The Sopranos guest star recalls getting 'whacked by Paulie Walnuts' for real, thanks to mishap with lead pipe

Here's one of those rare instances where you almost want to get whacked by a gangster.

Actor Chris Diamantopoulos, who guest starred on HBO's The Sopranos as Jason Barone, a family friend of Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), recalled the time a scene involving a prop rubber pipe went wrong and he "got whacked by Paulie Walnuts and lived to tell about it."

Diamantopoulos appeared in 2006's "The Fleshy Part of the Thigh," the fourth episode of season 6. Unaware of his late father's mafia ties, Jason goes against Tony's wishes and is quickly hit (literally) with retribution: a visit from Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri (Tony Sirico) and a lead pipe.

"Sirico had two pipes, a lead pipe and a rubber pipe, one to use when the camera was on me, and one to use when the camera was on him,” Diamantopoulos told PEOPLE in an interview, pegged to his role on Amazon's The Sticky. “Which one do you think he used on me the first time? The answer is it wasn't the fake one."

"It was a rite of passage to be whacked by Paulie Walnuts," he added.

It's nearly 26 years since The Sopranos first premiered on HBO in January of 1999, becoming a runaway hit that went on for six seasons. Newly minted Golden Globe nominee Cristin Milioti (HBO's The Penguin) recalled her own experience as a guest star, playing John Sacrimoni's daughter Catherine. She admitted how she "ended up eating the prop shrimp" because she didn't realize what craft services was.

The show came back into the conversation this past year when creator David Chase returned to New Jersey ice cream parlor Holsten’s, where they filmed the final scene of the entire series. "Look who stopped by to visit us for the 17th anniversary of the final episode!” reads the photo caption on the Holsten’s social media account. “When we asked him what he thought about the booth, he said, ‘It looks good!’”

Steve Schirripa, who played Bobby "Baccala" Baccalieri, also took inspiration from his mobster role on The Sopranos for a recent Freshpet ad that debuted Christmas Day during the Netflix NFL games. The nostalgia is still alive and well.