Arlington Heights-Born Comedian Living the Dream As Top Standup Comic; and Performing Role As New York Gangster, and “Father of Disco”

According to Washington Post writer Tim Greiving, Arlington Heights native Sebastian Maniscalco has capitalized on his face — and his irritability — to become one of the most successful standups in the business.

“This guy just makes me laugh in so many different ways. He looks funny, he moves funny, he talks funny.”

— Jerry Seinfeld

Sebastian Maniscalco — a middle-class kid from Arlington Heights with an accent thicker than Bolognese — was named after his grandfather, Sebastiano, a barber from Sicily. The comedian’s father, Salvo, arrived in America in his teens, and carried on the trade as a hair stylist. Salvo ran his own hair salon, Stage Door. Then he opened two more salons: Luigi and Salvo Hair Studio, and Sebastiano’s. He also had time to influence Sebastian’s work ethic.

Maniscalco, a Rolling Meadows High School alum, never wanted to do anything but make people laugh. His first club was the family dinner table, where he and his friends would pal around with his parents.

— Washington Post article in Daily Herald

Sebastian Maniscalco got his first taste of comedy as a kid growing up in Arlington Heights and coming home from school and explaining what happened during the day. In second grade he also did a funny impersonation in costume; and loved the response in class.

Get updates from The Cardinal ALL NEWS FEEDS on Facebook. Just ‘LIKE’ the ‘Arlington Cardinal Page (become a fan of our page). The updates cover all posts and sub-category posts from The Cardinal — Arlingtoncardinal.com. You can also limit feeds to specific categories. See all of The Cardinal Facebook fan pages at Arlingtoncardinal.com/about/facebook …

Sebastian Maniscalco gets honest about auditioning for “The Irishman” and other dramas as a comedian.

Maniscalco doesn’t want to leave comedy, but he is expanding into serious acting. In Netflix’s “The Irishman” he plays a small, but important role, as capo Joseph “Crazy Joe” Gallo — a born-in-Brooklyn gangster who worked as an enforcer and hitman for the New York City Profaci crime family. After boss Joseph Profaci’s death from liver cancer in 1962, the family re-united to become the renamed Colombo crime family under boss Joseph Columbo.

Comedian & actor Sebastian Maniscalco interviewed by Fernando Escovar for BlackTreeTV & FabTV.

Maniscalco also has a role in the upcoming movie “Spinning Gold” — a biographical film about record producer Neil Bogart, the co-founder of Casablanca Records who is credited with discovering Donna Summer, Kiss, and Village People. Maniscalco is playing Giorgio Moroder — an Italian-born singer, songwriter, DJ and record producer —who is credited with helping invent disco while working in Munich, Germany. Giorgio Moroder is affectionately known as the “Father of Disco.”

I Feel Love performed by Donna Summer, produced by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, recorded in 1976 at Musicland studio in Munich, West Germany, and released in 1977.