Latest news with #Maniscalco
Chicago Tribune
3 days ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Column: Charles Ponzi's fascinating twist on the American Dream — as played by Sebastian Maniscalco
More than 100 years ago, the name Charles Ponzi was splashed on newspaper front pages across the land and poured from radio broadcasts, putting the phrase 'Ponzi Scheme' firmly into the arsenal of generations of would-be con artists. Sebastian Maniscalco, an Arlington Heights native who worked at a McDonald's long before becoming a successful actor and comedian, had very little knowledge of Ponzi when he got a call from a man named Will Malnati. 'I had once almost, almost, been the victim of a Ponzi scheme in the early 2000s,' Maniscalco told me. 'So at least I knew the name.' Malnati, a native of Northbrook and Northfield and a proud part of a family pizza empire, founded At Will Media in 2016, a Brooklyn-based, independently-owned podcast studio. It has produced many fine programs, including, in partnership with the Tribune, 'Unsealed: The Tylenol Murders' in 2022, and the haunting 'The Last Days of Cabrini-Green' last year. These two men have created an enlightening and entertaining eight-episode podcast series. 'Easy Money: The Charles Ponzi Story' is an Apple Original Podcast, produced by At Will Media, with Maniscalco as Ponzi. You can hear its first two episodes now, with future episodes arriving weekly through July 28. And here's how it came to be. 'A friend had sent me a YouTube link about Charles Ponzi, a pretty crude piece taped in a basement,' Malnati said. 'I didn't know much about Ponzi. I had heard the name, of course, but knew almost nothing about the man. So I started digging around and couldn't find a great deal. I wanted more, and so I started thinking of how this story could be told.' He was further grabbed by what he found to be marked similarities between Ponzi and Maniscalco. 'I only knew Sebastian as a fan, but I found his resemblance to Ponzi so striking that I gave him a call to see if he was interested in a project.' Maniscalco was a very busy man. Not only was he regularly on tour, often with Chicago's Pat McGann as his opening act, he has released six comedy specials, has had supporting roles in such films as 'The Green Mile' and 'The Irishman,' and wrote and starred, with Robert DeNiro, in 'About My Father.' Not incidentally, was already part of the podcast world, with 'The Pete and Sebastian Show,' which he described to me as, 'Just me and my buddy Pete (Correale, a stand-up comic and writer) sitting around talking.' Amid all of that, Maniscalco found time to listen to Malnati. 'I didn't know much about storytelling podcasts,' he said. To enlighten him, Malnati sent him links to 'Wild Things: Siegfried & Roy,' the Apple Original podcast produced by At Will Media in 2021. Maniscalco listened, often during the 20 minutes he spends each morning in a steam room. His reaction was 'Wow, this is fantastic.' And so did these two children of the Chicago suburbs team up, along with many others, to create Apple's first original scripted podcast. Fascinating in its details, 'Easy Money: The Charles Ponzi Story,' is polished in its production, each episode in the neighborhood of 40 minutes. There are many other characters, good ones and nasty ones. Yes, it focuses on a colorful, wide-reaching criminal but, thanks to some recently discovered letters, it's a love story too. The relationship between Ponzi and his wife Rose (performed by Candice Shedd-Thompson) is memorably touching. So, when I say Ponzi, what pops into your mind? Likely the face of Bernie Madoff, who orchestrated the largest Ponzi scheme in history which usually fails to credit, even mention, the creator of the scheme which is defined as 'a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors.' Though there were variations of this boondoggle before Ponzi, he was its most colorful and talented practitioner (for a surprisingly short time), a 5-foot, 2-inch tall Italian immigrant of ambitions that eventually turned avaricious. Hosted with considerable charm by Maya Lau, a former Los Angeles Times reporter and podcaster, deeply researched and stylishly written by Matt Hickey and Kevin Hynes, it is directed by Katie Finneran, also from Chicago. This was all new to Maniscalco, who says, 'In my comedy, there's a lot of visualization in the way I tell stories. I can see things in my head. In movies, I'm on a set. I'm in the Copacabana in the 'Irishman,' there's Don Rickles over there on the stage. I don't have to visualize. Everything's right there in front of me. For this I'm alone in a sound booth. I have to use my imagination to create in my mind the Ponzi world, his office, the people around him. And I'm not moving and I like to move.' He found it all 'great learning experience' but also 'the hardest thing I've done in my career. … It's what I think might just be a new category, a new kind of podcast.' I told him I found his performance so energetic that I started feeling a grudging respect for Ponzi. 'I get that. This guy was sincere, misguided rather than evil,' Maniscalco told me. 'I think he felt a lot of pressure, especially from his mother, to grab the American Dream. He didn't come here to rip off the whole country and I know he had some regrets but it was amazing, the way he was able to seduce people. But still, a part of me feels sorry for the guy.'
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sebastian Maniscalco's kids are his world. But he's not their friend.
For Sebastian Maniscalco, few sounds are sweeter than an audience's laughter. Though validation from other parents also ranks pretty high. 'Once you start hearing that what you're doing at the house is working outside the house, it's incredible,' says the 51-year-old comedian, who is dad to Serafina, 8, and Caruso, nearly 6. The son of Italian immigrants, Maniscalco regularly riffs on his childhood in his routines. His experiences growing up in an old-school Italian family have become a hallmark of his comedy style — and his parenting style too. He'll be the first to admit he's the disciplinarian in the household. 'I pride myself on teaching my kids manners,' he says. 'I don't want my kid growing up like some entitled brat who just expects everything to be handed to them. I'm not my kids' friend. I'll say no and be firm with it and not cave in.' But Maniscalco and his wife, Lana, balance each other well. 'She has a lot more patience,' he tells Yahoo Life. He refers to her as the gentle parent, but he draws the line at gentle parenting. 'That takes it to a new level where the kid is basically running the house,' he says. That's certainly not the case at the Maniscalco abode, where the kids make their beds, clean their plates and handle other chores. Never one to shy away from a teachable moment, the comedian will call out bad behavior in public: 'If I see it and my kids see it with me, I'll pull them aside and go, 'You see the way that kid behaved? We don't do that in our family.'' Maniscalco had some time to figure out his approach to parenting: He became a father in his 40s. That wasn't on purpose, he says — he just spent his earlier years building his career. And he wouldn't have it any other way. 'The wisdom and the maturity have benefited me as a father in ways that I never could imagine,' says Maniscalco, whose acting credits include Bookie, The Irishman and About My Father. 'I have lessons that I could pass down to my kids because I've lived a bit more of a life than a man who has kids in his 20s or early 30s.' He's had to find ways to juggle fatherhood with his career, and likes to build his schedule in spurts: a few days on, a few days off. A week on the road, a week at home. 'I love to work, but I also love my family,' he says. 'It's nice to go on the road for three days, do what I love to do and then come back.' That's because being a present dad is a nonnegotiable for him. When he's home, he's a mainstay at his son's Little League games and takes his daughter to gymnastics, calling their car rides 'some of the best times we've ever had' because it's just the two of them, distraction-free. As a family, they recently took in their first baseball game together and love hitting farmers markets. They're also big travelers and are headed to France and Italy this summer. Importantly, Maniscalco gets that parenting doesn't come with a script, so he's happy to pivot when needed and defer to Lana when he's been away. 'There are no egos here when it comes to getting stuff done around the house,' he says. 'It's not like, 'That's not my job' [or] 'I don't do that.' It's very much, 'What do you need?' [It's] very active.' He often jokes about his family, but Maniscalco, who is currently on his 'It Ain't Right' tour, isn't out to put his family on blast. 'I'm just looking to share stories that I find humorous,' he says. 'I feel like whatever I find funny is the type of humor that people are going to enjoy, and that my kids, if they ever look back on it, are not going to be embarrassed [by].' He also stays relatable by sharing too-real parenting moments on his socials, like the time his wife had to sit in their impossible-to-uninstall car seat (don't worry, it was in the back seat), or the realities of having two dogs (a house that 'smells like beef jerky and wet tennis balls.'). Alas, his kids may be some of his biggest inspirations, but they're also some of his toughest critics. Case in point: In December, Caruso fell asleep at one of his dad's shows. Still, Maniscalco wasn't offended. 'I don't blame him,' he says with a laugh.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sebastian Maniscalco's kids are his world. But he's not their friend.
For Sebastian Maniscalco, few sounds are sweeter than an audience's laughter. Though validation from other parents also ranks pretty high. 'Once you start hearing that what you're doing at the house is working outside the house, it's incredible,' says the 51-year-old comedian, who is dad to Serafina, 8, and Caruso, nearly 6. The son of Italian immigrants, Maniscalco regularly riffs on his childhood in his routines. His experiences growing up in an old-school Italian family have become a hallmark of his comedy style — and his parenting style too. He'll be the first to admit he's the disciplinarian in the household. 'I pride myself on teaching my kids manners,' he says. 'I don't want my kid growing up like some entitled brat who just expects everything to be handed to them. I'm not my kids' friend. I'll say no and be firm with it and not cave in.' But Maniscalco and his wife, Lana, balance each other well. 'She has a lot more patience,' he tells Yahoo Life. He refers to her as the gentle parent, but he draws the line at gentle parenting. 'That takes it to a new level where the kid is basically running the house,' he says. That's certainly not the case at the Maniscalco abode, where the kids make their beds, clean their plates and handle other chores. Never one to shy away from a teachable moment, the comedian will call out bad behavior in public: 'If I see it and my kids see it with me, I'll pull them aside and go, 'You see the way that kid behaved? We don't do that in our family.'' Maniscalco had some time to figure out his approach to parenting: He became a father in his 40s. That wasn't on purpose, he says — he just spent his earlier years building his career. And he wouldn't have it any other way. 'The wisdom and the maturity have benefited me as a father in ways that I never could imagine,' says Maniscalco, whose acting credits include Bookie, The Irishman and About My Father. 'I have lessons that I could pass down to my kids because I've lived a bit more of a life than a man who has kids in his 20s or early 30s.' He's had to find ways to juggle fatherhood with his career, and likes to build his schedule in spurts: a few days on, a few days off. A week on the road, a week at home. 'I love to work, but I also love my family,' he says. 'It's nice to go on the road for three days, do what I love to do and then come back.' That's because being a present dad is a nonnegotiable for him. When he's home, he's a mainstay at his son's Little League games and takes his daughter to gymnastics, calling their car rides 'some of the best times we've ever had' because it's just the two of them, distraction-free. As a family, they recently took in their first baseball game together and love hitting farmers markets. They're also big travelers and are headed to France and Italy this summer. Importantly, Maniscalco gets that parenting doesn't come with a script, so he's happy to pivot when needed and defer to Lana when he's been away. 'There are no egos here when it comes to getting stuff done around the house,' he says. 'It's not like, 'That's not my job' [or] 'I don't do that.' It's very much, 'What do you need?' [It's] very active.' He often jokes about his family, but Maniscalco, who is currently on his 'It Ain't Right' tour, isn't out to put his family on blast. 'I'm just looking to share stories that I find humorous,' he says. 'I feel like whatever I find funny is the type of humor that people are going to enjoy, and that my kids, if they ever look back on it, are not going to be embarrassed [by].' He also stays relatable by sharing too-real parenting moments on his socials, like the time his wife had to sit in their impossible-to-uninstall car seat (don't worry, it was in the back seat), or the realities of having two dogs (a house that 'smells like beef jerky and wet tennis balls.'). Alas, his kids may be some of his biggest inspirations, but they're also some of his toughest critics. Case in point: In December, Caruso fell asleep at one of his dad's shows. Still, Maniscalco wasn't offended. 'I don't blame him,' he says with a laugh.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A Tampa cemetery is on sale again, reigniting debate over lost graves
Three years after the Tampa City Council unanimously rejected a land-use change for Showmen's Rest, a Tampa Heights cemetery, that would have allowed developers to build out the land, the parcel is up for sale again. This time, the cemetery isn't looking to change its zoning. But the City Council and nearby residents are still torn over a central question: Are there unknown bodies buried beneath the land? Owners of Showmen's Rest have said the portion of land up for sale has not been used for burials. But the Tampa City Council passed a motion Thursday to have city staff contact the property owner and ask if they could use ground-penetrating radar to address concerns about lost graves. 'Should there be graves there, individuals there, then we can look at steps forward,' said council member Guido Maniscalco, who made the motion. Maniscalco also requested a written report from city staff to update the council, which is due June 26. Although he did not mention the name of the property during the motion, Maniscalco confirmed with the Tampa Bay Times after the meeting that the report is about Showmen's Rest. Listed on Zillow for $750,000, the parcel of land at 3541 N. Blvd. is adjacent to the city-owned Woodlawn Cemetery. Showmen's Rest Cemetery hired a firm during the initial controversy more than three years ago that conducted two seismic studies that didn't find any lost graves. The Zillow listing states the seller will do another survey. 'The people that are going up against us keep insisting that there are bodies buried on this vacant parcel of land that we've never developed,' Showmen's Rest President John Perzia said. The cemetery has presented its seismic studies to the City Council, 'but nobody wanted to pay attention to it.' Perzia said the cemetery wants to sell this parcel, which was purchased from the city in 1971, to put it in a trust to keep up maintenance. They don't care who buys it, Perzia said, but they want to ensure their cemetery is preserved. 'I'm almost 70,' he said. 'When I pass away, who's going to take care of this place?' He said the city is welcome to buy the property, but city spokesperson Adam Smith said the administration is not looking to purchase. Perzia said neither he or his real estate broker had heard from the city on Monday afternoon. Maniscalco's motion on Thursday came after a previous council discussion of the cemetery on May 22. At that meeting, council member Bill Carlson also introduced the idea of setting aside city funds for ground-penetrating radar and addressing lost graves. 'What role can the city play? Because not everyone can pay for ground-penetrating radar and not everyone can afford just to give up their land,' Carlson said last month. The Tampa Bay Times reported in 2021 that there were 1,200 missing graves in the city, mostly those of influential Black residents, and the city is attempting to acknowledge and correct its role in erasing Black history. This year, the city erected a historical marker at Zion Cemetery, which was a Black burial ground before it was developed over. The city can't go onto privately owned land without the owner's permission to look for graves. If it does, the surveys are expensive. 'I was happy to hear the City Council is considering creating a fund for ground-penetrating radar,' said Rachael Kangas, director of the west central and central regions of the Florida Public Archaeology Network. 'That's usually the biggest issue we run into.' Kangas reviewed documents sent to her by Aileen Henderson, founder of The Cemetery Society, regarding the cemetery and its history, as well as research files her organization has on Woodlawn Cemetery and Showmen's Rest. 'According to the records I see, that entire block, including this parcel, were part of the original footprint of Woodlawn Cemetery and there is documentation from the newspaper that burials when the cemetery was first established were haphazard,' Kangas wrote in an email to Henderson that was shared with the Times. Additionally, Kangas wrote, the northwest corner of Woodlawn Cemetery was originally set aside for African American graves. She said documentation she read doesn't have details on the size of that area or where exactly the burials were. 'There is no reason to think this parcel of land is not part of a cemetery or that it doesn't contain unmarked burials,' Kangas wrote. Henderson said she also thinks Showmen's Rest could have lost graves and said she was excited to see the City Council take steps toward addressing the citywide issue. 'I don't blame the owner for doing what he has the right to do,' Henderson said. 'The reality is we have the supporting documentation that that is a cemetery.'
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Garfield man becomes Rutgers' oldest graduate ever
GARFIELD, N.J. (PIX11) — You'd think earning three degrees would be enough for Tom Maniscalco. But this one -his fourth- was special. '[It is] something that I started in 1957 when my father sent me to Rutgers,' said Maniscalco, 85. More Local News A brilliant student who graduated from Garfield High School, Maniscalco became a Rutgers Scarlet Knight at the wish of his father. But while studying in New Brunswick, he struggled to adjust. 'I was not accustomed to living by myself, living away from home,' said Maniscalco. The Dean called him in. He had flunked out. 'I had emotional problems,' said Maniscalco. 'I always had the feeling that I understood, I just couldn't concentrate.' But that was the start of his comeback. He was accepted to NYU, where he enrolled in night classes while working as an engineering technician. A bachelor's from NYU turned into a master's and a doctorate from NJIT. It all led to an illustrious 3-decade career for the Department of Defense, where he worked on projects like navigation guidance systems for the space shuttle. 'I always had a goal,' he said. 'Why I kept going was my interest in mathematics.' More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State But one goal still remained: getting the Rutgers degree his dad always wanted. He enrolled -again- in 2019, when he retired. On Friday, he walked across the stage with his second Master's in Engineering. He is the oldest graduate in Rutgers history. As he reflects on his accomplishment, he says a Frank Sinatra song comes to mind: 'I always think of Frank Sinatra's song, 'All My Tomorrows,'' he said. Even at 85, Tom -as Sinatra would put it- has got lots of plans for tomorrow. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
