Funny Guy

'Hottest comic in America' Sebastian Maniscalco heads to Houston on new 2024 tour

Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco comes to Houston in 2024.

Photo by Peggy Sirota

Comedian, actor, and podcast host Sebastian Maniscalco will embark on the huge It Ain’t Right tour, an all-arena jaunt that includes a stop at Toyota Center on Thursday, August 8.

The tour is Maniscalco's biggest to date, traveling to 47 cities over the course of five months. In addition to Houston, the tour will stop in Austin on August 9, Dallas on August 10, and San Antonio on August 11.

Hailed by The New York Times as the "hottest comic in America," Maniscalco has been performing for over two decades, ramping up from small clubs to arena shows. He has starred in six comedy specials for Netflix, Showtime, and Comedy Central.

He's also proven to be a force in film, television, and podcasting. He has a new series, Bookie, premiering on November 30 on MAX, and he's recently been seen in movies like The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Somewhere in Queens with Ray Romano and Laurie Metcalf, and About My Father, a film which he co-wrote and which was also his first role as a leading man.

Maniscalco currently co-hosts two podcasts, Daddy vs. Doctor and The Pete and Sebastian Show, and is the author of the best-selling memoir, Stay Hungry.

Tickets will be available starting with artist presale beginning on Wednesday, November 29. Additional presales will run throughout the week ahead of the general on-sale beginning on Friday, December 1 at 10 am at SebastianLive.com.

IT AIN’T RIGHT 2024 TOUR DATES

Thu Jul 11 – Norfolk, VA – Norfolk Scope Arena
Fri Jul 12 – Raleigh, NC – PNC Arena
Sat Jul 13 – Asheville, NC – ExploreAsheville.com Arena
Thu Jul 18 – Jacksonville, FL – VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena
Fri Jul 19 – Savannah, GA – Enmarket Arena
Sat Jul 20 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena
Sun Jul 21 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
Thu Aug 08 – Houston – Toyota Center
Fri Aug 09 – Austin, TX – Moody Center
Sat Aug 10 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center
Sun Aug 11 – San Antonio, TX – Frost Bank Center
Thu Aug 15 – Phoenix, AZ – Footprint Center
Fri Aug 16 – San Diego, CA – Viejas Arena
Sun Aug 18 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center
Thu Sep 12 – Orlando, FL – Amway Center
Fri Sep 13 – North Charleston, SC – North Charleston Coliseum
Sat Sep 14 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion
Wed Sep 18 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
Thu Sep 19 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
Thu Sep 26 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena
Fri Sep 27 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
Sat Sep 28 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena
Sun Sep 29 – Wilkes-Barre, PA – Mohegan Sun Arena
Thu Oct 03 – Albany, NY – MVP Arena
Fri Oct 04 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
Sun Oct 06 – Hershey, PA – GIANT Center
Thu Oct 17 – Winnipeg, MB – Canada Life Centre
Sat Oct 19 – Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place
Sun Oct 20 – Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome
Thu Oct 24 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
Fri Oct 25 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
Sat Oct 26 – Portland, OR – Moda Center
Wed Nov 06 – Milwaukee, WI – Fiserv Forum
Fri Nov 08 – Chicago, IL – United Center
Sat Nov 09 – Chicago, IL– United Center
Sun Nov 10 – Dayton, OH – Nutter Center
Thu Nov 14 – Youngstown, OH – Covelli Centre
Fri Nov 15 – Rochester, NY – Blue Cross Arena
Sat Nov 16 – Buffalo, NY – KeyBank Center
Sun Nov 17 – Syracuse, NY – Oncenter War Memorial Arena
Thu Nov 21 – Montreal, QC– Bell Centre
Fri Nov 22 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena
Sun Nov 24 – Ottawa, ON – Canadian Tire Centre
Wed Dec 04 – Estero, FL – Hertz Arena
Sat Dec 07 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena
Thu Dec 12 – Omaha, NE – CHI Health Center
Fri Dec 13 – Peoria, IL – Peoria Civic Center Arena
Sat Dec 14 – St. Louis, MO – Enterprise Center
Sun Dec 15 – Des Moines, IA – Wells Fargo Arena

Movie Review

Spielberg-inspired movie The End of Oak Street is a dino-snore

Photo by Daniel McFadden

Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway in The End of Oak Street.

Steven Spielberg is the iconic director of the last 50 years, so it’s no surprise that many other filmmakers have borrowed from his classic films. But most of the time those come in the form of references or homages, not straight up theft, which is what it feels like watching The End of Oak Street play out in front of your eyes.

Set in the early 1980s in an idyllic suburban neighborhood of an unnamed city, Denise (Anne Hathaway) and Greg (Ewan McGregor) are parents to two teenagers, Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery). They’re also possibly heading toward divorce, as Audrey is secretly writing a novel with a thinly-veiled plot about their life, and Brian is cagey about having to earn extra money with a pizza delivery job.

That all gets put on the backburner when a mysterious event takes their entire neighborhood back to the time of dinosaurs. Armed with little more than a shotgun and sledgehammer, Audrey and Brian do their best to keep the family safe in their house. But the longer the ordeal goes on, circumstances force them out onto the streets and into the increasing danger that’s all around them.

Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, the film tries immensely hard to be like the Spielberg movies its filmmaker clearly adores, but fails at almost every turn. It never earns the broken family in ‘80s suburbia vibes that were prevalent in E.T., going all in right away in the opening scene with a neighborhood block party that feels forced. Other elements like a bully who has it out for Brian, the family dog that disappears, and an angry neighbor come across as the tropes they are and not as organic parts of the plot.

When it finally gets to its dinosaur sequences, they pale in comparison to those found in Jurassic Park. The strange manner in which the dinosaurs appear is a big part of that, but the action involving them forgoes ominous moments that could build tension for those that play up gore in an unexpected way for a PG-13 movie. Many of the attacks have so little emotional meaning that they come off as comical, which is entertaining but in a hollow way.

As if those weren’t enough, Mitchell — perhaps at the behest of producer J.J. Abrams (who made his own Spielbergian film, Super 8) — tries to honor Spielberg in other ways. Just like in Jaws, he employs the use of a split diopter lens, which keeps characters in both the foreground and background in focus. But instead of using it judiciously, it’s brought out in three separate scenes, including a laughable one with the four family members where it turns into overkill.

Hathaway, coming off of a role in The Odyssey that could earn her an Oscar nomination, is the best part of this film. But even her evident skills are dragged down by the ridiculousness of the story, which requires hysterics that even she can’t sell. McGregor can normally be counted on for a good performance, but he gives several line readings with strange cadences that make his already-underwritten character come off worse. Stella and Convery are okay, but their roles are unmemorable overall.

Mitchell and his team can never settle on exactly what type of film they were trying to make, and so even though The End of Oak Street has a few moments that work, they’re surrounded by many others that don’t. In trying to emulate Spielberg — there’s even a blatant Back to the Future (produced by Spielberg) rip-off towards the end — all Mitchell has done is show how difficult it is to be the master.

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The End of Oak Street opens in theaters on August 14.

Funny Guy

'Hottest comic in America' Sebastian Maniscalco heads to Houston on new 2024 tour

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Spielberg-inspired movie The End of Oak Street is a dino-snore

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