In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, the comedian and actor opened up about raising his two children—Serafina, 8, and Caruso, 5—with his wife Lana Gomez. And if there’s one thing he’s clear on, it’s that being a dad requires grit, consistency, and just the right amount of crazy.
“I think kids need structure, they need discipline,” Maniscalco said. “They actually thrive on it.”
He credits his own upbringing in a middle-class, hard-working family with shaping his parenting style. “I had to cut the lawn, I had to make my bed. I had to vacuum on Saturday. I remember I had to vacuum all the carpeting in the house on Saturday,” he recalled. “And my kids are living a different life. They’re growing up with really no struggle.”
Despite the comfort his kids enjoy, Maniscalco is determined to pass on the same values he grew up with. “I’m instilling the values, the core values, and the work ethic that I grew up with in them. And the parenting, it’s 24/7. It’s like you can’t take a day off.”
That means holding firm on the small things—especially manners. “If they don’t say ‘Please’ or ‘Thank you,’ I’m there beating that into their head,” he said. “So it becomes just the standard.”
He even gave an example from a recent party at their house. “The kids are in the pool — ‘get out of the pool’ and the kid — ‘NO’… no, it’s like, you’ve got to be firm,” he said.
Maniscalco pokes fun at his intense parenting style in his stand-up routines, currently part of his It Ain’t Right tour. “I mean, you have to be half-psychotic almost,” he joked. “When you talk to your kids — ‘GET OUT OF THE POOL’ — they have to know when you're serious, and they have to know when you are joking. And the way you do that is tone, pitch, volume.”
While he admits parenting is hard work, it’s also the most rewarding thing he’s ever done. “Just to see your kids, kind of mold them and give them the tools that they need to be their own people. It’s great. But it’s no joke. It’s a lot of work.”
Maniscalco also spoke about his latest project, Easy Money: The Charles Ponzi Story, an eight-part Apple Podcast series about one of history’s most notorious con men.
“I’ve always been a fan of kind of Ponzi schemes from afar,” he said. “I was almost part of a Ponzi scheme in the early 2000s... I ended up not doing it, thank God. But it intrigued me.”
In this new role, he voices Charles Ponzi and said recording the show felt like stepping into a whole new world. “I describe it as an audio motion picture,” he said. “Although there’s no motion, it’s like watching a movie.”
Whether he’s cracking jokes on stage or getting serious about raising respectful kids, Sebastian Maniscalco is making it clear: being a dad is no laughing matter—but it sure has its moments.
