Yahoo News Sebastian Maniscalco On How ‘Bookie’ Is Here To Stay; Teases Guest-Filled Season 2 – Crew Call Podcast
There was a time when most stand-up comedians post Seinfeld and Everybody Loves Raymond dreamt of their own sitcom based on their material.
However, when Chicago stand-up Sebastian Maniscalco arrived in LA in the late 90s, it wasn’t really his m.o.
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“I just wanted to do stand-up comedy,” the comedian tells us on Deadline’s Crew Call, “Anything that came out from the success of comedy, then I would entertain it.”
You can listen to our chat here:
And now the stand up has a half hour Max comedy series, Bookie, which he also executive produces, that feels like the quintessential Maniscalco comedy show — even though the guy with a crazy, blunt Italian father doesn’t have a history with taking sports bets.
Similar to how James L. Brooks’ creation of Aaron Altman in the 1987 movie Broadcast News was so organically Albert Brooks, co-creator Chuck Lorre has pulled off a similar feat with Maniscalco in Bookie which are ripe with the comic’s witticisms and observations.
Maniscalco doesn’t take any credit.
Says Maniscalco, “That’s all Chuck (Lorre) and (co-creator) Nick Bakay. I think they know my comedy so well, that it sounds like maybe I came up with it or it’s something that I would say. I know they came out to Las Vegas to see me perform and really came away with a good sense of what I do on stage.”
There’s another way that Bookie is akin to Maniscalco and that is the show “takes me through Los Angeles in many different areas and different people, which kind of parallels my comedy, because I talk about everyday experiences and who I run into and what I’m seeing.”
On the show, Maniscalco’s Danny lives in a current world where the old trade independent bookies are competing against online gambling ala Draft Kings. Are bookies bound to become extinct, not just in real life, but on the show as well?
“Bookies are flourishing now more than ever,” says Maniscalco who is even approached by bookies on flights.
“I think the bookie is here to stay and I don’t think it’ll ever go away because some people don’t want to be tracked. A lot of these big conglomerates are tracking your betting and how much you’re betting,” he adds.
Maniscalco recently finished shooting season 2 which he teases above, promising “a lot of great guest stars.”
Next up for Maniscalco, a stand-up who per Pollstar was the top grossing comedian in a given year grossing close to $45M, is his biggest arena tour yet at 94 shows over eight months, the It Ain’t Right Tour. It all starts July 11 in Norfolk, VA.
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