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Amy Poehler
This episode is presented to you by Walmart. I'd like to say that I'm a pretty good gift giver and for me, it's about making the extra effort to find the perfect gift. Walmart has the top brands we all love in one place. Nespresso, Nintendo, Apple, you name it. That's why it has to be Walmart. For all my gifts this year, guess Best gift giver award goes to yours truly. Get the brands everyone loves at prices you'll love at Walmart. Who Knew? Go to walmart.com or download the app to get all your gifts this season. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. How you doing? Welcome everyone to the first ever Live Good hang in person, not in studio, in the theater, whatever we're doing. Just a quick announcement before we get started. Please turn off your cell phones. If you don't mind not taking any pictures during the show, we would highly appreciate it and we're very, very thrilled that you can be here. And we're also very excited because we have a small treat for you before we get into our interview. This is a woman who I have known for 30 years and who used to sing. I used to sing backup with her back in the day in New York City. And she is responsible for the Good Hang theme song. And she's gonna play a few songs for you along with her friend, Chris Anderson. Give it up for Amy Miles, everybody. Amy Miles. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Shopping for clothes is a nightmare sometimes. And don't even get me started on jeans. Cause half the time when you find a good size, the legs are either too long or too short. Well, wouldn't it be nice if you could just snap your fingers and boom, instantly you can find exactly what you need. I can't help you with the jeans part, but if you're looking to hire someone, I can tell you about ZipRecruiter and how you can try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com Goodhang ZipRecruiter Time and Time again has helped employers find exactly who they need. And even better, they do a lot of the work for you. Their powerful matching technology works fast to find qualified candidates and connect you with them. It's easy to see why ZipRecruiter is rated the number one hiring site by G2. Want to know right away how many qualified candidates are in your area? Look no further than ZipRecruiter. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. And right now you can try it for free@ziprecruiter.com Goodhang Again, that's ziprecruiter.com Goodhang ZipRecruiter. The smartest way to hire.
Amy Miles
1, 2, 3, clap. Low consequences and low offenses. Bend my arm, break a bone Coming back to city in late summer Everybody, everybody Everybody's gone Everybody, everybody Everybody's gone Everybody, everybody Everybody's gone Everybody, everybody Everybody's gone Everybody's gone Woohoo hoo. Go in for the hug Go out with a bang what's up? What do you say? All I ever wanted was a really good hang hold my handy if I'm breathing Tilt to the right and start believing Money's got a dress that the party started Money's got a party that starts tonight Money's got a dress that the party starts what do you say? It starts to. Money's got a dress that the party starts what do you say?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Party.
Amy Miles
You broke my heart When I see you I turn go home Woohoo hoo. Go in for the hunt Go out with a bang what's up? What did you say? All I ever wanted was a really good hang. Get up. What do you say? All I ever wanted was a really good hang. Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Amy Pollard.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Hey. Hello.
Amy Poehler
Amy Miles.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Hello.
Amy Poehler
Amy Miles. Chris Anderson. Give it up one more time. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the first official live recording of Good Hang. This is the first time we've done it and we're really, really happy that you could be here. Thank you so much. Don't worry, I have my lip balm and we're gonna be okay. We're gonna. We're gonna record our podcast and I think there's a few people here tonight that don't know who our guest is. Raise your hand if you don't. Exciting. It's so great that you came without even knowing. That's a real fan. Thank you so much. Well, we're going to record our podcast. What if I just never told you.
Sebastian Maniscalco
No.
Amy Poehler
But we're very, very grateful that you are here tonight. And thank you to the Gramercy and thank you to Walmart for sponsoring us and thank you to Amy and Chris for their incredible music. And we're very, very excited because our guest tonight, who is going to be on stage, who we're going to dig deep and laugh well with, is the one, the only Sebastian Maniscalco is here. Only the number one grossing comic in the world, I think. I don't know if it's the world. I'll check with him. But we're so excited to have Sebastian here. And so I'm going to go sit over there. Are you ready to get started? All right. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. You left your wallet in the car. Or was it at home? No need to panic. With your iPhone, you can tap to pay using Apple Card with Apple Pay and earn unlimited daily cash back when you do. Apple Card is ready when you need it. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City branch terms and more@applecard.com this episode is brought to you by Peloton. Your at home fitness studio just leveled up because the Peloton Cross Training Tread plus, powered by Peloton iq, just dropped. Look, whether you're a Pilates princess, a weightlifting warrior, you can train safer and lift smarter. Let yourself run, lift, sculpt, push and go explore the new peloton cross training.
Sponsor Voice / Announcer
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Amy Poehler
We practiced that transition many times. We didn't get it right. Okay, so, you know, welcome to another episode of Good Hang. Very excited to be doing this live with a band and thrilled to be here in the Gramercy Theater. And like I said, thank you to Walmart and everybody who sponsored this. And we're very excited to introduce our guest today. We have Sebastian Maniscalco. Sebastian is one of my favorite comedians. I find him to be deeply funny, deeply physical. He seems super nice, even though I don't really know him. And we talked a little bit backstage, but then I said, let's stop talking. The cameras aren't rolling, then this ain't worth shit is what I said. So we're gonna have Sebastian on, but we always like to start these podcasts by talking to somebody who knows our guest so we can talk well behind their back. It's a little different cause Sebastian will hear everything now.
Sebastian Maniscalco
But.
Amy Poehler
So we are very excited to introduce a friend of Sebastian's, a fellow standup performer who also Is the co host of the Pete and Sebastian podcast, which is been running now for 12 years and is an amazing podcast. Give it up, everybody, for Pete Corali.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Pete. Pete.
Amy Poehler
We got a play on.
Pete Correale
This is phenomenal. We've been doing it 12 years. We've never had a setup this good.
Amy Poehler
I know. Well, you're already so good at. I can tell you're a good performer because as soon as you came in, you were like, here we go, everybody.
Pete Correale
Amy, I've been a performer for 30 years. Sitting here with you is one of the most exciting things I've got to do in my career. I'm not kidding. I am not. Amy was a little nervous backstage. She's never done a live cast before. I go, you're the best host of.
Sebastian Maniscalco
The Golden Globes that ever lived. This is a hiccup. Come on.
Amy Poehler
If the people in the audience aren't famous, then I don't know what to do. It's weird. I just don't recognize any faces and it throws me off.
Sebastian Maniscalco
That's hilarious.
Amy Poehler
Okay, so, Pete, how did you and Sebastian first meet?
Pete Correale
We met doing stand up. We met literally about 14 years ago in Canada. Montreal festival. Put together this thing where we all stayed in Toronto in a hotel, and every night we would meet in a van. It was me, Sebastian, and like four of the comics from other countries. A guy from Australia, I remember a guy from, you know, Ireland. But then we would shoot out to little theaters each night. And the first night I met him, the first time I met him, we were online to go through customs into Canada. And he introduced himself. I never met him before then. When we get to the hotel, I say, see you later tonight. We had our first show that night. And when we all get in the van and Sebastian's the last one to get in the van, and I'm in the back of the van, and he gets in the van and he's got his shirt on a hangar, and I'm in the back of the van. Nobody knows anyone. So we're all quiet and I go, oh, what is that your performance shirt? And he goes, yeah. I get sweaty. I go, holy shit, guy. So I'm making fun of him because he gets sweaty. Meanwhile, it's because he's physical. And then he goes on to make 10 million gazillion. And I'm standing straight as a board, leaning against a goddamn brick wall.
Amy Poehler
Yeah, you gotta have a. You gotta have a performer shirt. You gotta have a shirt.
Pete Correale
No, but that's where we first met.
Amy Poehler
Dress for the job. You Want, Pete? Dress for the job you want.
Pete Correale
Exactly. But we hit it off, and, you know, like you said, we've been doing it for 12 years.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah.
Pete Correale
And I bet it's similar to you and Tina in that, like, there's just sometimes, you know, we get together due to cast, and maybe you're not in the mood.
Amy Poehler
So you call it the cast.
Pete Correale
We call it the cast.
Amy Poehler
Interesting.
Pete Correale
Yeah.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah.
Pete Correale
Even though we don't have quite as many viewers as you do, ours is still a cast. There's a zillion podcast.
Amy Poehler
I don't pay attention to the numbers, Pete. I just do it for the fun. No, but you guys are so funny on it together, and I love watching you, too. And, I mean, you guys know each other really well. And can I just ask you, like, you've done it now for 12 years. This is my first year doing a podcast. How do you keep it fresh?
Pete Correale
Well, for us, it's because we just talk about our lives. When we first started to do it, neither one of us knew much about cast, and I said, we both kind of agreed. Let's keep it consistent. That was number one. Number two, do you want guests? And he goes, well, I'm not really getting them. And I go, I'm not getting them either. So if we want to keep it consistent, we figured no guests, and then we don't do anything topical. Like, you could listen to any one of our cast and you wouldn't know what year it's from, because it's about, you know, it's about anything from going to someone's house and they make you take your shoes off to. So it never. There's always something new to discuss because it's life. It's life.
Amy Poehler
Yeah. You want to be able to catch up. Right. I unfortunately hold the newspaper up to the camera on every one of my.
Pete Correale
Well, that's why yours is also more popular.
Amy Poehler
Okay. Now you're a basketball player in college.
Pete Correale
Oh, well, Division 3, Amy. So let's pump the brakes on that.
Amy Poehler
What college?
Pete Correale
I just said Division 3. Once someone says Division 3, you don't care anymore.
Sebastian Maniscalco
No.
Pete Correale
Fredonia State is the college.
Amy Poehler
Okay. And what was the name of your team? What were the Fredonia. What?
Pete Correale
We were called the Fredonia Blue Devils.
Amy Poehler
Interesting. I was at my high school was the Red Devils.
Pete Correale
Really?
Sponsor Voice / Announcer
Yeah.
Pete Correale
I want to ask your opinion about something. You bring that up. Where I live now, I live in a small town. I'm actually in the process of moving to Rochester, but I live in a small town called Fredonia.
Amy Poehler
Okay.
Pete Correale
By the time this comes out, I'll be gone. I already bought a new house. But I've been there 12 years. My daughter is 12 years old. And our slogan, our high school logo is the Hillbillies.
Amy Poehler
Oh, that's not gonna last.
Pete Correale
And it's a guy. It's not gonna last. It's been there for like 50 years. It's a guy with a beard and a jug of wine and a gun, I swear to God. And they don't get rid of it.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Because it's too expensive.
Pete Correale
They'll have to change the basketball court and the uniforms. So we're just the hillbillies. That'll get you into Harvard, by the way. We gotta get into that.
Amy Poehler
Yeah, we gotta get into Harvard. It's important. Well, we gotta get into Harvard or we gotta get. Talk about Harvard.
Pete Correale
When you want to talk about things with Sebastian, talk about Harvard.
Amy Poehler
Sebastian did go to Harvard. I know that.
Pete Correale
No, but when we went. When we played Boston. Yeah, when Sebastian played the Boston Garden, I was open for him on the tour.
Amy Poehler
Incredible.
Pete Correale
You went to Harvard and that whole thing that you and Tina went through.
Amy Poehler
I'll talk to him about that.
Sponsor Voice / Announcer
That's helpful.
Pete Correale
We can never talk about that. And I said Amy and Tina talked about it. I think you can.
Amy Poehler
A bunch of aggressive nerds shouting jokes at you, but I mean, a bunch of valedictorians.
Pete Correale
But you take it because it's Harvard. Right. If it was Jamestown Community College, you'd have been out of there in 10 minutes. Right, because it's Harvard. You just take the punches.
Amy Poehler
Okay, so let's start this. I'm going to start this podcast with Sebastian, but I need to know, Pete, do you have a question you think I should ask?
Pete Correale
Yes. One question I think is Sebastian loves to entertain. However, he also loves for people to leave when he's done entertaining. Yes, it's a very bizarre thing. It's like, I love to entertain and now go home.
Amy Poehler
Yeah.
Pete Correale
And, you know, you might want to ask him, what is it about? You know, why is there an end to when people come over? Why does that bother you so much? And the other thing, Amy, I love this guy so much for so many different reasons. He's a warm hearted guy, good guy, but one big hang up. He has is noises. It's called he self diagnosed misophenial.
Amy Poehler
How do you pronounce it? Oh, misophonia.
Pete Correale
Misophonia, yeah.
Sponsor Voice / Announcer
Yeah.
Pete Correale
Self diagnosed. He's never done anything about it, but like, you know, you could chew gum around him and then like a half hour later he'll tell me, you gotta.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Stop at the gum.
Pete Correale
So. But he has not gone and done anything about it. He always just likes to say self diagnosed. So perhaps you might want to ask him. Why don't you take it any further and find out? I think it's because his comedy lives in irritation.
Amy Poehler
Yes, yes, I know what you mean. These are great questions because I know a little bit about misophonia and I have a really hard time with mouth sounds in general, like on the microphone. I'm looking at you. Npr. A lot of water has. A lot of people have to drink water. It's very stressful. So I'm going to talk to Sebastian about that. Yeah. Very, very. Okay, well, we're going to get started. Pete, you've been amazing.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Thank you.
Amy Poehler
Thank you so much for coming. Thank you, Amy.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Thank you all. Have a wonderful time, everybody.
Amy Poehler
Check out the Pete Sebastian show. Thank you, Pete. This episode is brought to you by Walmart. If you're waiting to treat yourself, don't Walmart. Black Friday Deals is coming, and now's the time to snag the items you've been eyeing for less. From fashionistas to toy lovers and tech enthusiasts, there's something for everyone. The event is three days only, so set your alarms now. November 14th to the 16th. And don't miss out. Explore deals now on Walmart.com or download the app. All right, we are ready to introduce our guests. Thank you so much again for coming. And give it up. Let's keep the momentum going for Sebastian Manisco, everybody. Oh, Sebastian, I want to tell you that I had a different shirt on and I changed when I saw what you were wearing.
Sebastian Maniscalco
They told me backstage I had a T shirt.
Amy Poehler
I was like, I wanted to be like, hey, who cares? You know, like we're all just. I just walked off the street. And then I said, you know what? You're a professional, Amy, and you need to treat this show like you're a professional.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Well, this is the first live show, so I'm like, all right, this is like a big deal. Let me dress it up. I have another outfit just in case. But I felt like this was appropriate to wear a suit. Apparently you thought you were going to go to a T ball game.
Amy Poehler
Well, I would much rather be underdressed than overdressed. But I bet you'd rather be overdressed.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah, I am typically overdressed for occasions. I don't know. I always. Growing up, my mother always used to tell me, we're going to church. Put your nice slacks on. We're going out to dinner. So I always thought when we were leaving the house, you should look presentable.
Amy Poehler
Yeah.
Sebastian Maniscalco
But nowadays, if you take around, particularly in this city, it's you roll out of bed and then you're at the Walgreens. So. I don't know. I just feel like you should.
Amy Poehler
You're trying to tell me that you don't wear sweatpants and bring your own pillow on the plane? That's what I'm hearing.
Sebastian Maniscalco
No, no, I don't. I never understood the whole pillow thing.
Amy Poehler
I don't like that pillow thing. That's. No offense, Gen Z, but there's a lot of. You guys are dragging around a lot of pillows. It's intense. Okay. We have a lot to talk about, Sebastian, because you and I were both in Chicago. You grew up in Chicago? Where exactly did you grow up?
Sebastian Maniscalco
I grew up in the northwest suburbs of Arlington Heights, Illinois. So I wasn't in the city of Chicago.
Amy Poehler
Right. And then you were. What years were you there?
Sebastian Maniscalco
So I was there 1973 to 1998. Okay.
Amy Poehler
Yeah, I was there the same time.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Okay.
Amy Poehler
I mean, just for a few years.
Sebastian Maniscalco
So when were you there?
Amy Poehler
Well, I went to. I did. Second City.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah. Yeah. And.
Amy Poehler
Yeah. And, like, you know, a lot of people wanted to take class there, moved to Chicago. And I remember, like, I just. The weather. The weather in Chicago is the thing you remember because it just. It's punishing.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yes.
Amy Poehler
When is. When is the coldest you've ever been in Chicago?
Sebastian Maniscalco
The coldest temperature? God, I don't know. There's always, like, a wind chill. So I don't know. Minus. I think it was, like minus 15 one year, so. Yeah. Why do you have a. You have a record low 10?
Amy Poehler
No, I was just curious, like, Chicago, people that live in that area. You're doing this. You're proving my point, which is they don't really talk about the weather, that. They don't care that much about the weather. They don't make it a big deal.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah, it's not a big deal when you're living in it. Yeah. It's just, like, the way of life. So we're not like, you know, we're not sitting there going, oh, it's really cold today. I think this is our record. I don't know. We just. It just. It's brutal.
Amy Poehler
And do you remember a restaurant in the Chicago area? Did you like to go into the city? Did you go into the city a lot?
Sebastian Maniscalco
So we went into the city early on in my teenage years. 17 years old. I had a fake ID. We loved to dance. We used to go to this place called Acapulco Bar Alumni Club. So, yeah, we were big dancers growing up.
Amy Poehler
So there was a lot of good clubs in Chicago at that time. Really? It was a good club scene.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Do you ever go to Baja? Beach Club? Yes. Okay. Yeah. So, yeah.
Amy Poehler
Yeah, maybe I saw you. You go to Baja? Did you ever go to a restaurant called Carlucci's?
Sebastian Maniscalco
I have. Yeah.
Amy Poehler
Okay. I used to be a waiter there.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Oh, really?
Amy Poehler
Yeah. And it was. I. I was. I was thinking about our. Our prep for today. And for people that don't know, Sebastian's dad was a Sicilian immigrant. Is a Sicilian immigrant. And Carlucci's was the first time I learned about Italian fine dining in any way. Like, I didn't know anything about it. Antipasti and semifreddo and breadsticks. Those kinds of things.
Sebastian Maniscalco
That's a course.
Amy Poehler
But were you waiting tables when you were living there? Were you working in a restaurant there or only after you came to la?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Funny you say fine dining. I started my waiting career at Olive Garden.
Amy Poehler
Oh, yeah. Great place to start.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Great place to break in. And hey, did you ever go to a place in Schaumburg called the Living Room?
Amy Poehler
Oh, yes, I worked there. That was a very hot club bar.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I'm surprised we didn't cross paths.
Amy Poehler
What kind of famous people came through the Living Room? Do you remember?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Not really. Not a lot of fame walking through the Living Room.
Amy Poehler
But I remember being kind of of a cool club.
Sebastian Maniscalco
It was a cool club. I. It just. Not a lot of celebrities came through there. Maybe Dennis Rodman, because this is the. The year where the bulls were hot. But yeah. So I.
Amy Poehler
What you do there?
Sebastian Maniscalco
I worked as a waiter in the fine dining. By the way, this is the best lip balm. I.
Amy Poehler
Are you kidding me? No. Are you joking? I have to tell you, because this is a sponsor.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Oh.
Amy Poehler
It is laneige. And they're not sponsored, so we'll probably have to cut this out. But I use that all the time. It's the best.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Okay.
Amy Poehler
You like your products?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Well, my wife likes products. And while I'm in bed one night, she's like, here, you gotta put this on. I'm going to bed. She put it on. Hello. New lips.
Amy Poehler
Incredible. In fact, you're reminding me. Everybody who has lip balm, let's take a lip balm break while we. Just for a second. Because it's too much, right? It's so dry out. That's too much. Okay, so. But you worked you talked a lot on stage about how people should act in restaurants. And I really relate because as an ex server, as we like to call ourselves, you learn how to treat people in restaurants. You have strong opinions about how people should act in restaurants.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah. I mean, if you go to a restaurant, you should have some manners and be kind and not like, I don't know, I put a napkin on my lap. I don't know if that's out of style or anybody's doing that anymore. But, you know, just, just, you know, you should be polite to the server and vice versa. But I got a problem with servers nowadays.
Amy Poehler
Tell me why.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Just the way they come up. They come up, you know, and you're like, excuse me, you think already the eyes are rolling. You know, it's like nobody wants to be there. I don't know, it just seems like people are detached, they're disconnected.
Amy Poehler
Do you like when a server. This happens a lot in la, where you live, where we both live, where someone will duck down and get the same level as you.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Oh, I don't like that.
Amy Poehler
You know what I'm talking about.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Like, they're right here.
Amy Poehler
Yeah, they get right there. They get in real close.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I don't like that. I don't like that move. I just rather have them above, in and out. Maybe a little talk here and there, but nothing like, you know, I don't want to. Like, sometimes the waiter will go, oh, you know, I don't normally have that because I'm lactose into a guy gay. We don't need to know your medical history. Just bring out the burger.
Amy Poehler
Okay. And you talked also about. Which I loved and I should point out, like, you know, as. As well as you being the, the most success, having the most successful touring year of your career, would you say this year?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah, probably.
Amy Poehler
Congratulations.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Thank you. Thank you.
Amy Poehler
And you've got a new special coming out in November and you, you made a beautiful film about your dad with Robert De Niro playing your dad.
Pete Correale
Yeah.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Crazy.
Amy Poehler
Crazy. And you're on the show bookie, and you've got all these things going on when you talk to your audience. I still feel, Sebastian, like you're living a regular, normal life.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah.
Amy Poehler
That's not always the case. Sometimes when you see people on stage, they feel like they're like talking about their koi pond or something like that's their. But it does feel like you are still in it. You have little kids.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yes.
Amy Poehler
And one could argue you're a little old for that. You got little kids.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I do. I'm 52 and I have a 6 year old son, so that's a. Yeah. Okay, don't, don't relax.
Amy Poehler
No, I'm only kidding because I love you on Instagram when you talk about how tired you are. I'm exhausted and you're, it's exhausting.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah, no, I, I, I waited a little. You know, I waited to have kids and now.
Amy Poehler
Must be nice. Must be nice. Yeah.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Come on.
Amy Poehler
No Clapter. No Clapter. But your wife seems amazing, Lana. And you talk about her a lot and she's, I've seen her on the Gram. She's a hot piece.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Lana, she's 10 years younger, so, yeah. So I'm trying to keep up with her. And she's an ex gymnast, so she's always doing flips and she's, you know.
Amy Poehler
She'S always doing clips.
Sebastian Maniscalco
She, she walks down the stairs on her hands.
Amy Poehler
No way.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I've never seen that before, but that's what I'm dealing with. So.
Amy Poehler
Does she do that when she's angry, when she's upset?
Sebastian Maniscalco
No, she's, she's never rarely upset. She's one of these, like, she's always got a smile on her face walking around. I'm the one that's constantly upset. But no, she's a ray of sunshine and she's a doll and, and yeah, she's very athletic, very strong, and I am almost has, I almost have my ARP card.
Amy Poehler
We're the same age. We're the same age.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah.
Amy Poehler
What are you enjoying about your 50s?
Sebastian Maniscalco
So I'm glad I had kids this late in life just because, you know, I'm stable. I have a, provide them with a life that I'm not one of these guys. Oh, I want to get my kids a life that I never had. I had a good, you know, middle class upbringing and whatnot. But as an entertainer or performer, you want to get to a place where you're stable financially before you start bringing people into the world. And, you know, it's, you know, this is just business, you know, it could be here one day, gone the next. So, you know, I got to a place where I'm like, all right, let's start a family. And I like being in my 50s. I just wish I was a little bit more, I don't know, I feel like I went to go play basketball the other day. I'm like, you know, I haven't played basketball in a while and I'm like, I don't remember the rim being this high, so.
Amy Poehler
But it's nice that's an ACL nightmare, though. Be very careful. There's nothing worse than a bunch of guys in their 50s going back to play basketball. It is just tear after tear.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I'm taking a little offense to this. I'm sorry.
Amy Poehler
I'm sorry.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Just because if you didn't know how old I was, could you just. Wouldn't you look at me and go, yeah. No, he probably. He probably runs.
Amy Poehler
You're in terrific shape, by the way.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I'm not. I'm really not. I'm. I'm hiding a lot with the suit, but I just don't feel like I'm 52. I get it.
Amy Poehler
But I have to say, I remember having younger kids. My kids are teenagers now, and the amount of play they have to do with kids is exhausting.
Sebastian Maniscalco
It's exhausting. Yes, it is.
Amy Poehler
Play is a nightmare.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah.
Amy Poehler
And when your kid. The worst thing to hear in the world is, daddy, can we play?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah. Did you have a favorite play? Did you have, like a. Oh, this is. I could do this.
Amy Poehler
I remember having X existential moments of true despair when I would come home from, like, shooting a long day, and my kids would come up to me with Star wars lightsabers and be like, yay, now we can play. And I was just like, go, oh, fuck. Like, oh, no, I have to play Star Wars. Just like. It was. It was the worst. And I miss every second of it. But Lana, does she come to your shows?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah, I mean, she comes, but, I mean, it's.
Amy Poehler
Is she here tonight?
Sebastian Maniscalco
No, no, no, she's playing with the kids. Yeah.
Amy Poehler
You've played huge stadiums. You sold out. Was it Madison Square Garden? Like, how many nights in a row? Five, six. Incredible.
Sebastian Maniscalco
And yes, thank you.
Amy Poehler
And what's it like playing a space that big?
Sebastian Maniscalco
My act is kind of tailor made for a large space. Obviously, comedy is better enjoyed in a room like this, I believe. But once you start getting into arenas and whatnot, I like to fill the room. I like to get up there and be physical and kind of prowl the stage. I'm not one of these guys that stands behind a microphone and tells jokes. Nothing wrong with that. But for me, especially nowadays, you got to light yourself on fire up there for people to, like, pay attention.
Amy Poehler
That's so true.
Sebastian Maniscalco
You know, if they just. If you're not funny for, you know, an hour and 15 minutes, you could lose, you know, someone could just go back into their phone or slip out of consciousness or what have you. But I like to keep the people entertained, not only by telling the story but also maybe acting out the story. It's not all physical, but, you know.
Amy Poehler
Such a funny, physical performer. You're so. I love watching you. And I read something that was really cool is you designed your stage a certain way in your last special. Can you talk about that?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah. So normally I do it in the round, and I had a round stage previously, and then this time I designed a triangular stage, which I could hit the points a little bit more. When you're doing a round stage, you kind of don't know where you're at sometimes in relation to like, have I been here for a while? You know, but with the points, you kind of like, know, okay. You know, I'm at this point, I'm at that point. And I feel like I could service the room better just by using the triangle stage. Plus, you know, I made the screen above me triangle. I like production too, when I do stand ups. So I like to, like, pay attention to. Lighting is big.
Amy Poehler
How is this lighting?
Sebastian Maniscalco
I think this is beautifully done. All right.
Amy Poehler
Do you like that? People over? We got people kind of on the side.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I do. I noticed that.
Amy Poehler
I don't mind that. It's a little disconcerting because you guys are the same height as us.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah.
Amy Poehler
So it looks like they're on a ride. And then we got people in the back that are all, we can't see you, but we know that you're the real fans back there. Oh, yeah. All right.
Sebastian Maniscalco
It goes deep. It goes deep.
Amy Poehler
It does go deep, by the way.
Sebastian Maniscalco
And I don't know if you know this little trivia here, and I don't know if anybody in the audience knows we did a movie together.
Amy Poehler
Okay. We did a movie together. And you know when it came out, you know what it was?
Sebastian Maniscalco
What?
Amy Poehler
The percentage of it was on Rotten Tomatoes.
Sebastian Maniscalco
No, I didn't check the percentage. Was it bad?
Amy Poehler
Is 7% bad? That's right. That was the first time I met you. In 2014, there was a movie called the House with just a young and up and coming guy named Will Ferrell, you know, And I picked the one fucking bomb that he made. I was like, sign me up for that one. No, him and I were in a movie that was so fun to make because he's the best. Called the House. And there was a scene where, yeah, I was.
Sebastian Maniscalco
By the way, I shouldn't say we were in a movie together. She was in the movie and I came in for a day. So I think we made the House like it was like Vegas. And I was one of the performers in the living room performing to one. I think it was Rory Scoville. Yes, that's right. Yeah. It was just a day of work, and that was early on. It was like, one of my first movies I've ever done. Yeah. Yeah.
Amy Poehler
What was your memory of it? Did you have it? Was it a good experience or.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah, no, it was a day I came in. I never met you or Will or any of those people, so it was nice.
Amy Poehler
Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I mean, I feel like I. I remember that time. And also, you had been performing for a while. Like, you're not an overnight success. You've been putting the time in for a very, very long time, and you've been working very, very hard. What is it? In the same way we talk about fatherhood at an age where you feel like you were ready and mature for it, do you feel that same way about your fame and success?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Same. Yeah. 1998, I said, started doing standup. So for me, you know, I worked at the Four Seasons for seven years getting my feet wet with standup comedy, and I didn't have a movie or a TV show or anything that really propelled me into the mainstream. I feel, even now, too, you know, I have a great fan base and what have you, but I still, like, feel like there's room for growth. But it didn't. It took a while. I mean, what Is this about 2015, shortly after we hit the house? 7%.
Amy Poehler
I gotta say, I just looked it up before, and it's up to 20%.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Oh, okay. We're moving up. We're moving up.
Amy Poehler
So with inflation and everything.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah. But no, it's a slow burn for me. Nothing. Nothing comes easy in my life.
Amy Poehler
So. Yeah, why doesn't things. What think do you mean?
Sebastian Maniscalco
It's just, you know, my father and I often discuss this. Like, the Maniscalco family always has to take the long road to get there. Right. There's no shortcuts, which I'm not looking for shortcuts, but, you know, every once in a while, it'd be nice to, you know, get a pop.
Amy Poehler
How does your dad feel? Like he's taken the long road? How would he say he's taken it?
Sebastian Maniscalco
I mean, he immigrated here when he was 15 years old and, you know, he had to learn new language. He's still learning the language. It's fun hanging around with, like, an immigrant father who just doesn't know, like, the words.
Amy Poehler
Is there a word still that you. That really makes you giggle, that he.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Oh, he goes, oh, you know, your Cousin. He's going to Oli Miss. What? Ole Miss? That. Not Ole Miss. So there's a lot of that.
Amy Poehler
That one feels okay.
Sebastian Maniscalco
No, that's fine.
Amy Poehler
Yeah, that feels okay. That's like the Hillbillies or something. But he.
Sponsor Voice / Announcer
But he.
Amy Poehler
He is an amazing story. And. And you wrote a film based on. On his story. And can you tell everybody how. I mean, I'm sure you've answered this question before, but it's pretty awesome to work with Robert De Niro, I imagine.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I was very nervous. Basically wrote a movie. Never thought it would get. You know, you write these things, you never think they're gonna do anything. But this one got picked up into De Niro's hands. He loved it. Wanted to read it out loud here in New York City with a bunch of actors. So read it out loud at a table. And after the table read, I went up to him and I said, so? And he's like. And he left. So I'm like, all right, that's the end of that. And two weeks later, got a call that he's interested in playing your father. And I'm like, you know, this is a guy that. Oh, my God, you know, Good Fellows, Casino posters on my wall. And now he's gonna play my dad in a movie. And then subsequently called my father down to Oklahoma, where he was shooting the movie because he wanted to get to know my dad.
Amy Poehler
No way. So you're like, dad, he wants to hang out with you.
Sebastian Maniscalco
And my dad's like, how much am I getting for this? So, like, well, you're gonna go for three days? He goes, yeah, well, you know, he still cuts hair. He's still cutting hair at 79 years old. He's like, well, I gotta readjust my clients, and I'm gonna lose money if I go down there for three days. And I said, just don't worry about it. Just go. So he went. He spent three days with De Niro. And De Niro's like, you know, taking notes. How do you wear your hat? How do you hold your cigar? And, you know, tell me how to say this in Sicilian. So then he came back, and then Da wanted him to come to the set. And my dad's like, I ain't going to the set.
Amy Poehler
He didn't.
Sebastian Maniscalco
You know, this is like, you know, a movie, right, with De Niro. We grew up watching. And my dad's like, I ain't. So I said, just. Just come to the set and hang out. So my dad was on set teaching Dinero how to do blowouts and dye jobs.
Amy Poehler
So we should make it clear that Sebastian's father does hair and was a hairdresser for your whole life, right?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah. So he cut my hair until I left the house at, I think 23.
Amy Poehler
Does he still give you. Does he still want to cut your hair now?
Sebastian Maniscalco
He cut my hair about four years ago, and I said, that's it. No, he's falling apart. I mean, he's falling apart. His shoulders falling off.
Amy Poehler
It's not easy getting old.
Sebastian Maniscalco
It is not easy, especially at that age. Now every time I talk to my parents, it's like, you know, I'm not peeing. Right. Okay.
Amy Poehler
Is it true? True that Sicilians have great hair?
Sebastian Maniscalco
I don't know. I'm losing a lot of my hair. It's. It's. It's a lot of dust up there. It's a lot of. I use a pepper. Yeah, it's called a fiber. Do a lot of pepper. Before I come up here, I got. I got someone back there with a.
Amy Poehler
Pepper with like the par. The Parmesan grater and just like a little bit more. But, you know, I do want to talk about the you on stage, because I do. I love. I love watching you perform because as we talked about earlier, you are physical. And a lot of people, you know, on stage, kind of like neck down or disconnected from their body, when they're telling jokes, they're like telling it from their head. And you really do tell it from your bodies, your whole body when you perform. Did you always like to move as a kid? Like, were you, like, are you a physical guy? Like, do you like. I know you like to dance. I've seen you dance a lot. Like, do you. I mean, not to get too, you know, you don't. You don't know what I'm talking about.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Well, I. I know what you're talking about.
Amy Poehler
I know you shake it out.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I.
Amy Poehler
Come on, everybody knows you shake it out.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I shake it out. But it's not. I don't think it's because I have, like, an anxiety for anything. My shake out is a little bit more just. Just for the performance. I do like to move my hands and be physical and have facial expressions when I'm talking.
Amy Poehler
Yes.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I just took that and just made it a little bit more grand when I'm on stage.
Amy Poehler
Do you have any people that when you were growing up, like, physical comedians that you love?
Sebastian Maniscalco
John Ritter is my.
Amy Poehler
I was just saying. Are you kidding me? I just said backstage we were talking about physical because I was talking about you and I was like, I love how physical Sebastian is. And I said to me, John Ritter was. He was my favorite.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Right. Three's Company for you young people. Go watch Three's Company and you're gonna. Yeah, Unbelievable. Like a master of physical comedy. Even though John wasn't a stand up, but I took a lot of what he was doing. I used to watch Three's Company like game tape growing up.
Amy Poehler
Yeah.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Over and over and over again. There was a scene where he was on a hammock trying to get on the hammock and he fell off. So all those little movements and then he would hit himself and come up and have this daze looked on. So all that stuff I really incorporated. So he was a big inspiration for me. But yeah, the physicality for me, it's just. It's fun to do. It's like a fun thing for me to do. And I got to keep myself entertained up there as well.
Amy Poehler
Yeah, I bet. Because you did what, 80, whatever shows this year?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah, it was a lot. About 84 shows, I think I did.
Amy Poehler
Do you ever do two a days?
Sebastian Maniscalco
I used to, but no more.
Amy Poehler
No more.
Pete Correale
No more.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Just too tired at. At the end.
Amy Poehler
I'm old. Yeah. Well, Tina and I were on tour and we would. Do you know what our favorite thing was? A four o' clock show.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Incredible.
Amy Poehler
You never do a four.
Sebastian Maniscalco
No, I didn't.
Amy Poehler
I didn't know comedy during the day. You got to do a four, it'll change your life. 4:00 clock show, you're done by six.
Sebastian Maniscalco
No, I like the concept. I just. I'm wondering if my audience would look at the ticket and go, four o'. Clock, we ain't going.
Amy Poehler
I gotta tell you, every single person at that 4 o' clock show was pumped. Am I wrong? They wanted to. They wanted to go to bed. They want to go to sleep.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Listen, that is nice for the audience. Come home and go, right, you're done with a white snack and you go to bed.
Amy Poehler
How do you feel about sleep? I always like to talk to people about sleep on good hang. What is your sleep routine when you're on the road and is it different than when you're home?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yes, it's difficult on the road just because I just came. Like last night I had the worst sleep because three hours and the plane and I got to adjust and whatnot. But when I'm home, I am starting to go to bed. Sadly, after I tuck my kids in. I love this.
Amy Poehler
Talk to me about the time.
Sebastian Maniscalco
So I'm in bed about. I'd Say about nine o'. Clock.
Amy Poehler
Incredible.
Sebastian Maniscalco
All right.
Amy Poehler
Sebastian, this is my audience. We love bedtime. We love bedtime. All we think about is bedtime. I love bedtime. 9pm is a winner move.
Sebastian Maniscalco
It is. I try to be consistent with the sleep just because if it starts to vary and then it gets screwed up on the other end. Because generally speaking, I get up around 6 o' clock regardless of what time.
Amy Poehler
I go to sleep.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Right. Are you doing any Sleep8Sleep mattress ring?
Amy Poehler
No, I have a CPAP machine because I have.
Sebastian Maniscalco
You're wearing a breather or whatever the hell that is.
Amy Poehler
A breather. Whatever the hell it is.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I thought. I thought only like typically speaking.
Amy Poehler
I thought that's. Oh, it's usually because it's like a man thing, right? No, lucky for me, it's not just a man thing. You're right. It used be to usually is a man thing.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Have you ever heard a woman going, I gotta travel with this thing? I never heard of that. Right.
Pete Correale
I never.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I'm sorry. Not a lot of women are doing that.
Amy Poehler
Well, I've always. I've always been ahead of my field.
Amy Miles
Well, yeah, it's.
Amy Poehler
It's pretty sexy stuff. It's pretty sexy stuff. But. Yeah, I have a sleep apnea, so I wear a sleep AP machine. And I gotta tell you, I love it. It's changed my life. I love it.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Okay.
Amy Poehler
I would never change it for the world. I love it so much. It's totally changed my life. Anybody who's thinking about it, just for fun, anybody who wants to try it for fun, do it.
Sponsor Voice / Announcer
It.
Sebastian Maniscalco
It's great. I've heard it. It's very beneficial.
Amy Poehler
Right? Incredible.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Do you do it consistently every night? Of course. Okay.
Amy Poehler
Got to do it every night. And it's. And it puts you right to sleep. It's. It's like the sound. And it has air. Excuse me, Water. So it's like hydrated. So you never ever wake up with dry mouth, bad breath, nose, any of that stuff. Because you're always hydrated. You put your lip balm on your cream. Dehydrated. And then you go. And then you look like a fighter pilot. You go to sleep. But what's your bedtime routine? Tell me about your lotions because I bet you have a skincare routine.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I do. I do have a skincare. Little toner, little face cream. And I put a little cologne on before I got a little nighttime cologne.
Amy Poehler
Different than daytime cologne.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah. I shower prior to bed.
Amy Poehler
Of course.
Pete Correale
Do a full.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I say the last two years I've been Doing a full body lotion from head to toe.
Amy Poehler
Oh, very good.
Sebastian Maniscalco
All right.
Amy Poehler
What kind of brand you got going there? We'll cut it out.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Don't we brand. It's a variety of different brands. I can't recall because again, my wife is just giving me stuff like that. Here, use this lotion. Okay.
Amy Poehler
Smart. You don't want to give them free stuff. I get it.
Sebastian Maniscalco
There's one. A lot of them I can't pronounce. Some of them are French.
Amy Poehler
Okay. So.
Sebastian Maniscalco
And then I've been doing this cologne routine where I do five sprays in my palm. I get it hot and I neck it and I go to bed. And then in the morning, what I've been doing. And this is something maybe you guys should try tomorrow. I've been doing two different colognes, one on the front and one on the back. So you get one scent coming and one scent going. It's a beautiful technique. Wow. Are you into men cologne?
Amy Poehler
Yeah, I love. I'm sure. And also the front and back is genius because it's like, beautiful. I thought I knew him, you know, he's still a mystery to me. I mean, you're on tour all the time. Who's making you laugh right now? Like, you. Do you watch comedy? Do you like to go. No, no, I know, I don't either. It's just a busman's holiday. But, like, what do you. What do you. How do you. Do you watch stuff to make you laugh? Do you watch videos? Do you watch other comics?
Sebastian Maniscalco
I don't look at entertainment for the comedy of it. I look like at documentaries. I like drama if I want to laugh. I got a friend back in Chicago. His name is George. I'll call him.
Amy Poehler
Tell us about George Age.
Sebastian Maniscalco
He's one of these guys that just. He's. He's funny. He's like. We talk about daily life and he just makes me laugh. So George is kind of my go to. For. For comedy. But as far as stand up comedy, I don't like watching it generally just because. I don't know, I mean, I like to laugh. I like to see what people do. And maybe a special. Come on. I'll see five minutes of Somebody and then I'll just turn it off if I really like it. The last one I watch from. From front to back was Giannis Pappas.
Amy Poehler
Yes.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Couple. Couple special I thought was really, really funny. And he called me on a night where I was so, like, giddy and laughing. So generally speaking, though, I'm like documentary serious. I laugh at serious moments.
Amy Poehler
I love serious. Do you watch anything? Like, do you watch reality tv? Do you care about that?
Sebastian Maniscalco
My wife got me into Love is Blind. So every now and then. What are you laughing at?
Amy Poehler
I guess the question is, do you believe it is this show?
Sebastian Maniscalco
I mean, come on. The concept of it is cute. Oh, we're gonna fall in love with somebody, and then on the inside, and then, you know. But that's half. You know. You know, you gotta eventually come out and look at the person. If they got no teeth, you know, it's a problem.
Amy Poehler
They gotta walk down the stairs on their hands for them to be worth their salt. I mean, Love is Blind is for me, like, for people who are listening, who might not know, you know, they talk, and then they finally see each other after they meet each other just from talking. And my mirror neurons, like, I get so codependently stressed when those doors open and the body language is so stressful. When they're like, hey. When they go from, like, arms open to just, like. Like, pat, pat, pat. Oh, y. Y. And the way that, like, the body never lies. Like, when.
Sebastian Maniscalco
The way.
Amy Poehler
When they go in for the kiss and it's just like, they just turn. They just turn. They turn their mouth away and give them the cheek.
Sebastian Maniscalco
And it's brutal.
Amy Poehler
Or she give me that too, but it's brutal. No, I can't handle that. All right, so you like dark stuff?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Well, I mean, dark. It's just like. I like. I don't know. Seriously, serious moments I tend to laugh at and find funny. Like, my wife will be telling me a serious story, and I'll just bust out laughing.
Amy Poehler
She's. What the.
Sebastian Maniscalco
What's wrong with you? I don't know. I'm thinking about something that's funny pertaining to what you're saying, so.
Amy Poehler
Yeah, I know what you mean. Okay, so you've got a new special coming out. Yeah, another hour plus of material. It takes you how long to get new material?
Sebastian Maniscalco
I don't know. It's been averaging, like, three, three years. Every three years, I come up with an hour. It's difficult because what you want to do going into these specials is you want it to be equal to or greater than the last one, right? Yeah. And it's difficult because, you know, a lot of comedians have a lot of their best material coming out of the gate because they've been working so long, and now they're gonna, you know. And then, you know, people expect a certain level from you. So take it very serious to make these specials kind of Special because I felt like my last one, I was going through injury. I had sciatic pain on my right leg.
Amy Poehler
No way.
Sebastian Maniscalco
And it was very hard for me to move around.
Amy Poehler
Too much play.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Too much play. A lot of play. And I felt like I couldn't perform like I normally would perform just because I was in pain. I couldn't move. Plus, I dressed in a tuxedo. I'm like, I'm gonna try something different, right? Yeah. I'm going to bring Vegas back to Frank Sinatra. So I wanted the audience to dress up and this and 20 people dressed up and. And I felt very hampered in a tuxedo. I couldn't. I wanted to, like, kind of correct that with this special. And I have no more sciatica and no more tuxedo.
Amy Poehler
You do a good. Do you have a good sciatica stretch? I keep up on that.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I do. I take a ball.
Amy Poehler
Yeah. Tennis ball, Lacrosse ball.
Sebastian Maniscalco
What kind of ball it is? It's like a ball that you would buy to roll out your legs.
Amy Poehler
Okay.
Sebastian Maniscalco
And I put it right here in my psoas.
Amy Poehler
Yes.
Sebastian Maniscalco
And I.
Amy Poehler
You guys know what that is, right?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah. I feel like this is like a health related section. We're doing sleep now. We're doing sciatica sleep apnea.
Amy Poehler
We got to get all the tips.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Okay.
Amy Poehler
Put it in your psoas and roll it like.
Sebastian Maniscalco
So you get on the floor and then you basically lay on your stomach. Yeah, you lay on it and roll. A lot of. I believe from my research, which is Instagram, a lot of the sciatic pain is coming from the front side of the body, particularly in the psoas. And I have a very tight so as region.
Amy Poehler
Not to brag.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I got a big so as.
Amy Poehler
Okay, so what I've learned, you got. You and Pete have been doing your podcast for 12 years. What do you like about doing it? What have you learned? Like what. What's the best thing about having a podcast? Like, what do you like about it?
Sebastian Maniscalco
What I use it for is long form storytelling. So Pete and I are like, you know, he's a beer and peanut guy, I'm a wine and cheese guy. We're very opposites in the way we kind of conduct our life. And he's so funny and so quick witted and he's a great listener. And like, a lot of times when you're telling a story, you know this, that, you know, like, story has beats to it. And, you know, if somebody tells Amy, tell that story about that, I'll look at the crowd and I Don't know if you do. Not a crowd, but, like a group of people. And I go, I'm not telling that story because I know the attention. Attention span of where we're at. Right. I know the story needs to breathe and whatnot. But Pete allows me to really kind of go off on a tangent with a lot of the stories, and he adds great commentary. So we're not guest driven. We don't really have a lot of guests just because we have so much fun talking to one another. But we've been doing this for 12 years. We basically. It's like phone call. It's like a recorded phone call.
Amy Poehler
Yeah.
Sebastian Maniscalco
And we have a ball. And that's kind of what I get out of the podcast. Pete was saying we don't really have. I mean, we have a loyal fan base. I mean, nothing like this. This army you have that comes out to see you. But it is. I mean, if you're looking for, like, really just storytelling and comedic storytelling, that's what I believe podcasting has done for us, is just give us an opportunity. Because, you know, when you do stand up, you need it to be tight. You need it to be hitting it all cylinders with the podcast. You know, you guys or whoever's listening to it could be in, you know, your bathroom getting ready or working out and whatnot. So, you know, you chuckle here and there. It's funny. But, yeah, it's been. Been a pleasure working with him, and we plan on doing it. I mean, you know, it's. It's. It's like a. It's a labor of love for us.
Amy Poehler
Yeah, that's great. Because. And the best thing about it, I feel like, is, you know, with these, like, longer, extended conversations, you can figure out. You can figure out how you feel about things in real time. You can hear people kind of sort through their value system in a way, but also just they figure out life in real time with someone else. It's kind of cool to hear that. And because of that, I want to throw out some things, and I just want to get your take about how you feel about that. Okay, so we're gonna do a little speed round.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Oh, good.
Amy Poehler
Okay. Shoeless households.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Okay. It's a big debate. Yeah. Because I do a joke about going over to somebody's house, and they ask, could you please remove your shoes? And I'm like, you know, I'm a grown man. I don't feel like I should be walking around somebody else's house in my socks. I just don't feel confident. Once a Man loses his shoes. You can't really debate any other man. It's like, you're in your socks, guy. Come on. But you know, there's people out there that are very adamant. How dare you come in with shoes on? You know how much stuff is on the bottom of your shoes? You're gonna traipse that into the house? Yeah, okay, fine. I get it. It hasn't been a problem for me for the last 52 years. No one's ever got sick. I' did somebody come in there with their shoes on? So if you come by the house, people will be kind and go, oh, do you want me to take my shoes off? And I feel so good when I go, nah, leave them on. Especially women, man. They love shoes. They come over with a nice heel. What? They go, okay, let me take this on. Now they gotta walk around barefoot? Have you seen the bottom of some people's feet? What's on? What's on? What kind of bacteria that might be even worse than a shoe?
Amy Poehler
Now, Pete was talking to us about misophonia.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah.
Amy Poehler
Are you a germaphobe?
Sebastian Maniscalco
I'm not a germaphobe. I wouldn't say I'm not wiping down the plane seat when I walk on the plane, but I'm like. I often look at people and how they kind of conduct their lives and go, how the hell could you be doing that here? You know, I just feel like there's no. Like, you know, you go on an airplane and people will take their shoes off and they're barefoot, and then they walk into the bathroom.
Amy Poehler
Not okay. Not okay.
Sebastian Maniscalco
So with this misophonia, if you don't know what it is, and it's. Again, Pete said I was not diagnosed with it.
Amy Poehler
Yeah. His question, I think, was, what do you. When are you gonna get properly diagnosed?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Well, I don't think I need to. I just feel like if you were opening up a bag of chips right now and eating Doritos, my window of tolerance for that is very small. Could be anything. People want typing, heavy typers.
Amy Poehler
You don't like a heavy typer?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Oh, God. I mean, like, if you're, like, banging on the keyboard and you're at Starbucks and I'm waiting in line, I will just hear the keyboard and nothing else. I get drowned out all other sounds.
Amy Poehler
Like a Tom Cruise movie.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Like, it's amazing. It really is amazing. And I don't want to get rid of this because I feel like not only do I have a sensitivity to sound, but also just people in general, their Behavior. And I feel if I lose the misophonia, I'm going to lose the ability or my radar to detect that that guy hasn't laughed at.
Amy Poehler
All right, Right.
Sebastian Maniscalco
So that's why I. I keep the disease.
Amy Poehler
Wedding registries.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Wedding registries. Oh, that's a good one. We had a registry when we got married. I have no problem with it. I don't pay attention to it because, again, growing up in Italian family, we often brought money to the wedding. So you put, like, some cash in an envelope, and then, you know, you don't bring a toaster or a blender or whatever. I just, you know, nice cash. Yeah. Envelope. I think everybody likes. Especially when you're getting started married. It used to be, you know, people got married kind of young and they needed a start, right? Oh, here's 500. You know, go buy a. Go buy something to get your life started. But now it's like. I don't know, man. It's like the parents are bankrolling a lot of these kids today. I mean, it's. It's amazing. And it got silent in here because maybe some of the people are in here. Yeah.
Amy Poehler
This is New York City. Yeah.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Look at how quiet it got.
Amy Poehler
Right.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Your mother paid for the tickets tonight. Yeah.
Amy Poehler
Everybody turned to their mother, who they're with, and said, I don't know what he's talking about. Is there a thing. Is there anything at a wedding that people do that you.
Sebastian Maniscalco
That.
Amy Poehler
That drives you nuts?
Sebastian Maniscalco
I'm not into taking home food. And this is big in the Italian culture. They'll go to the sweet table. Italians have a sweet table. And they'll. They'll take a styrofoam to go thing that they hand out.
Amy Poehler
Okay.
Sebastian Maniscalco
And they'll take the cookies and the soyotel. They'll take it all home. I'm like, come on, we could have this for breakfast tomorrow. I just think it's a tacky move. I don't like to go at a wedding.
Amy Poehler
I've never seen that.
Sebastian Maniscalco
No. Come to one of my weddings, you'll see it. Pets.
Amy Poehler
Should people have them?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Should people have pets? I have to tell you, I've never had a pet. Up until a year ago, I got a dog. We got two dogs now, so.
Amy Poehler
We.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Got them for the kids. I'm not a huge animal lover. I like animals, but, like, I'm not, you know, coming home and.
Amy Poehler
I don't.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Take it out to get coffee, you know, take it out of the airplane. I just felt like we had a. We had a pet in the neighborhood growing up. His name was Italo. It's the male version of Italy. That's the name. The dog eat a low. And it lived in the garage year round. I mean, it would be 13 below and the dog would be in the garage. I don't know, it just. It was just kind of like, there. The dog, it wasn't like the focal point of the home.
Amy Poehler
Right.
Sebastian Maniscalco
It was just like. Yeah, you're right. Okay. But now the dog's up here and it's the petting. It bothers me. I'm sorry. It's just.
Amy Poehler
What kind of dog?
Sponsor Voice / Announcer
Cats.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Forget it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm allergic to cats. That's why I don't like them. But, God, I don't even go to people. I got a good friend, he's got a cat, he's got two cats. I go, I can't come to the house until the cats die. I can't.
Amy Poehler
Yeah. Amy Miles has cats, and she had a cat that really tried to almost, like, become your lover, like the cat would. And I was saying, I feel the same way about cats. Like, I feel fine with them, and I think they're great, but I don't really want. I'm a tiny bit allergic, like, just a little bit. So I try not to touch them. And because of it, they're obsessed with me. I just ignore them, and they just. Just come up and crawl and they get in your clothes. And Amy used to have a cat named Nosferatu who would try to suck your spirit out of your mouth. So I understand yelling.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yelling.
Amy Poehler
How do you feel about yelling?
Sebastian Maniscalco
I mean, I don't know. A good yell every now and then is healthy.
Amy Poehler
Do you yell at your kids?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah, I yell at my kids. Again, I'm not one of these parents that gets on the same level as their kids and go, just tell me what you're going through. It's not that. I think a good dose of a yell, not a lot. Because with raising kids, you have to act sometimes like you're psychotic. Right. And if you lose your composure, the kids will go, wow, we don't want to see that again.
Amy Poehler
Right.
Sebastian Maniscalco
So a good yell, I think, every now and then sets the family straight.
Amy Poehler
Agreed. Oh, you're getting some applause.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I'm surprised. I'm surprised.
Amy Poehler
I'm surprised you're getting applause from the parents of the people who paid for their kids to be here. Santa Claus.
Sebastian Maniscalco
We had a problem with Santa Claus. Again. This is another thing I'm not into. My daughter accused My wife and I of being Santa Claus. This is when she was five years old, and I wasn't ready for it. I thought Santa Claus discussions normally happen maybe around 8 to 10 to 11. So I'm like, what, the 5? That's young. So I came out of the room, I asked my wife, I go, what? Get on this text that you're with the moms and find out what's going on at school. We found out that a lot of parents tell their kids there's no Santa because they don't want to lie to their kids. Right now I'm thinking that's all I.
Amy Poehler
Do.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Is lie to my kids.
Pete Correale
Right.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Eat your carrots. You're gonna see better. But, yeah. So I got so upset.
Amy Poehler
Yeah.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I was at a Christmas party. There was a Santa Claus there. So I'm telling Santa, generally speaking, when I go to these parties, you dance. I talk to, like, the waiters and the people that are working in the party.
Amy Poehler
Got it, Got it. I get it.
Sebastian Maniscalco
So I'm talking to Santa.
Amy Poehler
You go in the back of the house.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah, go back to the house.
Amy Poehler
Yeah, go back of the house.
Sebastian Maniscalco
So I talked to the Santa, and I said, you know, kid, don't believe. And he goes, well, I offer a service where I could come to the house. Swear to God, this is in Los Angeles. Can you believe it? I come to the house on Christmas Eve, and I'll put the presents down, right? So 12:30 at night, this guy comes my robe in. In the driveway. Come, come. That's right, the trees over here, Sarah, she comes in. I wake up the kids. I go, santa's here. We come, we look at Santa, and then Santa. Then the kids go back to bed. I peel off three Huns for this drunk Santa in my house. And now the kids, you know, they believe again. So I highly recommend if you get a Santa to come to your house, it's right. Incredible.
Amy Poehler
Incredible.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Wow.
Amy Poehler
And I guess the last question I want to ask you, Sebastian, and thank you so much for your time. And again, check out Sebastian's new special on Hulu and all the good work that he's doing. It's so great to have you. Thank you so much for doing this. It's been so fun. Can you just talk me through how you cook your steak?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Okay.
Amy Poehler
Because it feels like what I've read is that you do a reverse sear. And I want to talk about it.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Okay. I like these questions. So I found this video, this is about 10 years ago online, about the reverse sear. Basically, what it is Is you take the steak out of the refrigerator. You leave it set for about 30 minutes, get it to room temperature. I like to do mine about 45, 50 minutes. Just let it get used to the atmosphere.
Amy Poehler
And what kind of cut are we talking about?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Used to like ribeye. Now I'm onto New York's New York strip because the ribeye got a lot of fat on it. And at this age, you know, I could go at any minute. So I'm doing New York strip steak. And I heavily salt it and heavily put pepper on it right from the hair. And then I set the oven to 275. I put it in there for about 45 minutes. After the 45 minutes, I take it out, I let it rest for 15. All the while, I got a cast iron skillet, white hot. I do a sear for about a minute each side, cut and serve with a little rosemary lining the serving plate. I like garnish on a plate when it comes to the table, because a lot of times when you have steak, there might be a little, you know, blood or whatever kind of moving throughout the plate. And I like the stems of rosemary. It kind of adds a nice touch.
Amy Poehler
So anything else in the pan, like no butter?
Pete Correale
No.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I know a lot of people do a little oil, maybe garlic, and then they, they, they kind of basted. Spoon. No, this is a. You don't need it. You snake. What, you want us? You want a shout out and a sponsor for this Snake river farm? Meat is probably the best meat that you can get. You got to order it online, though. I've been promoting these, these, this meat company for a while.
Amy Poehler
For real.
Sebastian Maniscalco
And not one free filet. I'm the guy that gets nothing. Like, Amy probably has a bunch of stuff coming to the house, right?
Sponsor Voice / Announcer
Swag.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Here's this, here's that. We understand you got a band. Here's a guitar, right? I get nothing. Nothing is sent to me. No hair. Try this, try that. I got no boxes. Like DJ Khaled is constantly opening up a watch or shoes. I got nothing.
Amy Poehler
And what's your sides? Before you go, I need to know what are you serving with your steak?
Sebastian Maniscalco
So we like to do a fingerling potato. Whoa.
Amy Poehler
Not what I expected.
Sebastian Maniscalco
What'd you expect?
Amy Poehler
I expected a whipped or a mashed.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Funny you say that. I started doing mashed because my kitchen is being remodeled right now and I can't cook. But I started doing mashed potatoes prior to the kitchen remodel. And, you know, it's a little bit labor intensive.
Amy Poehler
Yeah, it's not easy to get a good mashed.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah, it's not easy to get a good mash, but the fingerling is sufficing for now. And then I'll take, I'll put a green in there, I'll put a broccoli and I'll put a little asparagus. I'm trying to get the kids to eat, you know, healthy, you know, with this kind of grab and go stuff that I'm not into the process, processed foods. Although, you know, I'm not saying that I'm eating so well, but you know, you want to give the kids.
Amy Poehler
Here's a little tip I tell people with young kids that I'll share with you too. I learned it from my brother who lives in Sweden with his Swedish wife and family. They do this. I don't know if it's sweet, it's probably not Swedish, just what they do. But like when dinner time is almost ready, like that hungry time when like you're 5, 36, when the kids are about to eat and food is cooking, they just put a big plate of vegetables with like ranch or hummus on the table and your kid is hungry and they eat a bunch of carrots and celery just as a snack because it's not part of their dinner. Like, but the minute you put it on the plate with anything like pizza or pasta or anything, they're not going to eat it. But if you slide it in there before dinner when they're hungry, they'll have a few carrots. They don't even know they're eating it.
Sebastian Maniscalco
You know, that does sound good in theory, but how prone are you to cut some carrot radishes? You got this beautiful tray of vegetables and one carrot and then who's eating the rest of the vegetables? Right? Are you, are you gonna knock em out? No, they're going in the garbage.
Amy Poehler
You're right. Cutting too many vegetables is a nightmare. But I would take a vegetable over a fruit any day.
Sebastian Maniscalco
What's your, what's your vegetable favorite?
Amy Poehler
Well, I love anything in the pea family, so I love a pea. I love, you know, what do you call it? A snap pea. Thank you. I love a pea. I love an asparagus. I, I love a potato. Does that count as a vegetable?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah, it doesn't, I don't know.
Amy Poehler
Mushroom. I love a mushroom.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Okay, a mushroom. So what's your favorite fruit?
Amy Poehler
I feel like some kind of like savory, like a, like a chicken curry with mushrooms and rice.
Sebastian Maniscalco
No, no, no, no food.
Amy Poehler
Did you hear fruit? Oh, you said fruit.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Yeah. Fruit.
Amy Poehler
You said it like. You said it like this.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Fruit. What?
Amy Poehler
You said fruit. What's your favorite food?
Sebastian Maniscalco
She had.
Amy Poehler
What's your favorite fruit? My favorite fruits.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Fruit. Yeah. Fruit.
Sponsor Voice / Announcer
Is.
Amy Poehler
I don't know, a plum.
Sebastian Maniscalco
A plum. Oh, wow.
Amy Poehler
What's your favorite fruit? What's your favorite fruit?
Sebastian Maniscalco
Fruit is a banana or a strawberry to toss up.
Amy Poehler
Yeah.
Sebastian Maniscalco
And vegetable. I like an asparagus. I really dig in the asparagus. But if I had to choose, I'd go strawberry or banana over a vegetable any day of the week.
Amy Poehler
You'd go fruit over veggies over fruit. Wow. You got this audience as we wrap up, I guess. Raise your hand. Are you? Raise your hand if you'd go fruit over veg. Wow, look at that.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Look at that.
Amy Poehler
I can't even see the people at the top.
Sebastian Maniscalco
That's impressive.
Amy Poehler
The people on the side on the park ride are all veg. Nobody's voting fruit. Unbelievable. Well, you found your audience, Sebastian.
Sebastian Maniscalco
I did. My group of people.
Amy Poehler
Give it up everybody for Sebastian Maniscalco. Thank you so much.
Sebastian Maniscalco
Thanks. Thanks for having me here. I really appreciate it. Thank you very much.
Amy Poehler
Sebastian Maniscaco, everybody. You've been listening to. Good hang. The executive producers for this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss Berman and me, Amy Poehler. The show is produced by the Ringer and Paper Kite for the Ringer production by Jack Wilson, cat Spillane, Kaia McMullen and Alaya Zaneris. For Paper Kite, production by Sam Green, Joel Lovell and Jenna Weiss Berman. Original music by Amy Mil. This episode is brought to you by Voco Hotels. You know, when you're traveling, it's nice to soak up the unique experiences, quirks and characteristics of a hotel. And it is a shame when you go into a room and it is a carbon copy of every other room that you've been to before. But each Voco hotel across the US has its own rhythm, local flavor and unique detail. With beautiful rooms for catching up on me time and full service bars and restaurants for us time. So come on in and live the Voco life. Book your next day@vocohotels.com this episode is brought to you by L' Oreal Paris. Younger looking skin seems to take a million products these days. You've gotta hand it to the Revitalift triple power moisturizer by l' Oreal Paris. It reduces wrinkles, firms and brightens all in one. It's like three steps of your routine morphed into one super powered moisturizer. You're out the door faster. Your bathroom is less cluttered and your skin youthful as ever. Revitalize your skin care routine and your complexion with the Revitalift Triple Power Moisturizer by l' Oreal Paris. Order now on Amazon.
Episode: Sebastian Maniscalco (Live)
Date: November 7, 2025
Venue: Gramercy Theater, NYC
This special live episode of Good Hang brings together host Amy Poehler and stand-up superstar Sebastian Maniscalco for a wide-ranging, high-spirited, and deeply funny conversation. Kicked off by a live musical performance from Amy Miles and a surprise appearance by Pete Correale (Sebastian’s longtime friend and podcast partner), Amy and Sebastian discuss comedy, family, Chicago roots, aging, pet peeves, Italian heritage, and the art of the “good hang.” The tone is warm, irreverent, honest, and full of quick-witted banter, making for a thoroughly entertaining and revealing hangout.
(Timestamps approximate: 57:19–65:40)
On Comedy and Fame:
On Performing and Physicality:
On Parenting and Aging:
On Life’s Pet Peeves:
On Sleep:
On Cooking:
This episode is a hilarious, personal, and revealing deep-dive into Sebastian Maniscalco’s comedic process, Italian-American roots, family dynamics, and everyday pet peeves—with Amy Poehler guiding the conversation with empathy and irreverence. Key highlights include hearing how Sebastian’s father inspired a film role for De Niro, why Sebastian is both a germ-aware host and a physical performer, candid insights on parenthood at 52, his meticulous steak technique, and a full-speed spin through life’s quirks (from shoeless homes to yelling at your kids).
If you want laughs, warmth, and a crash course in the art of the hang, this live Good Hang delivers.