Aspiring comic Joey Bagleone has never enjoyed the fame and success of his beloved idol, stand-up comedian Bob Callespie. In fact, his audiences often heckle him for sounding too much like a Callespie imitation. Stuck with a lame donut shop job and hopeless dreams of becoming America's next comedy star, he expects to end up a failure. Then fate steps in when Sully, Callespie's Mob-related manager asks Joey to ghostwrite a few new routines for his idol. This soon becomes no laughing matter when New Jersey crime boss Dominic "Ruthless" Brusso gets involved.