Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | TV | November 17, 2025
I’ve been writing SNL recaps for 17 or 18 years now, and to my recollection, I’ve only missed one in all that time. I drank two bottles of wine with Joanna Robinson and Seth at SXSW one year, and by the time I pulled myself out of bed, I had to stand in line for three hours with a hangover to watch the premiere of Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One. That was the last time I drank two bottles of wine in one night.
Otherwise, I follow the same routine: I wake up early, watch each sketch, write a couple of sentences, give it a score, and move on. I used to write recaps live and embed the YouTube clips early in the morning, but I’m too old to sit through a bunch of commercials at 1 a.m. I don’t read social media reactions to the show. I don’t do any immediate research. It’s all knee-jerk reactions to sketches in the moment.
That means I rarely have time to ruminate on any sketch before moving on, so sometimes I form opinions before the Internet works itself into a fever and backlash sets in. I didn’t care for Nikki Glaser’s monologue last weekend, for instance, but it wasn’t until Sunday night and Monday morning that the Internet completely soured on it. I watched it again and understood why.
I also have some pop-culture blind spots that I only notice when I start reading reactions. These usually involve Gen Z influencers or popular podcasters I’ve never heard of. This week, one of those blind spots was staring me right in the face.
To wit: I had no idea Marcello Hernandez’s Sebastian Maniscalco sketch was based on a real comedian. “Sebastian Maniscalco” sounded like a weirdly specific name, but I didn’t think much about it before moving on. Earlier today, however, I learned that Sebastian Maniscalco is a real person. What’s more inexplicable is that I know who he is. I watched both seasons of his HBO Max show, Bookie. It’s an awful show, and I have no idea why I kept watching, except that I give a lot of leeway to half-hour comedies, though calling Bookie a “comedy” is generous. I’ve also apparently seen Maniscalco in Green Book and The Irishman, two movies I’ve watched but have zero recollection of him in.
I probably should’ve realized HBO Max wouldn’t give some random guy I’d never heard of his own show for no reason. They did it because Sebastian Maniscalco has a massive following. He’s one of the most popular touring comedians in the United States. The guy even performed at the Riyadh Comedy Festival. This man is not an obscure comedian.
I had no idea. He’s just not on my radar (two seasons of Bookie, notwithstanding). If I’d known who Maniscalco was, I probably would’ve enjoyed the SNL sketch a lot more. After watching a few clips of him on YouTube, I get it now: he’s loud, obnoxious, self-obsessed, and very physical. Marcello nailed it, which retroactively makes the Sebastian Maniscalco sketch better than the 4.5 out of 10 I gave it. I’d like to now revise that to a 5.5 out of 10 because an impression of an unfunny hack is still an unfunny hack. Also, Chloe Fineman’s Jennifer Coolidge impression still makes zero sense.
Here’s Maniscalco in action.
Here’s the Marcello Hernandez sketch. It’s better with that context.
I’d like to say that being lampooned on SNL must be the highlight of Maniscalco’s career, except that he apparently sold out Madison Square Garden just last year. Five nights in a row. Who knew? (Apparently, everyone but me).
