Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco is drawing criticism from other comics who say his SiriusXM channel is squeezing out newer talent. The channel, Sebastian Maniscalco's Comedy Radio, launched in April and replaced SiriusXM's long-running Raw Comedy, which featured uncensored stand-up from a broad range of performers. Fellow comedians including Patton Oswalt and Margaret Cho have posted videos asking Maniscalco to continue Raw Comedy's practice of spotlighting newer acts rather than concentrating on well-known names.
The nonprofit Stand Up for Standup, which provides resources for comedians in need, published a report on the channel's move away from emerging talent. According to the organization, spins since March have dropped from a pool of more than 800 comics to 275 artists, a group skewed toward celebrities. Stand Up for Standup said the change in both the number of artists getting plays on Channel 102 and the distribution of spins favoring the top few is bad for comedians and for the future of comedy.
Comedian Dan Soder said the stand-up content now airing features very famous comics who are dead or who do not necessarily need the money. Oswalt, in an Instagram video, said many up-and-coming comedians depend on the money and checks they receive from Sirius, and that 500 of them have been removed from the platform. He said the decision could easily be reversed and urged that the younger comedians be put back on the Sirius channel so they can receive those checks. Liz Miele, Kyle Kinane, and Michelle Wolf have also criticized Maniscalco.
SiriusXM said in a statement to Deadline that Maniscalco's channel introduced a new creative direction and a regularly evolving programming mix for the channel, and that the company continues to invest in comedians more than any other audio platform. The satellite radio provider has described the channel as curated and headlined by Maniscalco himself. The royalties and visibility that appearances on the platform provide are central to the complaints from working comedians.
Neither SiriusXM nor representatives for Maniscalco immediately responded to a request for comment. The dispute touches on how exposure and royalty payments on a major US audio platform are distributed among comedians at different stages of their careers.
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