Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - SEBASTIAN MANISCALCO: From Comedy Store Roots, Nerves With De Niro & Learning to Slow Down

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

Sebastian Maniscalco (The Irishman, About My Father) joins us this week for an unfiltered conversation about chasing approval, the grind of stand-up, and learning to slow down. Sebastian opens up abou...t growing up with immigrant parents, bombing in his early sets, and the nerves of auditioning for Scorsese before eventually working with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. He also reflects on family life, parenting, the pressure of social media, and why he dreams of one day running a boutique hotel. Thank you to our sponsors: 🚀 Rocket Money: ⁠https://rocketmoney.com/inside⁠ 🛍️ Shopify: ⁠https://shopify.com/inside⁠ ❤️ This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at ⁠https://betterhelp.com/inside⁠ and get on your way to being your best self __________________________________________________ 💖 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/insideofyou 👕 Inside Of You Merch: https://store.insideofyoupodcast.com/ __________________________________________________ Watch or listen to more episodes! 📺 https://www.insideofyoupodcast.com/show __________________________________________________ Follow us online! 📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/insideofyoupodcast/ 🤣 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@insideofyou_podcast 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/insideofyoupodcast/ 🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/insideofyoupod 🌐 Website: https://www.insideofyoupodcast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 you're listening to inside of you with michael rosenbaum uh it's a it's a pleasure to be here i hope you're enjoying your week thanks for choosing this podcast uh if you're here for uh sebastian manascalco then you came to the right place look all i ask is if you really like this interview at the end you're like hey you know i came for sebastian but uh this knucklehead's not too bad stick around stick around and subscribe and we have so many great podcasts so you can do a deep dive and write a review if you want but I appreciate it I'm here with Ryan Tejas I'm here yeah I feel like I'm ready for the holidays now yeah it feels like it's the holidays I mean it is technically I know November's yeah November's a weird month it's maybe it's just recent for for me like yeah
Starting point is 00:00:50 when it hits November you're like well pack it up well that's in in Hollywood folks uh everybody he's like on vacation like all your agents hollyway it's like it closes down yeah maybe that's like especially after thanksgiving it's just done you're done there's nothing no work and we don't not that there's a lot of work now and the weather hasn't like changed yet for us yeah it's still kind of it was so hot last week yeah i don't get it uh but we're not here to tell them about the weather and the news oh we could do you want to just turn this into a weather report you get a lot of clicks 99 5 kdq weather update harmless cumulus Lounge Lingering overhead, fan.
Starting point is 00:01:29 Traffic. There was another slow-ass guy on your hill this morning, and it took me forever to get around him. My dogs were almost hit. Be careful out there on wherever I live. It's not give you a dress. But, hey, if you want to support this podcast and keep it going, we've been going for six years strong,
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Starting point is 00:02:55 So you can get that and much more like Lexmus signed scripts, Smallville Pilot signed lunchbox, smallville lunch boxes, ship keys, funco pops. And you know they're signed by me because it's, you know, our thing, our website, the inside of you online store. Go to my link tree on Instagram at the Michael Rosenbaum. Make sure you follow me and check out where I'm going to be. I want to be in Liverpool, November. For the 15th and 16th.
Starting point is 00:03:25 There's so many people go in there. So many, it's going to be a great event. Liverpool Comic-Con. And the cruise is next year. You want to get in on that. There's also a Smallville con just for Smallville. It's going to be, I don't know, maybe it's Nashville. So you're going to be at that one, I'm sure.
Starting point is 00:03:46 Well, that is. It's a ways away. That's decades from now. Not really. It's like probably some money. I'll be old by then. welcome to my world um anyway that's about it that's all i got to tell you it's all the news so thanks for the support and uh sebastian minascalco is hilarious um i didn't know him
Starting point is 00:04:07 i knew some of his stuff i'd see some of his stuff on instagram and you know a special that is he's just incredibly funny and he's got this whole shtick and his personality shines and i loved having him on a podcast i felt like i want to know this guy. I want to hang out with this guy. I think you're going to really enjoy this podcast. He's got a lot going on. One of the biggest comedians in the world. So let's get inside of Sebastian Manuscalco. It's my point of view. You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum was not recorded in front of a live studio audience. rolling everything's good wow man it's like a whirlwind you just came right into this yeah right
Starting point is 00:05:00 you look like a man on the mission you were you were like i've been i could tell like you are non-stop well i mean what are we coming off of bobby lee interview it's totally different energy he probably uh it is i've known that asshole for so long you don't bobby a long time oh yeah i started with bobby at the comedy store he was a door guy when i was auditioning and then uh yeah so he he was at my wedding he was sleeping on polly shore's couch he was living at polly's house for a while uh i don't know i i don't get into a lot of you don't care you don't care about people's personal shit well at the comedy store i was just like you just knew the people that were there and you didn't really know what was going on
Starting point is 00:05:43 when they left there at least i didn't right were you not a big party or you didn't go to those never no i didn't i didn't like hang out well i mean i like to have a good time i just didn't go out to the we hours of the morning hanging out at diners and and what is that what they did yeah i mean mel's diner give a walk canners mel's i mean i i did that but i wasn't like a regular guy doing that was yeah were you married early no you didn't get married till like 2000 what uh what is it 2014 2013 2013 2013 so how old how old were you when you got married so i was 40 40 years old i got married so a little later in life had some kids i got a six-year-old eight-year-old but my time at the comedy store with those guys was fun but i just didn't really get
Starting point is 00:06:32 into the whole hanging out right it wasn't like oh dude sebastian's throwing a bash no no no no you're never into that you never powdered your nose anything like that no never no never no never in no didn't do any good upbringing is that what it was two parents immigrants middle aliens When my father's immigrant from Italy, my mother was born in the States. But yeah, like just a normal upbringing, nothing like dark, nothing like... Nothing, no dysfunction. No, like parents didn't do pot, you know? I hear that a lot.
Starting point is 00:07:04 Like, oh, my parents were high when I came home. I'm like, all right. My parents lied to me. I came home. I was in college and I remember there was this bong in there in this closet. it. And they would just lie to me like I was the stupidest child in the world. I'd say, what is this? And they go, it's a candle holder. It's a three foot high candle holder. And what's this thing right here? That's how you light the candle. Like I'm an idiot. They did,
Starting point is 00:07:35 they smoked pot. I told my father, I was so pissed because he used to act like every, you ever drink, you ever do drugs, you're out of this house. You're gone. You're going to a halfway house. I never did that shit. And one time after college, I just said, look, I don't know if I ever really want to talk to you again. It was, it was aggressive. Wow. But he goes, why? I go, because I think you just lie to me. It's like, I don't even know who you are. Like, I don't know anything. What do you want to know? Do you do drugs? Yeah. Is that what you want to hear? Yeah, I did drugs. Do you snore Coke? Yeah. Acid? Yeah. You bang a lot of women? Yeah. I go, ah, I shouldn't ask that. I don't want to know that.
Starting point is 00:08:16 You know what I mean? So what is it? Host, a guy? Your father sounds hostile. He's, uh, he just, uh, is impatient. He's an impatient guy. He, but he's also very, like, it just feels like nothing bothers him, but everything bothers him.
Starting point is 00:08:34 He doesn't, uh, you know, he's, look, I'm, I've talked about this, but he's not one to say, I'm proud of you. I love you. Never heard it. Never, no, when I say it. I've never heard it, just not in his vocabulary. Like you, what was your father like? Well, my father's similar.
Starting point is 00:08:51 I mean, I didn't start hearing that until later on in life. He's still alive. So he, I think with him, if he did say that, I had this problem with him when I was playing soccer in high school. He never really said, good job, this, that, and the other thing. And I found out that later on that if he did give me the compliment or did say he was proud, that he might affect my, my effort moving forward like if I had his approval it might well I never looked at it like
Starting point is 00:09:19 that yeah so like he wanted you to keep working hard and not get the idea that you're good yeah but you heard it from other people uh heard it from other people um but yeah I don't know I don't know I don't know if it's this thing that I was trying to please my dad growing up and and in my career kind of comedy kind of took over soccer for me yeah in his eyes so I think later on he came around to saying, you know, hey, man, doing a good, good job. Was everybody surprised, like back home in Illinois, Sebastian is like, he's like this big comedian. He's like, oh, did you think that a lot of people doubted you, or did you think they know I'm funny? I've always been funny.
Starting point is 00:10:03 This is not surprising to them. I don't think it was surprised that I wanted to pursue comedy because I was, you know, not the class clown, but I always made people laugh. And I was always the funny one in the group. And I didn't think I got a lot of pushback when I left. I think they thought, oh, you know, he's maybe got a shot at this. My parents were very supportive of it. You know, they were like, oh, you know, if you think you could do this, go give it a shot. And I had no secondary plans.
Starting point is 00:10:32 Like, if this didn't work out, I was going to go home and work at United Airlines. Yeah, what would you do? You don't even know? I didn't know at the time. but I think I would be somehow involved in hospitality, like a general manager of a resort. I think I'd be in the hospitality business. I worked at the Four Seasons right here in Doheny. So I like anticipating people's needs.
Starting point is 00:10:57 I like to entertain. Me too. You know, when you say that, it makes me think, you know, if this didn't work out, I was like, you know, I could be an event planner, like parties. You want to throw a party? I know exactly what to do. If it was fancy, I'm not sure. But with you, you could probably handle all that. Four seasons, right?
Starting point is 00:11:18 Well, yeah, I grew up or my hospitality experience was more elevated than, you know, working at Olive Garden, which I love. I worked there. Did you like working there? One of my first jobs. I love the fucking Olive Garden. I post to get free shit. You believe that?
Starting point is 00:11:37 For some reason, a free Olive Garden meal is awesome. Back when I was doing it, I haven't been in there in a while, free salad, free bread sticks. I think free refills on drinks. Yeah, what is better than that? Yeah, they get a meal. That's why I was pissed off at people like you because they'd come in and fill up on all this stuff and, you know, not get an entree. And my tip suffered. But, yeah, I mean, party planning.
Starting point is 00:12:01 And that's so much party planning. It's more like hotel, that type of vibe. Making sure everybody's, everything's working properly. Like, you look like an authoritative figure. Somebody who would just like, hey, this is what needs to get done and it gets done. I look that way, but I think the look is a little bit louder than my bite. You think you're soft? I wouldn't say soft.
Starting point is 00:12:26 I would just say kind of mild-mannered. You never lose your temper? No. You ever getting fights as a kid? No. Not one fight. Mark Wright wanted to fight me in third grade, and I told. told him I can't and he was like why I said I got my new slacks on and we didn't fight I mean I don't say that I never lose my my uh my temper I've lost my temper around the house especially with kids and whatnot so I mean I yell every once in a while but like how do you yell I want to hear a good yell there's um it it goes from zero to to to 60 in 2.1 seconds
Starting point is 00:13:08 God. It's, it's a... What did I tell you? Yeah. Yeah, right? But I think it's good. Like, nowadays, if you yell as a parent, they're like, oh, my God, how could you do that? Come on one knee and get on their level and ask them to explain their emotions or whatnot.
Starting point is 00:13:27 But I feel like you walk in a room and, you know, you assess it and things are going sideways. Hey! Get everybody's attention. cuts through the dust you know so yeah no that's what my dad did he i remember just being in the mall and he goes stop doing that i'm not going to tell you again and the next you know you know the grab of the shoulder you just kind of out of the blue you know he would give a good grab yeah i mean a little spank every once in a little smack i listen i think you got a assert in your home that you are the alpha you're in control right and the kids ain't running the house i see it a lot
Starting point is 00:14:11 where the kids are running the whole thing do you do a camere thing come here for a second i do commiers i do um comeres i've done i swear to god i'll throw every toy out of this room in the garbage i think that works i'll take away you nintendo i don't know what the kids are playing with do you have kids no kids no kids okay No, I'm 53, and I think it's too late, don't you? No. Why do you say that? 53's, it's hard waking up.
Starting point is 00:14:42 Yeah, but don't be one of these guys that goes to his whole life with no kids. Come on, man. Why? What do you mean? I could travel. I have dogs, got a girlfriend. Okay. But I mean, I was...
Starting point is 00:14:52 Why kids? I was the same way as you. Like, I'm not going to have kids, you know, this and that. And then fell in love. And I can't imagine not having kids. It's something. It's a beautiful thing. Is it something?
Starting point is 00:15:05 intangible is it something that you just can't explain it's like like i love my dogs more than anything so it's like elevated it's above that it's a human being well i i got two dogs and i'm like we got to get rid of them so so i'm on the complete other side that you're on you love your dogs and i'm like i never had dogs so we just got them a year ago and the kids love them kids love them but like i i i don't know you love them they're nice but but you know you know but you know You know, they're puppies and the marking. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, it's difficult.
Starting point is 00:15:41 I mean, did you ever think, like when you're growing up that you're going to have five sellout shows at Madison's Score Garden? You're going to sell 100,000 tickets. You're going to be above of, like, sales for guys like Joe Coy and Burke, Kreischer, who I know you know, I'm friends with you. I mean, did you ever imagine something that big? Did you think that big? I'd be lying to you if I didn't think that I was going to make. it I mean because if you come out here and you think otherwise then why are you doing this now to the extent of how that was going to happen no I didn't think I was going to sell out all those shows or you know be as successful as I am I just knew I had something and if I cultivated it in a way and worked hard at it that it was going to produce success that's I felt very confident in myself yeah you have a good work ethic don't you yeah instilled it in a young age. I mean, I work. I work. That's it. From the beginning, do you remember
Starting point is 00:16:41 what was your first stand-up thing? Was it in Chicago? College. I went to Northern Illinois University and I did a contest. So you auditioned in front of the student. And you hadn't done it before? Never. And how long was it? How long did you have to do it for? Ten minutes? I did. It was a five-minute set. But I won the contest. I opened up for the national headliner that was coming to the school. It was an all-black room. And I died. It was awful. You died.
Starting point is 00:17:09 Terrible. Bombed. Bombed. Do you remember any of those jokes? I started off with the week I hit today. And is that really what you said? Yeah. And silence.
Starting point is 00:17:25 I was very angry and I was very, it was, it was bad. You were new. No. But that could have, that could have discouraged a lot of performers. that were just starting like, oh, I don't have it. I'm out. I can't deal with the bombing like that. What was your mentality after you left that night?
Starting point is 00:17:41 Yeah, I mean, listen, my parents came up to see me and it was embarrassing, but I knew that I belonged there. And then I didn't do it again until I came out here. So I think I did it when I was 21, and then three years passed, and I came out here, and I started doing it when I was 24 again, regularly. I went to the comedy store. I took Sandy Shore's Comedy Sandbox. a class i got my feet wet there and then i started just doing open mics and and it was a slow burn for me
Starting point is 00:18:12 do you remember the first time you felt like you had the audience and the feeling you had um yeah i don't think it was a night that it all clicked for me i think it was just over time i began to you know when i first started there could have been a fire in the room and i wouldn't acknowledge it you know I just wanted to get through my set. Right, right, right. And then, you know, you start, like, becoming comfortable up there and somebody sneezes or whatever, and you make a comment.
Starting point is 00:18:41 You go, okay, I could play with the crowd a little bit. That's something that I could do. Or, you know, joke doesn't work. And then you start to pivot into another routine. And then, you know, just act like it never happened. So, yeah, I don't think it's a, oh, I have the crowd. I just think it's over time. You start to look, I equate it to bodybuilding.
Starting point is 00:19:01 if you start and you have no muscle and then you start to gain muscle over time you know it's a gradual progression you know arms start to get bigger chest start to start to see some abs it's that's the comedy is kind of like you got to just keep working keep working keep getting stronger i mean it's like anything else you know i mean if you don't work at it you know become good at it i mean there's you know no one sees you know me brett ernst then uh who else was it forget the guy's name went up to Manteca, California to perform in a boxing ring that had a bowling alley behind it.
Starting point is 00:19:37 You know, I mean, nobody... How was that? Well, I mean, it's distractions, you know. People were bowling. People were drinking. Comedy was like something they just... With comedy, they... People think they could just throw it up anywhere.
Starting point is 00:19:51 Just like, yeah, we'll do the comedy here. You know, no lighting, no nothing. The sound sucks. Yeah. But those were the beginning years. So I think you build a tough. skin for later on you can you could flourish what do you think it is about you that people connect to uh i think it's more my family i think the family stuff really hit especially my immigrant father
Starting point is 00:20:12 people really the italian community kind of hooked on to that not even italians is spanish greek whatever if you come from that type of background you kind of have a oh that's my dad uh and then just kind of the physical humor i think people related to uh steps you do and a little yeah i mean yeah I mean, just over time, I think that started to develop. I'm a huge John Ritter fan, so I kind of got a lot of my physicality from just watching Three's company. So you weren't always physical on stage. I wasn't, but then, you know, as you become comfortable, then you start doing, you know, you start to, like, not edit yourself up there and go, oh, if I do that, I'm going to look weird. It's kind of like learning your lines, but then you know them so well, you could do whatever you want.
Starting point is 00:20:54 Yeah, I wish I could get to that point. You don't learn lines well? I don't. You've done so many movies. No, but the lines for me are very difficult to memorize. How do you do it? Do you just look at them and just try to memorize them over and over? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:21:11 Repetition. I think the best thing you could do is read the script and then know the character. And for me, once I know what I'm doing, and also, you know what's good, if it's good writing. If it's not great writing or if it's tough, it's big words, it takes a while. Yeah. And I play a game where it's like, I'm going to do this chunk. And once I get that, I'll go to the next chunk. But if I fuck up the second, I go back to the first until I just know it.
Starting point is 00:21:38 And I could see it on the page in my head. But I'm not great. I don't love memorizing lines. I'm not as good as I was. And the older you get, because I'm distracted easily. Yeah. You know, to be sitting in a room by yourself. Does your wife run lines with you?
Starting point is 00:21:53 Yeah. She's my kind of scene partner. But that, you know, that only goes so far. So what I would. She can't beat De Niro what you're doing. Can you do this for a second? Can you just do that, honey? Inside of you is brought to you by Rocket Money.
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Starting point is 00:24:12 Oh, Callum, that was nasty. And a Black Friday friendly for the women. The expectations have always been here for this team. We understand that. Listen anywhere on the go with the Westwood One sports app. and the behind-the-scenes stories catch the U.S. Soccer podcast. Boy, do we have an episode for you. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.
Starting point is 00:24:37 I ran a lot. I don't know how you do it, but do you like rehearse with the people that you're working with prior or? No, no, because most of them don't want to do it unless you're on set, you mean? Yeah. Yeah, some people don't want to rehearse. Some people do. that's why it's important for me to just know them inside out so I don't worry about them at all so that when if they don't want to rehearse it or whatever I know I got my shit down I'm ready to go but uh I mean you pretty much know it inside out once you have them yeah but again
Starting point is 00:25:08 at older you get like I didn't do a lot of acting in my 20s and 30s mine came later on in life in my after you've 40s right so like you know the memory and it starts to you know and you're not as quick as you once were, when you were younger, right? It still scares me. Sometimes I get script sent or like, hey, they're interested to this role and I'll look and I go, that's not too many lines. I could probably do this. That's what I do.
Starting point is 00:25:33 I do it. I'm like, oh, my gosh, this guy's got a monologue page one. I'm like, I don't know if I like the script. Like, did you read it? I'm like, I read the first page. This is, yeah, I do that. And that's a fear we have. It's fear that we can't do it, that we're going to fail.
Starting point is 00:25:48 Yeah. And that's when you should do it. Probably, right? Yeah, I've had the same fears that you had looking at large chunks of dialogue going, wow, this is going to be a lot to take in. But then when you start to get into it, you're like, oh, why was I so worried? Yeah, once you start to get it. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:26:05 It's that initial stage. I just wish people would have cue cards the whole time. I couldn't even, I couldn't do that. You couldn't read it? I can't do two things, though. I couldn't, like, I've never done Saturday Night Live. You might be offered that sometime. Maybe.
Starting point is 00:26:17 Who knows? Would you do it? Yeah. Like, I don't know. I don't like to read. I just, I don't wear contacts and I can't see far. So I'd be concerned about seeing the, the card. Yeah, I have the same problem.
Starting point is 00:26:30 I have to wear glasses and a lot of times I don't want to wear glasses because I hate contacts. You just won't wear them? I've never tried them. I don't think I'd like them. You can't think. Plus I got Carataconis, which is a coning of the eyes. Kerataconis.
Starting point is 00:26:47 Something carrot top just came up with. So I love that you don't learn lines. I mean, not for you, but it makes me feel better that you, you have issues too. I have problems, yeah. Big problems. Did you ever, like, when you're on the set of like the Irishman and you're like, I said Irishman, isn't it the Irishman? How would you pronounce it?
Starting point is 00:27:04 Irishman, Irishman. The Irishman. You didn't say Irishman. No. You auditioned for that, right? I did. It was awful. Awful?
Starting point is 00:27:13 I went to New York for the, they gave me two options. Either you put it on tape here or you go to New York and, read for the casting director so i said let me go to new york you know if i'm in the room i think i could you know it's better to be in the room i could bullshit my way around yeah maybe they'll like crazy joe gallo you can just be out crazy it wasn't even the part that was even the part that i audition for it was another part and i walked in and you know this i mean you've been in so many auditions to where you're in the waiting room and then you're you know i always like to listen to what's going on in there no i don't oh you don't oh you don't
Starting point is 00:27:50 No, because if they're nailing it and people are laughing in there, then I'm like, oh, fuck, I don't want to hear anything. I want to leave the room so I don't hear, I assume they're bombing. Oh, I want to hear it a bomb. What if they're good? Well, then then they're good. But if I hear a bomb, it will give me power or more confidence. If I hear that they're doing well, that's expected. Okay.
Starting point is 00:28:15 So the guy before me was in there for a while that were working with him. and you know any i don't know any i don't know any i don't have relationships they don't see me enough where and how much have you acted at this point uh here and there here and there nothing nothing substantial nothing right so i go in there and i'm working with the casting director and as the camera person and i i just i know i'm not doing well but they keep working with me and i'm sweating and I lose saliva in my mouth. Oh, yeah, dry mouth. Dry mouth.
Starting point is 00:28:53 Oof, the worst. That's the worst. It went south for me. And I walked out and I called my agent. I go, this ain't going to be a good report just so you know. It's what you said. Calls me next day, like, you're right. They said they were inconsistent.
Starting point is 00:29:11 But they're going to give you another shot if you want to put it on tape. They're not going to show Marty what you did. you could put it on tape and send it in. So I work with my coach. You memorized it? Well, I mean, you knew it. You knew it. Yeah, I knew it.
Starting point is 00:29:26 And I felt a lot more comfortable working in the confines of the acting school than I did there. Right. Too much pressure there. Yeah, there is. It's a lot of pressure. A lot of pressure. So I sent it in and they said, not this part, but he wants to give you the part of Gallo. So I got the part of Gallo.
Starting point is 00:29:46 Did you just shit? I should. I got the call at the equinox in, uh, you were pumping. Yeah. When you, when you, when you hit that? And I got the, the, you know, like, you ever expecting the call to come in? And you know when you see the number of your management or your agent, like, this is the call for that project, right? But you didn't know what he was going to say. I didn't. But I just knew it was pertaining to that. And they're like, you got the part. And did you finish the workout? Oh, best workout after that. You're like, oh, fuck, yeah, Scorsese, De Niro, Pacino, Pesci, I'm fucking pumped. Did you tell everybody in the gym?
Starting point is 00:30:25 No. The guy spotting you and you're looking up, you're like, hey, just got this move. Oh, yeah. Fucking Pesci. I don't do stranger spots. No? No. Who spot you?
Starting point is 00:30:36 I'm not doing weight that needs any assistance. Okay. I'm far gone from that. So what do you, so you just want to keep in shape? You want to just like, okay, I know I could do this. and I'll keep the pump. That's it. I just want to maintain what I have.
Starting point is 00:30:51 I'm not looking to... You ever take testosterone? No. I do. It doesn't... I don't look like it. But I take it because my levels were a little low, but I don't really notice a huge difference on it.
Starting point is 00:31:02 So what do you notice and why do you keep taking it? Maybe without it, I'd be worse. You feel like you're, uh, you have an energy level that's pretty good? I don't know. As you drink the Red Bull? I needed that today. I had a rough night last night. Well, not even drinking or anything.
Starting point is 00:31:19 I just didn't sleep well. It wasn't because I, you know. Are you into the health thing? I mean, you look like a, no, I want to be. I'm 53. I play ice hockey and I play tennis. That's it. But I need to work out.
Starting point is 00:31:31 I need to start working out. But I've had a lot of surgery, so I always think this is going to make this worse? Is this going to make it? But maybe I should work with somebody who really knows all this stuff. The ice hockey, it's no joke, though. That's a lot of leg work. It's good. When you go to a gym, do you do, do, do,
Starting point is 00:31:46 do cardio do cardio and uh i got a trainer do cardio and weights but i have a detached bicep so my bicep what did that happen there's a hole here and on this side too that that happened when you have kids in your mid 40s and you pick them up to put them in the car stuff starts snapping off so uh Jesus I'm still loving the fact that you didn't get in a fight because you had a nice pair of slacks try that try that and next time someone wants to fight you at a bar it's such a mind fuck i don't want to fight you why i just got these slacks man can you understand that what the fuck's wrong with you i uh this guy earle mcdaniel tall kid you know a lot a lot bigger stronger than me we're at lunch and he was kind of he said something smart and the only thing i had really
Starting point is 00:32:34 going for me is i had a smart man i had good comeback really quick and uh his hair was really high and i started i got to go how much gel do you spend every week and how much you know i started and And everybody starts laughing and I'm fucking working him a little bit. He's like, how about I kick your ass? And I go, can I have my lunch? Can I eat my lunch first? And I'm just, I go, all right, you want to fight? Where do you want to fight?
Starting point is 00:32:56 He's like, let's go to Emil Camacho's old house after school. Nobody lives there. And I go, all right, let's go. I'll meet you there right after school. Freaking out the whole day. Took like six shits. I'm like, I'm going to get my ass kicked. How do I get out of this one?
Starting point is 00:33:12 And I said, you know what? You got to stand up for yourself. You got to do that. this you said you're going to be there and i got off the bus and i walked up the street and i was at emil camacho's house and he showed up and nobody else was there and i looked at him i go dude you're so much bigger than me you could just kick my ass and he's like yeah i go let's i don't think we should do this he's like you're gonna fucking open and he starts talking like you can open up your mouth and this and that i go no man no i apologize
Starting point is 00:33:45 And I just pussed out. I knew I would get my ass kicked. Yeah. I just said, no, I don't want to fight. And I felt like shit. But you know what's cool about Earl? He never told anybody. He never said it to anybody that I pussed out.
Starting point is 00:34:02 And I messaged him a couple years ago. Facebook. And I go, you remember when we, you know, we were going to fight at Emil Camacho's house? And he said, yeah, I go, hey, what's going on? I go, I just remember that. You were really cool about that. You didn't tell anybody. I messaged him out of the blue.
Starting point is 00:34:18 Did he respond? Yeah, he responded. We talked. Well, hey, I mean, I'm shocked. Nobody showed up. I mean, you would think. If people showed up, then I couldn't back down. I knew I'd have to get my ass kicked.
Starting point is 00:34:31 So if people were there, I would have different. That's the thing. Nobody showed up to this fight between Earl McDaniel and Michael Rosenbaum. I was the smallest kid. Were you always a good-sized kid? Skinny. It was skinny. But I was like
Starting point is 00:34:45 My height was kind of proportional To the class Yeah Your dad was a hairdresser Yeah still is Still is a hairdresser Now when you say hairdresser A hairdresser just sounds like
Starting point is 00:34:56 They make a lot of money They do really well They're not just a barber shop No no he's doing styles He's doing blowouts and dyes The whole thing Did people ever make fun of you as a kid? That I had a hairstylist as a father
Starting point is 00:35:10 Yeah No it was actually pretty cool that he cut their hair well no he didn't call any of my friend's hair but it was just cool that he was in the hair business i would have got reamed oh look his dad cuts hair oh no one that said anything no it was like listen we go i grew up with a bunch of immigrant families so they were either doing you know uh came from a barber background concrete paint painting you know so it's just all blended together it's all in the same see it's different where I was I was like the only Jew um town yeah couldn't be a Jew
Starting point is 00:35:53 with the dad as an hairdresser too no I think I would have been fucked no you got killed I don't think it would have been good you this Hulu specials in November coming yeah November 21st what what differentiates this from other specials you've done because it's called hilarious with a you well that's that's the um fuck that up well that That's the Hulu moniker, Hularius. Hularius. My specials called, it ain't right. It ain't right.
Starting point is 00:36:20 Under the Hularius umbrella. It ain't right, this name above me. Oh, my God. All right, so that comes out in November. Yes. Because this is supposed to be a really big thing. So this is my first special I've ever done in an arena. An arena.
Starting point is 00:36:39 An arena. How many people fit into an arena? uh generally speaking depending on the arena anywhere between 15 and 21,000 15 but you've done that i've done that yeah i did this one was at the united center in chicago my hometown so i was kind of like it was scheduled to be a theater in new jersey i was going to do it but then i'm like you know what let me capture this tour because the whole tour is in an arena why am i going to go to a theater to do the special. Yeah. And I didn't think the arena was the great way to present a special just because of the size and whatnot. But then I'm like, you know what, let me, let me tweak the
Starting point is 00:37:22 production and whatnot. So the way it turned out, I'm extremely proud of it. I like production, too. Yeah. In my, in my shows. You know, I need lighting. I need cool stage. And energy. Yeah. The whole vibe. The whole vibe. It's, it's you have a vibe you want the the uh atmosphere to reflect that vibe yeah i just feel like you know this is show business and uh you got to put on a show for these people like dice used to do dice is like you know bigger than life you know uh eddie murphy you know they just like hilarious all that it's like i feel like hollywood has lost its kind of luster you know i feel like glamour glamour the day it's like everybody's like it's it's it's it's
Starting point is 00:38:09 It's all one clop of shit now, right? Everybody's just... You can't differentiate it. No. It's just kind of like, oh, this kind of looks like that, kind of looks like this. This is different. This is different. I like to be...
Starting point is 00:38:23 I like to stand out. Yes, you do. Yeah. Is this going to be a very expensive endeavor for Hulu? It was an expensive endeavor for me to make this in an arena. I'll tell you that right now. It's a lot of money. When they said it, you were thinking,
Starting point is 00:38:39 New Jersey sounds good. How it works is they give you money, and out of that money, you go and produce your own special. But it wasn't enough money. It was a nice amount of money, but I took a good portion of that money and reinvested it in myself.
Starting point is 00:38:54 What's the crew like? How many crew members do you have on this thing? How many cameras are going? I don't know. I think there was 25 cameras. I think, 25 cameras. I think, I don't know. 25 cameras.
Starting point is 00:39:05 There's a spider cam running across the arena. Right, like the NFL Monday night. It just comes crumb. Yeah, but it's small. Did they ever say stop? We need to do that again. No, we don't do that. You don't stop at all.
Starting point is 00:39:16 No. It's like, did they ever do pickups at the end? No. Nothing. So if you fuck up, you don't fuck up. I don't fuck up. I've done it so many times. Plus, if you do it again,
Starting point is 00:39:28 then you're not going to get the reaction that you want. It starts, it's like you do a joke and that would don't work. And I go, hold on guys. And do it again. That's kind of weird, right? People are like, well? Yeah. the only time I had to do anything on a special was I was sweating so much I think it was my third special and there was a what do you call with the text the the monitor what's the you know you mean when the words are on there yeah yeah I know you said what is that called um teleprompter on the teleprompter it said stop you're drenched
Starting point is 00:40:08 wipe yourself down were you like stop you're drenched no so you stop so i just had to stop to kind of wipe myself and then did you i'm sure you made a joke about i'm sweating like a pig let me well yeah i was like in the course of the act i didn't say that they want me to to to wipe myself off no i don't stop just keep going but this special that i did at the united center was special for me because I used to go to the United States and watch Bulls games during the heyday in the 90s, right? And here I am coming back to the place
Starting point is 00:40:43 that I saw Michael Jordan play and I'm doing my own special in my hometown in this arena, which I shared a lot of memories with my father and my family there watching the games and what have you. Did you get emotional? No, I did not get emotional.
Starting point is 00:41:02 Why? You cold, son of a bit? bitch i'm actually a sensitive emotional guy you are it didn't really hit me it hit me a little bit when i came off stage and you'll see it in the special that my family's waiting for me there and we all gave each other a big hug and uh just to have that moment on film it's a nice uh it's and you weren't even aware you were like doing it you were like and they caught this moment yeah uh that's amazing yeah it was dad was parents was just so happy yeah i mean the dad my mother were You know, everybody was there.
Starting point is 00:41:36 Nobody, no, nobody was crying that night. Does anyone cry in your family? Yeah, there's many bouts of crying in my family. But not that night. Not that night. No, there hasn't been any emotional outbursts lately pertaining to career. No. Really like an emotional, like I'm so proudy.
Starting point is 00:41:57 God, Jesus. No. No. No. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so it's a spectacle. We're looking forward to that.
Starting point is 00:42:07 Have you seen the edit? I just watched, I just approved the trailer. I've seen the edit. I've been working. I did. You have it on you? Yeah, I got it on my phone. I want to look at it.
Starting point is 00:42:18 No, you're not going to look at it until it comes out. Until it's corrected. Oh, color corrected and like, you know, the whole thing. Tightenot numbers at the bottom. Plus, I wouldn't show you because I'm not going to sit there. Have you watched something? that I did and then I'm going to be honed in on you to see your react I don't like I but I already think you're funny so I'm sure I like it no I don't like the like if I hear I hear you
Starting point is 00:42:43 have to laugh because you think oh that's so fun no I don't really do that you don't laugh I heard you say on this cast that you you're not a laugh uh I laugh but I don't not a lot of people make me laugh yeah you've made me laugh okay you you just you just your whole disposition just just I just look at you. It's not that you're funny looking. It's just, you know, the first look you gave me when I, when you sat down, you gave me this look, I go about the pillow. There's a pillow behind you. You just went, ah.
Starting point is 00:43:18 Do you make your wife laugh? Yeah. Constantly? Not constantly. She's funny. She's very funny. Is she from Illinois? She's from Memphis, Tennessee.
Starting point is 00:43:31 Memphis, Tennessee. Does she have a southern drawing? all. Yeah, Jew from Memphis, Tennessee. And country accent, southern accent? Yeah, a little y'all. What y'all want to do? You love it. Oh, I love it. It's great. Did you know right away when you met her? No, it would take time? No, it was a slow burn for us. Because you were like, I don't know, I don't know. And then all of a sudden you knew? It's not. I'm asking because I want to know this. It was, I didn't have, I wasn't in town enough to really start anything cooking. Because I was in and out of town.
Starting point is 00:44:05 So it was a slow burn. But after we started spending time together, I'm like, all right, yeah, this is the one. What was it if you have to name one thing? I think it was their sense of humor. And not only that she got me, it's the fact that she could give it back. And her sense of humor is so dry, sometimes it go right over your head. People don't expect it coming out of her. And that was number one.
Starting point is 00:44:29 Number two, she's a beautiful woman. Kind. Very sweet. always smiling, always smiling. I mean, it's, it's unbelievable how happy this woman is. Are you usually a happy person? Do you get in your funks? Do you get in moods? Do you get, do you have to get depression or anxiety? That's so much depression. It's more like, you know, when you said your father was impatient, I get like impatience. And I wish I would just stop and smell the roses a little bit more. I don't know. For me, I come from working middle class family.
Starting point is 00:44:59 And my biggest struggle right now is, like, learning to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Yeah, right. I wish I could just be a little bit more relaxed. Because you're in work mode. Yeah, I was like, how much you're going to work? You know, like, I got a podcast, Pete Sebastian. Don't do nothing, right? I mean, we've been doing this for 12 years.
Starting point is 00:45:24 And it's, you know, we got our fan base, but it's not like we're paying the mortgage off the podcast. we do because we talk we don't really have guests on uh i want to come on i want to just hang out with you guys well here this whole podcasting thing right right i was doing it before all that started like i was doing it before covid and all that stuff before every actor and their mother wanted a podcast yeah so everybody's got a podcast everybody's got a podcast and i'm and i'm asking myself on the other end of this stuff going how much we're going to hear from these people right like i come on the podcast and I'm thinking to myself, why does he want to talk
Starting point is 00:46:02 to me? What is he going to pull out of me that I haven't already said? What is this guy? Is he fucking Oprah? What is he doing? What are you going to get? What do you want? I said this shit over and over. What do you want? Do you ever wake up like when you woke up today?
Starting point is 00:46:17 Yeah. Am I your only? Yeah. Oh yeah. I don't like to do more than one. Okay. So how many days a week do you do this? Sometimes not one for a month or two. And I stack them up okay sometimes one a week sometimes four a week and what was the did you wake up one day and go i got to talk to people i mean what was no how this happened you're an actor yeah and all of a sudden yeah you're uh barbara walters yeah how do we make how do we it happened
Starting point is 00:46:51 by accident uh former producer i was working with goes you should have a podcast and i go, I'm not, I don't know what it's like, no, you're good with people. You get a good voice. You should, you should try this. And I go, I don't know. I was like, you can make some good money. And I'm like, all right, let's do it. You know, so I started doing it.
Starting point is 00:47:10 And I wasn't making any money. And it was hard to get guests. And I thought of quitting a million times. I was stressed. I had anxiety from interviewing people because I didn't, I was learning. I was learning. I remember my pits were all sweaty. And I was just like, you know, I wasn't always.
Starting point is 00:47:27 listening as much as I should but then I stuck with it and then I started to talk about like you talk about your family a lot when you're doing your comedy I start talking about family and dysfunction and my life and mental health and I had no idea that all of a sudden people would start listening when you're more genuine when I'm just genuine they could see they could hear the bullshit but when you try to when you're genuine I think that's what attracts people and so I don't know and I think it's helped me too like talking to people and learning from them like I'll learn something from you today you know I'll learn something from you you know whatever you know no we haven't learned it yet I haven't learned it yeah no no I have I mean
Starting point is 00:48:15 like what you just said a minute ago you said like I wish I could just you know enjoy the fruits of my labor just like just be in the moment be present more I mean that's what we're all striving for because it's just like this fucking phone man it's just like you can't stop and even when you go okay i'm done you're like oh but i forgot to do that and next thing you know oh shit you see something you get and it's just non-stop so for me i put these on and i'm forced to listen and it's there's something cool about that yeah it's like i just connect for an hour yeah get to know you you son of my bitch you know what i mean though so it's it's cool does your wife ever tell you when she doesn't think something's funny um i well i know because she don't laugh and i'm not like trying bits on her
Starting point is 00:48:59 it's just like we're talking and then you know sometimes she just you know i expect her maybe to laugh and she doesn't laugh and sometimes she laughs when i don't expect her to laugh but i'm not running like you're not going to change your stuff because she's not laughing no no no no you know there's this uh harlan williams you know harlan yeah harland says he had this old manager and he just For some reason, he just never laughed anymore. Like, he had run out of laughs. And he pitched in this really funny show. And he's just pitching him.
Starting point is 00:49:29 And he's, what do you think? He's like, I'm on the floor, Harlan. He's like, you don't like it? He's like, no, I'm on the floor. Just straight-faced, I'm on the floor, no laughter. But he loved it. So maybe, you know, maybe that's your wife. No, no, she's not on the floor.
Starting point is 00:49:45 If she's telling me she's on the floor and she's not laughing, we got problems. Wrong. Yeah. But she makes you laugh. She makes me laugh. We've got a very funny family. My kids are very funny. We're, you know, we have a great time. It's just for me, I, again, wish I could just relax a little bit. Do you meditate? I do. Started meditating this year. Do you think it helps? It does doing transcendental meditation. Seinfeldt was very gracious to send his guy over, Bob Roth, and teach.
Starting point is 00:50:21 my wife and I had to do this do you have your magic word I do I can you can't say it yeah does anybody know it I wonder if it's the same fucking word that no one's telling anybody you know it's like lithium but you know it's something that's like it's is it two syllables no yeah yeah yeah is there an h in it no okay good something different But it does help, doesn't it? Do you do it twice a day? I don't do it at all. I was doing it and then I just need to do it.
Starting point is 00:51:00 That's the thing. I say I'm going to do a lot of things and I don't do them to help myself. I just need to wake up and start doing that. You know, I just, I don't have enough to. It sounds like you have a lot of discipline. I do, but this, this I needed. I needed this meditation thing. This really helped me out.
Starting point is 00:51:21 and I've fallen off. It's hard to do on vacation. It's hard to do when you go out of town. But if I got a routine, I did it right before I came here. Do you see your gratitudes? I don't do gratitudes. Why not?
Starting point is 00:51:34 It's not part of the... I'm not grateful. What do you want me to tell you? I'm not grateful for anything. But I do... It's not part of the meditation. Right. I mean, it's not...
Starting point is 00:51:46 Of course, you can't breathe. I'm grateful for my grandfather. But I do that before I go to bed. it helps i'll just close my eyes and go hey i'm grateful for my grandparents they were like parents to me i'm grateful for my dogs they make me happy i'm grateful and i fall asleep do you say it out loud no to yourself it's to myself okay yeah because i just feel weird my girlfriend's lying there and she's like trying to sleep and i'm like thank you for the hucking it's like 20 minutes of great gratitude no it's it's probably like a couple minutes you know but but that but that helps you but you still
Starting point is 00:52:18 you want to you know what happened to me is I feel like I wasn't really happy with I wanted things to get done. Like I got a job. Oh, cool. And this will end here. And I just wanted to get through it. I felt like I wanted to get through everything. Every experience.
Starting point is 00:52:34 I wasn't living. And something clicked where I'm like, I'm going to try and enjoy what I'm doing. I'm going to do this because I like doing this. And something changed. So now I'm writing. And I don't sell everything. so when I'm writing a script I get excited and I'll say oh let me read you this and I'm like that's that's good what you're doing right there you're excited about something you're passionate about something
Starting point is 00:53:01 that's important and you're so passionate about your work that it's kind of ironic that you don't feel you're not enjoying it as much I'm enjoying the work it's just everything else like I feel like I need to be doing more than I'm doing and sometimes I'm not as passionate the problem is is nothing is going to equate to the stand-up that I'm going to do. At least I haven't found. Like, when I'm going to a set of a movie, I'm like, I can't wait to get there. I'm going, I can't wait until this is over. So, but when I do stand-up, it's not like I'm waiting until the end of the show.
Starting point is 00:53:40 I mean, I just can't wait to get up and go and do it. Yeah. And, you know, from anything, you know, to TV, to film, it's great. It has another creative muscle that I'm working out. But I think I just have to realize that it's not going to give me the pleasure that stand-up comedy gives me. That's your passion. That's your purpose.
Starting point is 00:54:02 That and your family. Yeah. And then, you know, what's wrong with just doing stand-up, you know? I mean, what's wrong just doing? In this world, everybody just feels like you have to do all this. Why? I have to be doing the movies and I have to be doing stand-up and I have to be, like, who you're trying to impress?
Starting point is 00:54:14 Do it for you? That's what I'm saying. Like, I was walking around going, do I need a tequila? You know, like, is that what we were supposed to do? Like, you make it in stand-up and all of a sudden, I'm at a alcohol distributor doing shots at a, at a drugstore, you know, like, I mean, I don't know. It's like you look at this Instagram or whatnot and what other people are doing, and it's not like you want to follow in other people's footsteps.
Starting point is 00:54:42 But it's like, should I, you know, should I have a line of socks? I do you ever feel like the like you should be you're promoting so I don't know I don't have any of this stuff like do you ever get like stuff yeah no I know it's hilarious I have a lot of socks it's like you enough is enough you have enough you don't need to do anything else yeah but there's a there's a there's some time of pressure that you put on yourself because we watch these Instagrams are like oh they're happy they're doing this I should not I should I should I should I guess I should be doing this. And you're like, no, these people are miserable. A lot of people are miserable. They are, they are. Most people aren't as happy as you think they are. I'm not saying even they're happy.
Starting point is 00:55:30 I'm just looking at all the stuff out there. Here, here's an example. Do you get stuff sent to you? Yes. You do. Yeah. Okay, I get nothing. I get nothing.
Starting point is 00:55:40 I'm not doing any unboxing. I'm looking at this DJ Khalid. This every post this guy does. He's opening. You don't, you know, I do. DJ Khalid? Yeah, he's, he's opening up a box every week. He's got watches, he's got somebody's set to the shoes.
Starting point is 00:56:00 Right, but he gets all these things. He gets everything. Are you jealous? I'm not jealous. I'm just saying, I don't, I don't have that, like, I'm not in that world where I'm getting free anything. You know what I do? I don't know what I do this.
Starting point is 00:56:14 There's still something that Midwest mentality or middle crap, middle grass, middle, middle class environment work you know working class my parents that i just like when when something's free it's magical i don't care it's like you can afford it you can afford an olive garden dinner but if it's free my olive garden dinner was free yeah ranked number one comedy tour on billboards two thousand 25 mid year box score report that's fucking incredible i mean i don't like that that's even out there one of billboard's top 10 highest grossing comedy tours of 2024 i mean that's like that's like stupid awesome thank you yeah i mean i mean how do you do you do you look at yourself and go fuck yeah dude yeah i'm proud of myself look what i look what i look what i accomplishes or are you
Starting point is 00:57:02 thinking yeah i got to be 2026 is number one glass is half empty kind of guy uh i again i should i should be proud yeah maybe that's why you're so successful though well you know what if i feel like if i i feel like again maybe this goes back to what we started to talk about in the beginning if you know i say that i'm proud of myself maybe that takes the foot off the gas and if i'm not constantly like i look at that and going yeah but when i went to oklahoma it wasn't a sellout you know like you think like that yeah i do that same thing too you know you'll go to a convention or something to sign you're like ah half as many people as we're in chicago
Starting point is 00:57:45 maybe I just I'm not that good I don't like me yeah I think the same stupid shit but you gotta realize look that's just it could be true actually your buddies with Jerry Seinfeld
Starting point is 00:57:58 yeah like good friends I wouldn't say like Can you text him? Yeah text them this last week I was asking him about a car He loves cars He loves cars
Starting point is 00:58:09 Is it hard to talk to someone That that that I mean like Jerry In the beginning you know It was a guy that, you know, I obviously watched his TV show. Larger than life. You know, and really is a big fan. And then, you know, it just becomes like, all right, he's just.
Starting point is 00:58:24 He invites you to things? Yeah, he invited me to some things. He invited me to be in his movie on his TV show or his comedian cars, right? Twice. We did one in a car, one on a Vespa. So, yeah, I mean, went out to dinner. He invited me to dinner here. And what do you talk about?
Starting point is 00:58:42 He's like, yeah, you know, comedy. always comedy it's a lot of it's comedy do you ever get personal um no no my knee hurts no nothing no you know just he's one of these guys you talk to when you're feeling like he enjoys life he's inspiring really i wish i could be a little bit more like him and he's just as driven as ever isn't he oh yeah driven but really really enjoys life what about like on the set of the Irishman. Did you feel like, were you nervous as shit to be directed by? Terrified. Was it obvious? I don't know. It was obvious to me. I don't know if it was obvious. I don't know if it was
Starting point is 00:59:24 coming off to the people I was with. The first scene was with De Niro and Pesci. And they're like, okay, come to rehearse. So it's just me, Pesci and De Niro. And this is the first time I'm meeting these guys. And I was like, you know, like, you ever in your trailer and you're like, I wonder, like, you're trying to like, how. wonder how this is going to go. They're going to be stand-up. Like, all right, let's do this. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:59:48 Are they going to be nice? Is it going to be very tense? But, man, it was like totally antithesis of what I thought it was going to be. It was fun? It wasn't fun. It was, they were very gracious. They were, you know, that's good. Good.
Starting point is 01:00:03 Yeah, good thing. I didn't even know what the hell he was saying. I just knew by the tone. It was like, oh, that sounds unpleasant. But was this before the movie that you directed, that you wrote? this is before this is the first right this is the first so then you had a rapport with him yeah but it wasn't it wasn't like buddy buddy no it wasn't like coming my trailer no there was no even on the movie i did with him there was no real interaction between you know scenes like he would do his scene
Starting point is 01:00:31 and then he would go sit down and open up a no boo you know like he wasn't there was no like he was working without doing other things you know what I'm saying yeah so but about my father you you you said, I want him as my father? Well, that was the dream guy to get. We didn't think we were going to get the guy. Because I didn't really have a, again, I didn't have a relationship with him. He came to a show of mine at Radio City after the Irishman.
Starting point is 01:00:56 Okay. Came back, set a low. And then after that, you know, I didn't see him. And then the script got to him through a producer on this film about my father, who worked with him in the past. He enjoyed it. And he's like, I want to have it read out loud with a bunch of actors in New York. So we went to New York, hired a bunch of actors to play the parts.
Starting point is 01:01:17 We read it out loud. This is in the middle of COVID. And then at the end, I got up and I went over. And, you know, I don't know how these things work. I thought he was going to say, no, that's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, I go, so, uh, he goes, yeah, no, no, okay. And then he walked away. And I'm like, that, that's it, that's over. And in three weeks, he called the, and it's like, yeah, I want to do it.
Starting point is 01:01:41 Like, there was no, there was no mention of. in the room of like how he felt about it was he was he fun to work with was he easy work with was intense was it just like you got to like let him do his thing i was like a student i was like how does this what does this guy do and he's playing your dad he's playing my father who he wanted my father on set my father went to oklahoma to hang out with him for three days prior to the filming your dad went to Oklahoma to stay with deniro yeah was he nervous well my dad being hit my dad is like, well, what am I going to do about my clients? Yeah, he was worried about the salon.
Starting point is 01:02:16 Your dad, you have to go. You have to fucking go. So, anyway, I go, dad, it's De Niro. He's like, I don't go. So he went and he hung out with De Niro. De Niro asked him all these questions. How do you like to hold your cigar? How do you wear your hat?
Starting point is 01:02:31 How do you say this word in Sicilian? So my dad was coaching him how to be him, which was crazy for me. I was sitting there going, this is a guy. I had a casino poster on my bedroom. wall and now my father is going to Oklahoma and he's going to play my dad it's weird i'm in awe by this this is phenomenal did deniro ever come up to and go you know i like your father a lot this nice guy he didn't have to tell me i could just tell he him and my dad were they talked they were on set talking but but not about like uh sports about the project right there was not you know
Starting point is 01:03:10 And my dad had a leave set to go back home. And De Niro's like, where are you going? And my dad's like, I got a life. I got to work, you know. So, but it was really weird to see them interact together on set. My dad was teaching De Niro how to roll, you know, hair and tinfoil on set. What? You know how they do like the highlights.
Starting point is 01:03:34 Yeah, of course. So, yeah, it was, it was something to see, man. It was like an out-of-body experience. That is unbelievable. You've had six comedy specials? I think this is the seventh one, sixth. I don't know. I have to go back.
Starting point is 01:03:52 What comedians did you love as a kid? Don Rickles, John, Johnny Carson, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy. Dice? Dice was, you know, definitely in that. Not that I looked up to Dice. Dice was like a showman. I looked up to his showmanship. He was funny too, but I'm just saying more of his kind of like spectacle of...
Starting point is 01:04:15 Right. He made it an event. Oh! It was just like the energy. The energy and like coming out on stage with lighting and, you know, he was playing in his band, he had a band up there. He made it like show business, you know? It was like inspiring to see a guy who was not only a comedian, but, you know, knew the game
Starting point is 01:04:39 of larger than life, you know, and that was inspiring to see growing up. So, yeah, I mean, I had a lot of influences. And then, you know, uh, 2020, appearing in Apple's first ever scripted podcast, Easy Money, the Charles Ponzi story. How was that experience? All you did was read. Yeah, that was tough. That was one, you know, again, I didn't wake up going, can't wait.
Starting point is 01:05:06 You were nervous? Well, I mean. Took a long time. doesn't it yeah i mean i did one of those it takes a long time in a in a box with a microphone a microphone you can't have like you can't hear that it's got to be perfect articulate it's not as easy as you no it's not it's it's a it's a tough that was tough for me to do but it was it was rewarding but it was a tough tough thing boarding for flight 246 to toronto is delayed 50 minutes oh what sounds like ojo time play ojo Great idea.
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Starting point is 01:05:58 you call 18665330 or visitcomnetonterio.ca. Hey, if you're loving inside of you and you want to keep the show going, I encourage you to check out our community at patreon.com slash inside of you. When you join, you get access to bonus episodes, early sneak peeks, and a real spot in our Inside of You community. It's really awesome. We're talking episode discussions, exclusive Q&As, even a chance to help shape new segments on the show. Plus, if you're all in, you'll get shoutouts in some special care packages sent your way from yours truly with little notes that I personalize. and most importantly your support it makes a huge difference so join the community and let's keep
Starting point is 01:06:43 this thing going together all right this is called uh this is rapid fire shit talking sebastian maniscalco you got it calco because you want to say menascallo but it's manascalco yeah you're manescalco throw the ell it's rapid fire linda m what's your best quality uh my sense of humor uh this is patron go to patron dot com slash incitee if you want to join this now this is to get these answers you got to pay no oh no they just get to ask questions oh okay i thought you said yeah they just to get to get the answers go to patreon no no no no no no these are already patrons so that's a privilege they get to oh got questions bob k i'm half sicilian half danish and half irish just my sicilian half count is
Starting point is 01:07:29 italian what part of the boot are your parents from so my dad's from sicily my mother's from Nopoli and no matter what you are the Sicilian pretty much trumps whatever whatever's mixed in there like my kids are are Spanish and Italian but they're Italian with a little Jew well yeah yeah like is your is your wife like her family from Hungary or Romania or do you even know Spain Spain yeah Gomez yeah Gomez tell me about the time you were mistaken bacon for someone else i think someone uh mistake mistaken me for joe satriani is that true yeah he's like a guitarist yeah i know i don't remember what he looks like exactly just that's find a picture nico p what's something you've learned about human nature from being
Starting point is 01:08:24 in your unique position that you think most people never get to observe oh wow um I'm so hypersensitive of people's behavior and just small nuances of people. That's why I think I draw my comedy from. Maybe things people don't see, and it's actually a blessing and a curse, because sometimes it takes over my whole day. Yeah. Like I'll see even how someone reacts to something I say, and I don't like. I like to say I have a lot of funerals in my head.
Starting point is 01:09:01 people like I'll bury somebody they don't even know it you know what I'm saying it's terrible I am going to use that not out loud but like you do I'm gonna look at somebody go kind of imagine burying you right now no well no that's how I'm perceiving it like it's like I'm at your funeral no like you said something he did something I didn't like yeah good night you're six feet under you like you just died today but goodbye in my head right right you know they they passed away yeah that's but they're still alive That's what I was thinking. Okay, okay.
Starting point is 01:09:33 I don't want to really die. No, but the way you were describing it, I thought you were sitting there going, you know, I'm putting dirt on your grave. I wasn't explaining it. I'm glad you corrected me. The Hulu special comes out in November. Yes, 21. I'm very excited about this.
Starting point is 01:09:51 You won't let me see the trailer. What's it called? It ain't right under the Hularious. It ain't right. It ain't right. This has been amazing. You're so fun to just. talk to and you're open and just honest you know it doesn't feel forced no I thought this went
Starting point is 01:10:08 really well a lot of times again when I woke up today I'm like how is this going to go oh great this guy's gonna fucking well you know I did my research I looked at you know Sally Jesse Raphael me over here I didn't want to ask you something though yeah in regards to the set yeah um whatever's next to you there the Indiana Jones and then the feathers I don't know okay Do you guys talk about, like, all right, what are we going to put in the shot? No, I just put shit in the shot. What bothers you? Not that it bothers me.
Starting point is 01:10:41 I just want to know how we got to the Indiana Jones statue being in the shot. It's always been sort of like, I don't know. I don't know. Do we just like it there? Well, the stuff was already here and then we figured out how to, well, I tried to edge him closer to. Oh, this is a room? Yeah. yeah this ain't made for the show well i made it for the show yeah it is you're right we i made
Starting point is 01:11:06 this room for the show okay so it's not like the all the what is that lex loo what is that yeah that was uh the character that i played on smallville i was lex luther oh wow okay that that i didn't know well that's pretty pretty big show i know no no no i knew you're on the show i just didn't know the character i was bald that was the villain yeah oh okay gotch um no it's kind of the fun room fun podcast room i like horror movies so it's kind of like the room it's comfortable for me because it's the things i like gotcha so uh you know and a lot of times they punch in so you don't even see shit i go wide every once in a while and no i saw i saw that when i watched this to show you like horror movies no not so much no what do you watch what's funny to you what's the funniest
Starting point is 01:11:51 what's the funny thing you've seen recently i don't laugh generally at comedy I laugh at like drama like drama that's sort of funny but no like um dark shit like that's fucked up yeah they're just uh laughing at things that maybe you're not supposed to be laughing at i can't give you i like that no i know what you're saying you can't really put your finger on it it's something that's just it's one of those things like you know you see someone trip up stairs and they get hurt and you're still kind of like that's kind of funny as long as I'm not dying. Yeah, I, like, my wife will tell me a serious story about, like, her friend, her friends, you know, I have a friend.
Starting point is 01:12:37 And I just start dying laughing in the middle of the thing. She's like, it's not funny. Yeah. So, serious stuff that I think in my head another way with it. I just take it and go, and then I start laughing. But you don't watch a lot of shit, do you? I don't. You don't?
Starting point is 01:12:54 You read a lot? No. Oh, I've been reading, I've been listening. Audio books. Audio books. What audiobook? Anything in this film? The one that I really like is unreasonable hospitality.
Starting point is 01:13:08 By David Gooddura. Goddura. Yeah, it's about, you got to read this book. Yeah? If you like hospitality. This guy ran, I forget the name of a restaurant in New York, big famous restaurant in New York. So it's about all the people that come in and out? No.
Starting point is 01:13:23 It's about what he does. anticipating the needs of a guest i give you an example a family was dining there and they were from out of town and this is their first time visiting new york city and they said you know what the one thing we didn't get is a new york hot dog we should they got a hot dog from from uh whatever and next thing you know you had somebody run out get a hot dog cut it up in the four little pieces and then presented it this is at a like a fine dining restaurant gave them each a little hot dog just because he overheard them talking about a hot dog i mean wow so it goes goes above and beyond above and beyond anything make this an experience yes yes you still are into this hospitality oh man love it i
Starting point is 01:14:13 see a future of me owning a small boutique hotel with my wife and then creating a larger enterprise from that now what are you going to let somebody else run it no i'm going to run it you'd have to run it yeah there's no way this is where i leave entertainment behind and i start running a small small uh hotel about five rooms where don't know yet five rooms so i could manage it properly expensive boutique yeah i mean i don't know it depends i haven't worked out the the financing behind this but I just feel like when I heard that story in that book about the hot dogs and making those people, because those people are going to be telling that story,
Starting point is 01:15:00 that probably not going to be even telling about the meal. You'll probably tell me about the experience they had. I guarantee I could, this is my impression of you reading that page. Wow. I'm not fucking feeling that. That's what it is. He got it.
Starting point is 01:15:22 That's it. Is that right? Pretty much. Will. What's his name? Will Goddara. Unreasonable hospitality. Go pick it up.
Starting point is 01:15:30 I'm excited about this Hulu special. So am I. I like your stuff. I think you're a great guy and continue success. Thank you. And try to be present more and try to enjoy it. I am. I am.
Starting point is 01:15:41 But, uh, all right. I appreciate you. Thank you. See you. You may have heard of the sex cult nexium and the famous. and the famous actress who went to prison for her involvement, Alison Mac. But she's never told her side of the story until now. People assume that I'm like, this pervert.
Starting point is 01:15:58 My name is Natalie Robamed, and in my new podcast, I talked to Allison to try to understand how she went from TV actor to cult member. How do you feel about having been involved in bringing sexual trauma at other people? I don't even know how to answer that question. Allison after Nexium from CBC's Uncover is available now on Spotify. Bye. Get no frills delivered. Shop the same in-store prices online and enjoy unlimited delivery with PC Express Pass. Get your first year for $2.50 a month. Learn more at p.cexpress.ca. Thanks, Sebastian. I appreciate you coming over and hanging out with me.
Starting point is 01:16:38 Yeah, funny shit, man. Funny dude. And again, join patron.com slash inside of you. if you want to help the podcast I always think of it like I tell you like I said this a million times but it's like a streamer it's like it's free entertainment so if people could give back something they pay you know what 15 bucks 20 bucks for streamer month but shit
Starting point is 01:17:00 five bucks support the podcast if you will and write a review and hopefully you'll like you like it thank you to all the patrons thank you to Ryan thank you Tim my editor thanks Bryce producing this son of a bee he's doing a great job i think you can do it in his sleep at this point you can do it in your sleep can't you price you really can he's like this is the easiest job ever for him just having to deal
Starting point is 01:17:25 with me asking for a passcode for one of the websites every once in a while is the biggest pain in the ass and order boxes um yeah that's it we're going to read off the top tiers of patron that give back they're in the tier where they get their name uh yelled out every episode um the highest tier you could be on the podcast you know there's also you get boxes for me every couple months with tons of merch and a letter from me a personalized letter and much more so go to patreon.com slash inside of you and here are our top tier patrons in no specific order i love all these people nancy d still owe you a uh a zoom we know that but you know i'm good for it little lisa ukiko i ukiko's many miles away uh thank you for all the support
Starting point is 01:18:13 Brian Henning Camp Nico P I mean these are all such familiar names because I read them every week but I know these people Rob I Rob I Jason Dreamweaver
Starting point is 01:18:26 Sophie M and a shout out to Sophie and Leanne who can't be patrons anymore but they're still supporters of the podcast and they're the best and I couldn't do this show without them so thank you and thank you to all the patrons
Starting point is 01:18:42 Raj see how dare you i'm still upset with you about your talkville comment which hasn't come out yet but when it does you'll know what i'm talking about maybe left that's why i shared it uh stacy l jamal f janel jennel b jamaal stacy l i mean stacey l jennel b mike mike what up el don suprimo 99 more ryan santi santi happy birthday i was good to see that santi has just recently aired on talkville yeah love we to see him uh kendrick f belinda n dave hoe david belinda braddy braddy braddy ray h tabitha's secret t um tom n tom and tom and tom and tom and tom again tollium talliam talliam talliam get your david john with david g david g what could be a good nickname for david g david g david g the old david david dividge
Starting point is 01:19:42 divigy code divigy code divigy code uh betsyd betsy d that's betsy d that's denofria betsy d betsy d betsy d relation betcd
Starting point is 01:19:58 i don't know i can't think of anything creative on cd's rein and see like the moon and there's michel a and jeremy c mr melski eugene r I think he just sent me a message.
Starting point is 01:20:12 I sent it back. Monica T. Mel, sweet Mel S. Eric H. Oracle. Go ahead, Ryan. Amanda. Amanda.
Starting point is 01:20:24 Amanda R. She's a pirate, Mandar. Kevin E. I'm feeling a little Keviny today. I'm a little Kevin E. Kevin S. Just a little Kevinie. Kevin E.
Starting point is 01:20:34 It's not bad. No. It's good. Jam and J. I mean, it's already there. That's right there. Jam and J. Leanne.
Starting point is 01:20:40 those are the jays those are the jays the liange lunar lunar like eclipse lunar lunar lunar lunar lunar r jewels jules m we love jules jules m we love jessica b jessica b frank b jessica be jesica be grateful what a lovely gent gent talk to men talk to me girl randy s of course rachel sweet d nick w nick nick winter nick uh yep we'll go with that okay stephen and evans stephen yeah charlene a sweet charlene a and don giovanni jennie b seven six not to be confused with jennie b seventy five n g tracy see that name all the time keith b heather and gregher grether ellie k ben be jammin pier c i love you sultan of swing dave tab dave's awesome dave really uh gives back to the podcast as well and i love dave bian bian t paul
Starting point is 01:22:06 heck you make me some teapaw It was about 3.30 time for T, Paul. Gary F, man. It's like you're upset with your, like, Gary F. Gary F. Jackie Justice. Lawyer. Ritzel-Pitzel.
Starting point is 01:22:23 Ritzel-Pitzel. Get your wetzels pretz, Ritzel-Pitzel. Benjamin R. You kidding me. Other brother, Daryl, Ivan G, sweet of Ivan G. And Mark S. Mark S, the spot. Mark S the spot.
Starting point is 01:22:42 Couldn't do it without you guys. I wanted to go slower today and just say, I appreciate you. And that's all I got for you. So thank you for listening and come back and see me or go on a deep dive and listen to. I love going to the cons and like people coming up. Even like delivery guy from Postmates today. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:23:01 I got donuts delivered. And he goes, man, I love your podcast. I go, dude, that makes me feel so good. And then I felt inclined to go back and give him a bigger tip. Oh,
Starting point is 01:23:09 I thought we were going to go. Give him a hug. No, I don't want to give him a hug, but I mean, maybe. I don't know. My hug in the form of a bigger tip. Yeah. Bigger tea. Big tea.
Starting point is 01:23:19 Big T's. Big Tee. From the Hollywood Hills in Hollywood, California, Michael Rosenbaum. He's been Michael Rosenbaum. I've been here as Ryan Tiaz. Yes, he is. Waved with the camera. We love you.
Starting point is 01:23:30 We couldn't do the show that year. I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks, Sebastian, Manascoco, and thanks everyone else. and be good to yourself. We'll see you next week. Michael Rosenbaum and Tom Whaling take you behind the scenes of one of the greatest shows of all time.
Starting point is 01:23:52 Their ultimate rewatch podcast. We're in the midst of season seven. Hold on. Obviously, we had a very successful television over 10 years. That was Superman-based. But we had to make everyone believe that you were Clark.
Starting point is 01:24:03 I got to be honest, I was surprised at the end of this episode that I wasn't. I will do. Talkville, the Smallville Rewatch podcast. I'm not sure I knew what I was filming it, that I was not me. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.

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