TV star extends open invite to his stag party
Joey of Degrassi High

Chris Wattie
National Post

Pat Mastroianni

Pat Mastroianni, who played Joey Jeremiah on television’s Degrassi series, is holding his stag party a week Sunday and wants everyone to come.

Mr. Mastroianni, 29, will marry Carmela Scalzi, his high school sweetheart, next month.

“I just thought, ‘I don’t have that many friends and my family’s all out of town and here I’ve booked this place that holds like 150 people,” he said yesterday.

“So I thought … let people come out and have a good time, too. It should be a great party.”

For $40, fans of the long-running CBC series can mingle with Mr. Mastroianni and other Degrassi cast members.

There will be food, a casino table, door prizes and a raffle for Degrassi memorabilia.

Mr. Mastroianni insists there will be none of the more traditional stag party entertainment.

“I told my guys, no strippers please,” he said. “I’m not into that at all … besides, I mean my Dad’s going to be there.”

Mr. Mastroianni and his fiance attended Mary Ward Catholic High School in Toronto. They broke up after the prom and lost track of each other for eight years.

“Then about 4 1/2 years ago we bumped into each other again in this restaurant I used to work at. And we realized there was something pretty special there.” He proposed on Christmas Day 1999.

Mr. Mastroianni played the fedora-wearing huckster Joey in the first series, 1979’s Kids of Degrassi Street. He stayed on when Degrassi Junior High began in 1986. That evolved into Degrassi High in 1989.

When the series ended in 1992, he continued to appear in commercials and other TV shows. In 1997, he moved to Los Angeles, hoping to start a career in Hollywood. But after four years, he decided to come home.

A new series, Degrassi: The Next Generation, is now being filmed. It will premiere on CTV in October.

– The party starts at 7:30 p.m., July 29, at the Bohemian Caf, 128 Pears Ave.