Sebastian Maniscalco says parents need to be ‘half-psychotic’ with discipline

Although he has made a career to make people laugh, Sebastian Maniscalco means business in all aspects of his life.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, the actor and actor – who features in the first scripted docudrama of Apple, “Easy money: the story of Charles Ponzi” – opened up to his new role, how his approach to social media and comedy has changed over the years and why it is necessary for him to be “half psychotic” with regard to parenting her two children.

“I think children need structure, they need discipline,” said Maniscalco, who shares two children – her daughter Serafina Simone, 8, and her son Caruso Jack, 5 years old – with his wife, Lana Gomez. “They actually thrive. I think that if you are a breeze or you are soft with your children … I come from a middle -class work family that gave me tasks to do. I had to cut the lawn, I had to make my bed. I had to vacuum on Saturday. I remember having a different life.”

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“They grow up without really any struggle,” he continued. “I mean, we do not fight for food here or the shelter or what you have, but I instill values, fundamental values ​​and the work ethics with which I grew up in them. And parenthood is 24/7. It is as if you could not take a day off.”

“If they do not say” please “or” thank you “, I’m here to beat them in their heads,” he added. “So it just becomes the norm.”

He continued: “The parenting I see, we have just had a party here at home, and the children are in the swimming pool -” Get out of the pool “and the child -” no “… No, it’s like, you have to be firm.

Maniscalco, who is currently on his tour “It Ain’t Right”, said that he often made fun of his parental style during his sets.

The actor Sebastian Maniscalco refuses to modify jokes for those who “lean out of shape”

“I am kidding about it in the stand-up. I mean, you have to be half psychotic almost,” he said. “When you talk to your children -” Get out of the pool ” – they must know when you are serious, and they must know when you are kidding. And the way you make this is tone, pitch, volume. I take it very seriously when I am on the road.”

“If they don’t say” please “or” thank you “, I’m here to beat them in their heads. So it just becomes the norm.”

– Sebastian Maniscalco

“It is very difficult for me because my wife is fantastic. She is not the disciplinary of the relationship, and I think it’s good to have this yin and yang,” he continued. “My wife is more a spell, loving … and I could be like that. But I also have another side.”

“”[Parenting] is the most enriching thing I have ever made of my life, being a parent, “he added.” Just to see your children, model them and give them the tools they need to be their own people. It’s great. But it’s not a joke. It’s a lot of work. “”

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Similar to parenting, his approach to comedy can also have his serious moments.

While his career has progressed over the years, Maniscalco said that he had become “more reluctant” to publish certain content on social networks for fear of the way people could perceive things.

“This is like what I perceive as funny and publications on social networks, I am a little more reluctant. I am reluctant to do it because social media, you do not know how people perceive things and that’s it. Once it is there, it is there,” he said. “When you do stand-up comedy, it’s more a performance. What I say on stage has never happened to me. It is a story that I heard, and I interpret it as if it happened to me. So it’s more writing involved, but you go on social networks and you want to comment on something that does not happen in the world, and you don’t know how people don’t know.”

“I try to make people laugh, not to stir the pot,” he added. “But it’s sad. It’s sad that you even have to think that way because people are so sensitive these days. So it’s difficult. It’s difficult to be an actor, at least for me. Not so much performance, but go online, try to joke. These days are not over, but limited.”

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In addition to being a family man and a standing actor, Maniscalco also focuses on his latest role in Apple Podcast “Easy money: the story of Charles Ponzi.”

The series in eight games, which is expected to be presented on Monday, traces the rise and the fall of Charles Ponzi, an Italian immigrant who has defrauded the modern equivalent of a quarter of a billion dollars.

“I have always been a fan of the type of Ponzi diagrams from afar,” said Maniscalco. “Like the [Bernie] Madoff really fascinated me that he has removed all these people from all this money. I was almost part of a Ponzi program in the early 2000s. I saw it closely and staff, and I saw a lot of money exchanged and I was very encouraged to get involved as an investor. I ended up not doing it, thank God. But that intrigued me. “”

Maniscalco, who expresses Ponzi, said that the experience of recording a scripted podcast was another role he had taken.

“I have never done anything like it before,” he said. “I was in a sound cabin without real actors around me and I was trying to visualize these scenes. And, in my head, I am going:” Is it good? “And then when I listen to behind, and I am like the sound effects they have put and the investigation journalism they have made, I mean, it’s really an interesting listening in eight episodes, and I’m really proud to be part of it.”

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“I describe it as an audio film, basically. Although there is no movement, it’s like watching a film. It’s funny when you listen to it, you visualize where these people are. At least, I did,” he added.