Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco Says Why Live Comedy Is Better

Things are picking up for Sebastian Maniscalco.

Last year he had a substantial role in The Green Book, which just so happened to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. This year, he’s set to appear as “Crazy Joe” Gallo in The Irishman alongside Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in what’s sure to be an instant classic directed by Martin Scorcese. As if that wasn’t enough, in January of this year, he released his second stand-up comedy special, Stay Hungry, on Netflix and single-handedly sold out Madison Square Garden for four shows, putting him in rarified air among stand-up comics who’ve sold out the legendary arena.

With all that momentum, Sebastian was still gracious enough to talk to PopCulture.com for a few minutes about all of his projects. You can watch the interview in its entirety in the player at the top of the page, but one of the things we discussed was his Stay Hungry tour, currently hitting cities all over the country, and why Sebastian thinks you need to go watch his (or any) stand-up comedy live, even if you’ve already seen his Netflix special:

“When you watch stand-up comedy, in my opinion, it’s best to watch it at a small club so you can see the nuances of the comedian. You can get, whatever, a flicker of the eyelid. There’s just so many things going on on stage you miss when you’re watching it on TV […] I think Netflix is great, don’t get me wrong, but a live performance can’t be beat.”

Sebastian continues, “There’s nothing like going to a comedy club or a theater and checking out a comedian and taking it all in.”

Make sure you check out Sebastian’s Netflix special, Stay Hungry, or go to his website, SebastianLive.com, to see his tour schedule and when he’s coming to a city near you.