Danza Passes The New Bedford Vibe Check Because He’s Had Portuguese Food

Tony Danza is bringing his Standards and Stories show to Zeiterion Performing Arts Center Nov. 11, and he called us the morning of his New Bedford debut to talk about it.

It has been a minute since I've seen Tony Danza in anything.

When I think of Tony, I think of his time on the 1980s sitcom Who's The Boss? Danza played a live-in maid employed by a high-powered female executive. It's interesting that it was considered a comedic angle to feature a storyline with a tough guy former boxer as an assistant to a woman, but again, this was the '80s.

LISTEN:  Tony Danza with Michael and Maddie

Before we went on the air, Danza brought up his time on the TV show Taxi.  I had completely forgotten about that show.  He joked with me saying, "I know exactly how old you are now that I know you grew up with Who's The Boss, but Taxi was before your time."

Thinking back on it, Taxi really was a star-studded show with names including Danny DeVito, Andy Kaufman, Christopher Lloyd (Doc from Back to the Future) Marilu Henner and Judd Hirsch.

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Tony told us that he's never been to New Bedford, but he has definitely enjoyed Portuguese food. He says that one of the best parts of his current tour is getting a chance to experience so many great cities in the United States.

We told Tony about how we're playing an updated version of the famed Elton John song Tiny Dancer, a duet with Britney Spears called Hold Me Closer.  We asked if he, too, hears his name whenever he hears the Elton song, as so many seem to, and he admitted that he did.

Tony says he's worked very hard to become a singer. "You have to allow yourself to sing if you really want to do it," he said.