Woke Up This Morning: The Definitive Oral History of The Sopranos

Michael Imperioli · Steve Schirripa

Nov 2021 · HarperCollins UK

About this ebook

CONTAINS SIXTEEN PAGES OF PHOTOS

Who made the phone call that got HBO to launch the show? What’s the significance of all those eggs? And, what the hell ever happened to the Russian? In Woke Up This Morning, Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa have all the answers – and they’re revealing where all the bodies are buried.

Inspired by the incredibly successful Talking Sopranos podcast, The Sopranos stars Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti) and Steve Schirripa (Bobby Baccalieri) finally reveal all the Soprano family secrets in a surprising, funny, and honest new book. Woke Up This Morning is the definitive behind-the-scenes history of the groundbreaking HBO series that became a worldwide cultural phenomenon, ushered in a new Golden Age of Television, and to this day continues to be one of the most binged shows of all time.

Michael and Steve tell all the incredible stories that The Sopranos fans have been waiting to hear for over twenty years. The book covers the entire history of The Sopranos series from the original concept pitch and casting to the infamous cut to black – and answer many of the thousands of fan questions sent to the podcast, as well as dispel some widely propagated myths and reveal things no one outside the show would even know to ask.

Ratings and reviews

A wonderful and clearly deeply personal account from Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa of their time working on The Sopranos. As much as it's crammed with fascinating behind the scenes tales about writing and production, it's also got a lot of very touching anecdotes from the authors on a more personal level. Michael and Steve are very sincere and very open regarding their thoughts, feelings and emotions as they recount not only their time on the show, but their relationships with the other actors who ultimately became family to them. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

About the author

Michael Imperioli is best known for his starring role as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos, which earned him an Outstanding Supporting Actor Emmy Award. He also wrote five episodes of the show and was co-screenwriter of the film Summer of Sam, directed by Spike Lee. Imperioli is also the author of the critically acclaimed novel The Perfume Burned His Eyes, and the short story ‘YASIRI’ in the anthology The Nicotine Chronicles, edited by Lee Child

Steve Schirripa is well known for playing fan-favourite character Bobby Baccalieri on The Sopranos, and currently as Anthony Abetemarco on the long-running hit CBS series Blue Bloods. He is the New York Times bestselling author of six books, include A Goomba’s Guide to Life and the young adult novel Nicky Deuce: Welcome to the Family, which was made into a film for Nickelodeon and starred several Sopranos alum.