One of the country’s most successful stand-up comedians got his own satellite radio station. Now, working comics say the move has left them broke.
On April 20, SiriusXM Channel 99 became Sebastian Maniscalco’s Comedy Radio, a 24/7 station that Maniscalco, 53, curates and headlines. It replaced SiriusXM Raw Comedy, a channel that featured working-class comedians, many of whom depended on airplay and the royalties that came with it.
Since the channel’s rebrand, airplay for comics who haven’t reached mainstream fame has plummeted. Instead, the channel has become a streaming home for Maniscalco’s multiple podcasts. The other comedians Maniscalco does highlight tend to be either dead or ultra-wealthy, rendering any royalties moot. Even when a less famous comedian makes the cut, over 75 percent of the plays are still going to the top 50 artists, according to the nonprofit Stand Up for Stand Up.
“The problem is, Raw went from playing 800 working-class comedians to now playing less than 300 celebrity comedians,” comedian Liz Miele said in an Instagram video that comics have shared widely on social media. She teamed up with comedians like Matthew Broussard to advocate for Maniscalco’s channel to once again include the comedians it’s cut out.
Raw Comedy played Miele’s albums for over a decade. She said that, at varying points in her career, the royalties she received either made her life easier or were downright essential. When Maniscalco—the number three top touring comedian last year behind Nate Bargatze and Kevin Hart—overhauled the channel, she said she was “terrified not just for myself, but truly all of my friends.”
“There’s no safety net,” Miele told the Daily Beast by phone on Tuesday. “I know women that have had babies that have used this money to make up their own maternity leave. I have friends that are taking care of their sickly parents with cancer, and they use this to be off the road and be able to pay their bills. I know people that are struggling to get work because it’s harder to get work.”
Miele tried to reach Maniscalco by writing to him, messaging him on Instagram, and asking her agents to find points of contact. She said Broussard also tapped a mutual friend to reach out, but they haven’t heard back.
They have, however, heard from over 250 comedians who have publicly urged Maniscalco to change his practices. Big names like Patton Oswalt, Dane Cook, and Marc Maron have all shared videos in support of the movement.
“The fact that you and I still get to tour, and still get to work, and still get to be as funny as we are, is because comedy right now is so dynamic and has so many new, young voices that are coming up,” Oswalt said in his video, directly addressing Maniscalco from an airport. “But 500 of them have been booted off of Sirius. You bought that channel. I know you didn’t mean to do anything bad; you can easily reverse this decision. Get those young comedians back on the Sirius channel.”
He concluded, “Sebastian, c’mon, man. From one touring comedian to the other: do the right thing.”
Cook posted a video discussing “the lean years,” when comedians are starting out or generally struggling to find work. He said the “passive income” these comics receive from places like SiriusXM “makes things less passive when you’re off the road looking to make ends meet.”
“Revert the channel back to what it was,” he said, adding that he knows Maniscalco and Sirius will “do the right thing” in this “mission critical” moment. He also stressed the importance of comedians supporting one another in a challenging industry.
Maron called SiriusXM’s channel “one of the most steady” streams of income for a comedian. “Sebastian Maniscalco has taken over that station, and apparently a lot of people are losing their airtime, which means they’re losing income that they need as working-class comics. This is a plea and a request for Sebastian to make room and give all those comics their airtime back.”
Though comics are railing against Maniscalco’s takeover, many, including Miele, said they’re not angry—they just want him to reverse his trend. Miele also said she understands why Maniscalco hasn’t addressed the backlash publicly yet.
“If there actually is going to be a thoughtful solution, you have managers, agents, lawyers,” she said. “It’s like if I want to move my apartment, I can do that by myself, but if I have a family, I have to talk to everybody in the family before I make a decision. It’s a famous comedian who has a lot of people working for them and a huge radio station. I don’t think it can just be like, ‘Hey, sorry, I’ll do better.’ That’s not gonna cut it. I can’t imagine we’re gonna hear anything this week because there are so many moving parts if they’re taking it seriously.”
SiriusXM did address the comedian’s pushback in a statement to Vulture. The audio entertainment company said that it “works together with our creative partners to program the best possible experience for our listeners.”
“The launch of Sebastian Maniscalco’s Comedy Radio introduced a new creative direction and a regularly evolving programming mix for the channel,” the statement continued. “SiriusXM continues to invest in comedians more than any other audio platform to deliver a wide range of comedy offerings across our channels.”
Miele is “so effing proud” of the way comedians have rallied in support. She said that none of them wanted to “put on a spectacle,” but it’s encouraging that their voices are impacting the broader stand-up community. Ultimately, she hopes Maniscalco and SiriusXM once again include the comedians they’ve cut from air.
“This is kind of a dire moment, and things are only getting harder for us,” Miele said. “There are people I’ve never met that my message got across to. I think the bigger message that should be out there is that our community is strong and our community cares, and that’s what’s needed for change in any area, in any field.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Sebastian Maniscalco’s team for comment.
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