Danny DeVito Will Never Ditch His Jersey Roots—or His Accent

Danny DeVito has a gift for charming just about anyone.

It’s probably why he has an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and has been nominated at the Tonys and the Academy Awards. 

But when he comes home every year, he’s also the real MVP…of the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

DeVito has hosted the hall’s induction ceremonies more than anyone else. Starting in 2021, he’s presided over the event’s proceedings five consecutive times, both virtually during the Covid-19 pandemic and in person at venues including NJPAC and the American Dream mega mall.

“I just dig coming and hanging out with my New Jersey peeps,” DeVito, 81, tells New Jersey Monthly from his home in Los Angeles.

“I really like the camaraderie of it, hanging out with people, and all of ‘em have my accent. It’s like most of ‘em, anyway, like 98% of ‘em. You know, when I came to California, when I went to New York to go study, people said, ‘you got an accent.’ I said, ‘I do?’ ‘Yeah, you do, you got a Jersey accent.’ I love it, so I keep it, and I use it anytime I can. I can really get to use it when I go to the New Jersey Hall of Fame.”

On September 24, he’s hosting the ceremony for the sixth time, but at a new venue: the recently opened Dream Live Performing Arts Center. It’s a separate space in the same American Dream mall complex as the New Jersey Hall of Fame Entertainment and Learning Center, which debuted in 2024. (DeVito hosted last year’s ceremony in a roped-off area at the same sprawling mall, over the constant hum of shoppers.)

DeVito was himself inducted to the state hall of fame at NJPAC in 2010. Bruce Springsteen did the honors two years after DeVito inducted him in the hall’s first class. 

“It was very special to be inducted by The Boss,” DeVito says. “I inducted him, and that was really a highlight for me because I’m such a big fan.”

Of all his career accolades, from the Emmy win (for Taxi) to the Oscar nomination (for producing Erin Brockovich), DeVito says his New Jersey Hall of Fame membership is—as Sinatra famously sang—at the “top of the heap.” 

If he could tell his childhood self that he’d not only be in the hall, but host of the whole shebang, he knows what he’d say. “Man, you’re a lucky guy. Just make sure you keep your nose clean, baby.” 

“It’s nice to get a pat on the back and atta boy and all that stuff, but the main thing is the spirit of it, and I think the spirit of New Jersey is that you knuckle down and you do it,” DeVito says. “Look at the people who are emerging from the fairy dust that was sprinkled on us many years ago by some alien creature … Maybe they just were saying, ‘where can we go? Let’s go to New York and sprinkle the dust. Naahh, look at Jersey.’ Well, they hit Brooklyn pretty good. There are a lot of talented people.”

A Special Tribute to a Dear Jersey Friend 

DeVito has worked with and directed some pretty prominent fellow New Jersey Hall of Famers. 

In the bunch: Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas and Joe Piscopo. If he could collaborate with another Jersey great, it would be the one who brought him into the fold. 

“I think I’d do a road movie with Bruce, that would be good,” DeVito says. “Just get in the car and go.” 

This year’s performing arts inductees to the New Jersey Hall of Fame include SZA, the seven-time Grammy winner and Oscar nominee from Maplewood who released the No. 1 album SOS in 2022. The hall will also induct members of The Rascals, the 1960s hitmakers who got their start in Garfield. 

“We’re gonna take the lid off,” DeVito says. “We’ll have some fun.” 

“No matter when I go, I usually have a great time,” he says. “Everybody in Jersey’s really pretty loose and ready to have a good night that night. There’s no pressure, it’s all in fun.”

One part of the ceremony will honor a treasured friend from DeVito’s days growing up in Asbury Park.

“I unfortunately lost my dear friend Nicky Addeo this year before he could be (inducted),” he says of the doo-wop and R&B singer, who died in June. Addeo is known for his falsetto and his contributions to the Sound of Asbury Park, which have been recognized by both DeVito and Springsteen. 

“We’re gonna pay tribute to him this year,” DeVito says. “He was a staple of New Jersey and the Jersey Shore and a wonderful musician with a golden voice, a beautiful voice, and he meant a lot to everybody who passed through, from all the people in the E Street Band, Southside Johnny, and all the folks that were making their way in the early days. Nicky was there with them, in some way or another.”

Always Sunny’s Taxi Reunion 

When DeVito isn’t hosting hall of fame ceremonies and working on films, he’s in Frank Reynolds mode.

His beloved character recently returned alongside the cast of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia for the show’s 18th season. DeVito has seen Frank through many questionable adventures and schemes over the history-making run of the FX show. By number of seasons, it’s the longest running live-action comedy series in American TV.

“It’s basically Charlie (Day) and Glenn (Howerton) and Rob (Mac) and Kaitlin (Olson), my family at Sunny, that makes it fun,” he says. “We all just can’t wait to go to work when we get the go-ahead, and so we just finished. We do them very fast, and we’re looking forward to next year.”

DeVito welcomed the return of a celebrity guest star as Pappy McPoyle, head of the gnarly McPoyle clan, in the episode The Gang Goes to the Ren Faire.

“I got to work with Guillermo del Toro again, who is one of my favorite directors,” he says. “We had so much fun. Guillermo is one of my good buddies.” 

DeVito also got to pick up a storyline from last season that saw him reunite with his Taxi co-star Carol Kane, who plays Frank’s new love interest, Sam. After a case of severe cold feet (and hands), Frank walks down the aisle to marry Sam with one of the most gruesome wedding kisses seen in a TV episode. It’s all thanks to a Weekend at Bernie’s-style plot from Dee (Olson) and Dennis (Howerton) to keep Sam alive past her unfortunate expiration date. Not to be outdone, Frank shoots his newly deceased bride out of a cannon into the Delaware River at a funeral procession, complete with a Mummers parade. 

DeVito and Kane 74, shared scenes 45 years after Kane first played Simka Dahblitz on Taxi, where she was paired with Andy Kaufman’s Latka Gravas. DeVito broke out on the sitcom as imperious dispatcher Louie De Palma. He and Kane both won Emmys for their performances in the ’80s. 

“Carol and I, we keep in touch a lot because the Taxi gang, the lovely Marilu Henner keeps us together by setting up Zooms,” DeVito says. “So we do a monthly Zoom with all the cast and (series co-creator) Jim Brooks (who grew up in North Bergen). He pops in and we just talk about each other, what’s going on, and we keep in touch that way. And we all want to work together again, it’s just a matter of finding the right things, but we are deeply, deeply, deeply embedded in friendship.” 

This Christmas, DeVito returns to the Jumanji franchise in Jumanji: Open World. January 29 will see the release of Drag, a horror comedy film he produced starring Lizzy Caplan, his daughter Lucy DeVito, Christine Ko and John Stamos. 

“It is funny and horrifying at the same time,” he says with a laugh. “Yeah, we pulled out all the stops.” 

Danny DeVito will host the 2026 New Jersey Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Thursday, September 24 at 7 pm at Dream Live Performing Arts Center at American Dream in East Rutherford; visit Ticketmaster for tickets.