Background and career
Sebastian Maniscalco (; Italian: [manisˈkalko]; born July 8, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Best known for his stand-up comedy, Maniscalco has released seven comedy specials. He has also had supporting acting roles in the films Green Book (2018) and The Irishman (2019), playing mobster Joe Gallo in the latter. He also played Frank Russo in the 2022 film Somewhere in Queens, and later voice acted in The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature (2017), The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) and IF (2024). Maniscalco co-wrote and co-starred in the 2023 film About My Father, with Robert De Niro playing the role of his father. Maniscalco starred in the TV series Bookie.
Maniscalco was born in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Illinois, to Italian immigrants on July 8, 1973; his father Salvatore Maniscalco, who worked as a hairstylist, immigrated to the United States with his family from Cefalù, Sicily, at the age of 15. His mother, Rose Maniscalco, was a secretary, and her family has origins in Naples, Campania and Sicily. Maniscalco is a Roman Catholic, and at eight years old, he was an altar boy at St. Cecilia Catholic Church in suburban Mount Prospect, Illinois. He is an alum of Rolling Meadows High School. He graduated from Northern Illinois University in 1995, where he was the president of the Sigma Pi fraternity chapter, with a degree in communication studies. After moving to Los Angeles in 1998, Maniscalco performed at open mics in bars and bowling alleys while working as a waiter at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, where he worked from 1998 to 2005.
In 2005, he began performing regularly at The Comedy Store in West Hollywood, California. Maniscalco cites Jerry Seinfeld, George Carlin, Brian Regan, John Ritter, Johnny Carson, Andrew Dice Clay, Bill Burr, and Don Rickles as comedic influences. Since then, he has done a half-hour for Comedy Central Presents and five hour-long specials. His first special, Sebastian Live, was released on June 2, 2009. His next three specials were aired on Showtime, with What's Wrong with People? released on January 5, 2012, Aren't You Embarrassed?, taped in Chicago, released on November 14, 2014, and Why Would You Do That?, taped in New York City and released in 2016.
Maniscalco was one of four comedians featured in Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights – Hollywood to the Heartland, along with Ahmed Ahmed, John Caparulo, and Bret Ernst. Maniscalco has been on Russell Peters' Best Night Ever, Comedy Central Presents, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Jay Leno Show, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Conan, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Additionally, he appeared in several films, such as The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature, The House, Tag, and Cruise, and he co-hosts a podcast titled The Pete and Sebastian Show with fellow comedian Pete Correale. As of January 2017, they have a show on Sirius XM satellite radio's Raw Dog Comedy channel 99. Maniscalco appeared on the seventh season of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee in 2016 and returned to the series in 2019 for its eleventh season. He published his memoir Stay Hungry on February 27, 2018. A Netflix special also titled Stay Hungry was released on January 15, 2019.
In 2017, Maniscalco made his feature film debut in The House, and the following year he appeared as Johnny Venere in the Academy Award-winning film Green Book. Maniscalco hosted the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards on August 26. In November 2019, Maniscalco appeared in Martin Scorsese's The Irishman playing "Crazy" Joe Gallo alongside Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino. He also hosted the three-part companion podcast for the film, first published on December 2, 2019, titled Behind the Irishman.
