One of the more successful Borscht Belt comedians, Monica resided in New York City and New Jersey in the 1950s, and worked his way up from suburban clubs to the Copacabana and the Latin Quarter prior to his first television appearances.
Monica appeared with Frank Sinatra so often that he became a junior member of the Rat Pack, and later became Joey Bishop's sidekick, from 1963 to 1965, as Larry Corbett, Mr. Bishop's friend and writer on The Joey Bishop Show.
Monica was married, had a son and divorced by the time he joined the US Army in the early 1950s. While stationed in Washington State, he met Helen Stover, of Seattle. They married in 1954, after he finished his stint in the army, and the family eventually settled in Englewood, New Jersey – close to his work in the nightclubs and television studios of New York City. The couple had five children together, two sons and three daughters, before they divorced in 1974.
Monica died of cancer on July 22, 1998, survived by his six children and his longtime partner, Barbara Ortwein.[1]