On a latest quiet morning at The Summit, the ultra-exclusive gated group in Los Angeles, a crane was referred to as to ship olive bushes to Sebastian Maniscalco’s home.
The Illinois native, identified for relatable stand-up about his immigrant mother and father, and for his onstage physicality and boisterousness, went uncharacteristically silent watching the evergreens drop down on his beautiful views of Beverly Hills. He’s used to speaking about his a lot humbler roots.
“I like to poke fun or make light of what we see in society and make fun of my own family and my old-world immigrant upbringing. I think I do it in a way where we’re all laughing together,” he tells Variety.
Maniscalco’s father, Salvatore, emigrated from Sicily at age 15, getting a beautician’s license to assist his spouse and youngsters with cut-and-dye jobs in a suburban salon. He is the inspiration for “About My Father,” a brand new comedy co-written by Maniscalco with Austen Earl, by which Robert De Niro assumes the position of Salvatore. It opens Friday in theaters.
Viewers of Maniscalco’s six stand-up specials, most of that are streaming on Netflix, will immediately acknowledge his dad’s patina. “If the sun is out, a man should be working,” Sebastian quotes him as saying in a gap montage. The movie is pseudo-biographical, following Sebastian’s courtship with a WASP-y artist (Leslie Bibb) and her intimidating politician mom (Kim Cattrall). He and De Niro are invited for a rustic membership household weekend, and the cultural variations pour out quicker than Tom Collins combine.
“My dad saw the film about six weeks ago. He cried. He’s my biggest fan and biggest critic. Living in Los Angeles, a lot of people are sycophants. Where I grew up, people see through all that shit. My dad is harsh, but it keeps me honest and on the level,” says Maniscalco, sitting in his residence workplace. He radiates a good-looking mischievousness, with the intimidating presence of a nightclub bouncer. But there’s a contradiction right here. He’s a person who will cry at Hallmark commercials but additionally rumble in a parking zone.
Maniscalco moved to L.A. in his early 20s to work the comedy membership circuit whereas bartending on the Four Seasons. He refused to adapt to the lodge’s refined formality (“Good morning, sir. Good evening, sir,” he remembers being requested to chant), and his laid-back perspective made him memorable to company like Jerry Seinfeld. Fifteen years later, he’s enjoying stadium excursions and making a major step up in Hollywood. In addition to “About My Father,” he’s simply completed manufacturing on “How to Be a Bookie,” an HBO Max comedy co-starring Charlie Sheen and created by Chuck Lorre. He sees the tasks as a possibility to develop his core stand-up viewers.
“Globally, TV and film will introduce my comedy to a broader audience. I’ve been wanting to do this creatively, and as a business move,” he says. “I wanted to share a love letter to my father and, in doing so, inject some of my point of view. Whether you know me or not, I think the movie gives a good sense of who I am.”
Maniscalco admits he was intimidated by movie as a medium, saying stand-up permits him to “work a room for an hour and get the laughs. With a movie, I’m doing the takes and getting nothin’. It was hard to wrap my head around that.”
While he hopes “About My Father” will probably be a field workplace hit — a problem for comedies releasing in theaters in recent times — Maniscalco believes he’s already gained. “I grew up watching De Niro. I had his posters on my wall. And now he’s playing my dad?” he says. “My kids are going to see this someday. It’s already a success.”
Salvatore additionally bought just a few perks, having frolicked educating De Niro easy methods to do the proper dye job. But that’s a completely completely different set of roots.