When the interviewer asked Channing Tatum, who was hooked up to a polygraph machine, if he thought he was a better stripper than Joe Manganiello, the actor was brutally honest:
“One hundred percent. We’re different. We’re different classes of strippers. When you look in the dictionary next to ‘the perfect specimen of a man,’ probably Joe Manganiello is one of the bodies that pops up because he’s just, he’s kind of weirdly flawless. But as far as stripping goes, I would put myself above him dance-wise.”
Tatum’s not wrong, really, as most of Manganiello’s dance moves are of the “hip-shaking” and “tummy-rolling” kind, not the near-breakdance levels of choreography that Tatum pulls off without breaking a sweat. Manganiello is more than just a perfect body, though (even if that body is truly perfection). Like Tatum, he also eschews toxic masculine nonsense in favor of just being a real one, and his dance for a sad convenience store clerk in “Magic Mike XXL” is the stuff of legend. (Seriously, if you can watch it and not smile, you are probably dead inside.)
The best thing about Tatum, Manganiello, and the rest of the “Magic Mike” guys is that they have no problem giving one another compliments and their friendship seems genuine. The first film is a stirring drama, the second is the best road-trip buddy comedy ever made, and hopefully the third will make Mike’s musical dreams come true. God bless “Magic Mike.”
“Magic Mike’s Last Dance” opens in theaters on February 10, 2023.