Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco Is Turning Zoom Dread on Its Head

Sebastian Maniscalco has released five wildly funny comedy specials and has acted in the Oscar-winning Green Book and Oscar-nominated The Irishman. He's a bestselling author and his tours sell out as fast as the dates get listed, including a four-night stint at New York City's Madison Square Garden that I was lucky enough to catch.

Martin Schoeller

But, what do you do when you're a massively successful performer whose tour gets shut down by a global pandemic? You do what everyone else does — you go on Zoom.

If you've ever seen Maniscalco perform, you know the man has more energy than a nuclear power plant, so when the world shut down, he went to work. In lieu of touring, Maniscalco has been crashing corporate Zoom meetings to bring much-needed levity to anyone stuck on one of those soul-sucking affairs. The people laugh, Maniscalco generates revenue to keep his team gainfully employed — everybody wins.

I spoke with Maniscalco (over Zoom, of course) about his life as a Zoomedian, his hilarious and charitable Sunday Supper series and all the steps it has taken from performing on open mic nights to acting alongside Robert De Niro. Maniscalco was thoughtful, enlightening and, of course, ridiculously funny.

Thanks for listening!