Aug. 3, 2025

Sebastian Maniscalco's Success

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac shares insights on Sebastian Maniscalco's impressive success, including his $35.5 million gross and 361,000 tickets sold in six months. Leslie Jones on her comedy journey, including a dark period after her brother's death and her love for Colin Jost. Jones will tour the US from September to November. Gianmarco Soresi talks about the global reach of his comedy through social media, Pete Davidson discusses his role in a new horror movie, Michael Palin speaks about coping with his wife's death, Eric Idle shares memories of George Harrison and adapting to public interactions and Dan Harmon talks about the progress of 'Rick and Morty',

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Caalaroga Shark Media. Hey there, Johnny Mack with your daily

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comedy news. It must be nice to be Sebastian Maniscalco.

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He caught up with Billboard, who points out that in

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the first six months of the year he grossed thirty

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five and a half million, sold three hundred and sixty

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one thousand tickets over thirty shows. None of that includes

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five nights at Madison Square Garden. Last September, Sebastian was

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number twenty five among all genres of live performers, just

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below Dua Lipa. Sebastian told Billboard that's nice to hear.

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It's a lot of competition out there, so I didn't

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think I would have been the number one guy, but

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I'm not gonna lie. It's nice to be on top.

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Why does he think his comedy appeals to such a

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wide range of people. Sebastian said, well, the observation material

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I do hits a lot of different notes for people.

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I'm not talking about one specific thing. Although I'm Italian American,

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I think a lot of my comedy resonated with the

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Italian American community. At first, that was never really my intention.

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I've always done material like hey, I went to Chipotle

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or ever notice when your doorbell rings. Those are very

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broad topics that anybody can enjoy. Then I honed in

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on my Italian upbringing and my Italian father, which resonated

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not only with people with Italian immigrant backgrounds, but Spanish, Greek,

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wherever you come from. You know what, I feel like,

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there's more when I look into the audience. I feel

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like I haven't tapped into a mainstream vibe. I like

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to look into the audience and see more Chinese people,

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more Black people, more any people, because I feel like

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the comedy speaks to a lot of different people and

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I haven't felt like I've tapped into it yet. I

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just feel like there's more out there for me. Here's

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my thought. And again, the guy is super popular doesn't

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need my help. I think the reason there would be

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because of he does do a stylized delivery that I

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think if he backed it down a little, it may

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open it up a little. But again, clearly does not

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need my help as I record a podcast into the basement.

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But yes, the question that would be my one. Cent

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Leslie Jones was wearing a full length gold lumm a

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ball gown, said it makes her look skinny. I'm six

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feet tall. I can't cut my feet off. I can't

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being a scary mf or. This is who I am.

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Let me work with who I am. I'm the type

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of person who if I'm happy, everybody in the room's

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going to be happy, and if I'm sad, it's going

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to be very quiet and tense. I'm a temperature guider

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in the room. She discussed current events and said we're

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repeating the worst part of history right now, but maybe

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it's for the lesson that we didn't learn the last time.

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She talked about a dark period of her comedy in

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the aughts after her brother died. She said, I was evil,

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not evil, just angry, performing and angry. My routine was raw.

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Started getting where I thought, I don't give an f

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whethy you all laugh. I was destroying it. That's when

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I started wearing a mohawk. People thought I did it

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for fashion. Nah, I just didn't want to comb my hair.

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I was bare minimum getting out of bed. She was

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taking drugs and says she doesn't mean weed, I mean drugs. Drugs.

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She got SNL in twenty thirteen, at age forty seven.

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She was the oldest new Hire the show had ever made.

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People don't understand that first year, maybe the first two seasons,

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I was really in love with Colin Jost. I didn't

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know how it was going to happen, whether we just

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work late together and make out in his office and

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drink whiskey. I had all the visions. He was so

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cute and funny, and he was just so white, such

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a white nerd for app boy that I was like,

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I want him. Every time I'd see him in the corridor,

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I'd shout, I love you, Colin, you beautiful white stud.

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Leslie will be touring the US from September nineteenth through November. Yeahoo,

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Canada talks to you. Friend of the show, John Marco Saraisi.

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He says social media has made his material accessible to

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those around the world, saying, I think there was a

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time when I wouldn't be able to do what I

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do internationally until I was like a megastar, until it

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was big theaters. But it's definitely at a scale where

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I can go to a comedy club in Europe and

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enough people know me from the Internet they're excited to

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see me. But in another way, it allows me to

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feed into my ADHD where if there's something I really

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want to talk about right now, or something super topical,

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it's going to go way tomorrow. I can make that

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joke and put it out there in my own capacity

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in a way that if I were recurring guests on

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the Daily Show I could have. That's when I could

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have made my jokes about Rock and Elon Musk. But

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especially these days, the new cycle moves so quickly. So

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does comedy have to do in building a platform? Lets

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me get all those thoughts out, and in a business sense,

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it gives me more product to sell Christ to Stefano

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talked to Yahoo about making fun of his father, saying,

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I love poking fun at him because I know he

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can take it. My whole life, he showed me what

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love means through comedy. It always meant make fun of me,

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but that was basically him and his brother or uncle

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saying I love you. That's why I make fun of

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him so much, because I feel like it's really me

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saying to my dad, hey, I love you. His fiancee

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is cool about the jokes. She says. I think she's like,

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go be as funnies you need to be. We got

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to pay off this mortgage. He praised Hulu and said

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Netflix is great. All these places are great, but Hulu

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they don't have that many comedy specials. So I had

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an opportunity to really stand out and not get lost

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in the shuffle, and to be part of the inaugural

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Hulu Comedy Specials class with Jim Gaffickin and Bill Burr

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Comedy Greats. It was really cool. He discussed the tiktokization

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of comedy and said, initially I'd get recognized in the

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street and someone would be like, oh, you're the comedian

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from TikTok. I'd almost get offended by it. I'm not TikToker.

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I have comedy specials. And then all that went away,

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where I was like, Hey, whatever medium people see me in,

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just be grateful and feel blessed that they're watching you

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and they're even acknowledging you. It's not about getting recognized,

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that's all ego. It's about my work and it was

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memorable enough for them to be like, oh I remember you.

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Especially with the mindless scrolling wheel do every day, we're

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taking in thousands of videos and images every day. If

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I could stick out to a person, I feel really

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blessed by that. Cinema Bland talk to Pete Davidson. He's

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going to be separate from the Amazon movie with Eddie Murphy,

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a horror movie called The Home. Pete will play a

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broken man who takes a job at a retirement home,

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only to discover the sinister plot of the film. Pete says,

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acting is just so embarrassing because I'm a stand up,

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so you know, it's very ridiculous. So in order for

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me to get there and be like, oh, I can

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only do that two or three times before we start laughing,

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you know what I mean. SGA Magazine caught up with

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Monty Python or Michael Paymin. His wife Helen passed away

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two years ago, and Michael says, we spend so much

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time together in this place, just the two of us,

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that she's always here. Her pictures are everywhere, the chairs

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we used to sit in, the book she used to read,

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that sort of thing. They've become reassuring. I'm pleased to

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be able to say this now, because at one time

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I thought those traces of her would be a source

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of continuing grief. It's much better than that. I feel

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we coexist as well. I can see why people say

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it takes two years or so before we response gradually changes.

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It becomes less about loss and more about the spirit

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of that person being around. So that's nice. I feel

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less grief now and more than I got to keep

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doing things, looking after the children we made together. I'll

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talk to her as if she's still there. I'll show

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some spectacular bit of incompetence that I know she would

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have found funny. Then I'll hear myself saying something in

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the way she would have said it and laugh. Even

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though I'm the only one there, Imagining her being there

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makes me laugh. You have to adapt. I didn't want

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to be dependent on the family to come around every day.

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I don't cook. Unfortunately, there were various areas where I

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thought I might be vulnerable, but it turns out quite

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good at being on my own. Michael has a new book,

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or There and Back Diaries nineteen ninety nine to two

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thousand and nine. It's out in paperback. His Python cast

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mate Eric Idol spoke to The Guardian. He used to

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get annoyed when people would try and take pictures this

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back in the day before Selfie's, he said, I used

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to be really unpleasant. Then Robin Williams taught me that

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that sort of encounter is very important to people, So

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be nice, not brusque, because they'll never forget it. But

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you don't want to spend twenty minutes with them. So

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when they come up, I'll say I'm Eric, what's your name.

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Then they become a person and see you as a

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person too. There's a human connection, not some stupid story thing.

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It becomes more normal and easier to leave. Now that's interesting.

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When I met the captain of the Yankees, he walked

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up to me and I was at his place of business.

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I was in his office, so it's not like I

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ran into him at the mall. I was there to

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see him. But he walked in, look me in the eye,

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stuck out his hand and go, hi, I am Derek.

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And I'm like thinking, like, yeah, I know, but you know, okay,

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I got it. Eric Idol talked about how George Harrison

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agreed to fund the Life of Brian film because George

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wanted to see it. Eric said, he changed my life.

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We were very close. I was there at his deathbed.

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He wasn't frightened of death. He thought he'd escape rebirth.

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I said, I'd give anything to be reborn. Only thing

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we ever disagreed on he still laughed when I said it.

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At George's funeral, I said I'd like to thank Marlborough,

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without whom he wouldn't be here this morning. Got a

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huge laugh. It's not really the right thing to say,

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but also, let's name the names of people responsible. With

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season eight of Rick and Morty wrapping up, Dan Hormon,

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the creator, spoke to The Holly Reporter and said he's

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already written season ten episodes. He gets confused when everything's airing.

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I understand that I often record a head on this podcast.

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Then I'll be like, wait, did I share that with

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the audience ent or the future that happens? Arma says,

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I'm really bad at keeping track these days, because we're

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so on schedule that we're ahead of schedule. I was

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told last night at ComicCon will be doing a table

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read of the two Bets episode, which was season eight

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to sixth episode. My response was, maybe I should punch

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that script up, and my producer said it already aired

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on television. He's not used to being ahead of schedule.

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I sometimes wake up in a cold sweat, going how

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do I destroy everything? How do I slow it down?

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The answer is I can't wyant't you go work on

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the community movie? Buddy? Show runner Scott Marterer has already

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started doing voice work for season nine. The writing team

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has started working on season ten. Harmon said, there's episodes

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of season ten that I'm already so excited about. That's

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the frustrating thing of being on schedule animation. Can we

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fast forward times so people can get a look at

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the bad Boy? I don't know if it's sad for

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the listeners to hear they're like, why are three minutes ahead?

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That means you're not going to have an amazing Jeffrey

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Epstein episode. All right, let's take a look at the

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fringe from voicemag dot e UK. They caught up with

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Thomas Kntor. He gave some naughty answers. I don't even

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know if I can clean this up. The question was

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what are you most excited to share with an audience.

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Tom Lost said, no spoilers, but maybe when he does

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something with a cello that I can't clean up, or

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when I lap dance in the first row or make

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out with an inflatable doll. I think you get the idea.

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What kind of show this is? To maas says, I

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think what's so fab about fringe is that it's a

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massive equalizer. No one knows me, but that's scary but thrilling.

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I have to win people over every night before my

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best leave it all on stage. Make my mark. Who's

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asked about his fringe survival kit? What are the three

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most essential non eyevious items in yours? His answer? Headphones, lubricant,

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and hutzba. Who has shaped your artistic influence? The answer,

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Lady Gaga, She's my temple. It's the closest thing I

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have to religion. Theater meets pop meets camp meets passion

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meets therapy meets mayhem meets nostalgia meets Italy, he meets

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poetry meets culture. It's genius. She's genius. She's the blueprint. Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, showstopping, spectacular,

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never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before.

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I'mafraid to reference, not reference. Putting a blender, grap on it,

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vomit on it, eat it, give birth to it. Social

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media Instagram at Tom cantor Tom Show Sugar with the

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assembly checkpoint at four twenty pm through August twenty fourth.

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That sounds like fun. That is your comedy news for today,

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see tomorrow