Baseball fans have been following New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge as he made history with his 61st home run, which he hit during a game against the Blue Jays in Toronto on Wednesday to tie Roger Maris for the home run record.
The home run was made even more memorable when a fan in the stands tried to catch the ball, and just missed. The fan’s name: Frankie Lasagna, a moniker that proved irresistible to late-night comedy hosts, as reported by Exclaim!
On “The Late Show”, for example, Stephen Colbert joked that Frankie Lasagna is “either the best name I’ve ever heard, or the worst alias in the history of the mob. ‘Eyyy, I’m Frankie Lasagna. These are my associates: Mikey Pizza, Sal Calzone, and his cousin, Bobby Unlimited Bread Sticks.'” (Colbert’s jokes come just after the 9:50 mark in the video above.)
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Meanwhile, Jimmy Kimmel also referenced the incident when he interviewed a different fan who nearly caught the ball, Toronto’s Kyle Mulligan.
Naturally, Lasagna’s name was mentioned. “What are the odds that a guy named Frankie Lasagne would not be from the Bronx?” Kimmel quipped.
The man who ALMOST caught Aaron Judge’s 61st home run! @TheJudge44 #KimmelinBrooklyn pic.twitter.com/DeXc0KTt19
— Jimmy Kimmel Live (@JimmyKimmelLive) September 30, 2022
Jimmy Fallon also weighed in on “The Tonight Show”, remarking that “Frankie Lasanga sounds like a name you get from the Olive Garden witness protection program. Frankie Lasagna sounds like the name Robert De Niro checks into hotels to avoid paparazzi. Frankie Lasanga sounds like the name of Trump’s next lawyer.”
Meanwhile, Lasagna — who operates Toronto’s Terrazza restaurant — answered the inevitable question when he appeared on Toronto’s “Breakfast Television”.
“To be truthful, my name isn’t Frankie Lasagna,” he confessed. “My name is Francesco Lasagna.”
.@BlueJays fan Frankie Lasagna joined us LIVE this morning to talk about how he's feeling after missing Aaron Judge's iconic home run ball ⚾ pic.twitter.com/qKalD7apmI
— Breakfast Television (@breakfasttv) September 29, 2022
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on Global.