Gianmarco Soresi interview: Where to buy tickets, new special

On Friday, Sept. 19, Gianmarco Soresi released his first stand-up special…again.

The prolific stand-up comedian — who claims to be “the first male comedian to do standup on ‘The Tonight Show’ wearing shorts” — technically put out a number of specials before dropping the excellent, 67-minute “Thief of Joy.”

There’s his timely 2020 “Shelf Life” filmed during the depths of COVID. One could also make an argument that his November 2022 spot on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” fits the bill as a debut special. That same case works for his 15-minute set “A Little Something Special.” Or his “Don’t Tell” set.

Clearly, there are plenty of options for the fearless performer who’s willing to go after both sides of the political aisle with a smile.

Yet, if you’re looking for the best representation of Soresi’s talents, you need not look further than his aforementioned, career-spanning “Thief of Joy,” which distills the 37-year-old’s talents into a neat package nimbly crisscrossing from punchline-heavy personal stories about his ailing father with a much younger girlfriend to a controversial tattoo his girlfriend disapproves of to a showstopping “Law and Order” act-out that effortlessly combines gallows humor with mundane observations.

“This was a real amalgamation of chunks from my first year, bigger stories that have been fine-tuned over the years and bits from the last six months,” Soresi told The Post in an exclusive interview.

“Some people are more familiar with my crowd work, and I think they’ll be pleasantly surprised that this is more of a joke special. Basically, the idea was, ‘if you didn’t know me, this is your intro to my taste, who I am, how I feel, and a good preview of what you’re going to get if you ever see me live.’”

And, if you do want to see him live, he’s somehow already back pounding the pavement with headlining shows all over the country from September through December this year, including five gigs at Buffalo’s Helium Comedy Club from Sept. 25-27 followed by six at Philadelphia’s Punch Line from Oct. 9-11.

“I’m going to put on a full show,” he told us. “I’m able to fuse being someone who moves with obsessive joke writing to deliver an elevated standup experience.”

Curious what the second special special (or fifth? Who’s counting?) looks life?

You’re in the right place, Gianmarco-maniacs.

We have everything you need to know and more about Soresi’s upcoming tour as well as an interview that includes a truly wild story about a set that almost ended his stand-up career less than a year into slinging jokes on the stage.

Gianmarco Soresi tour schedule

A complete calendar including all tour dates, venues and links to the cheapest tickets available can be found below.

Gianmarco Soresi tour dates
Sept. 25 at the Helium Comedy Club in Buffalo, NY 8 p.m. show
Sept. 26 at the Helium Comedy Club in Buffalo, NY 7:30 p.m. show
Sept. 26 at the Helium Comedy Club in Buffalo, NY 9:15 p.m. show
Sept. 27 at the Helium Comedy Club in Buffalo, NY 7 p.m. show
Sept. 27 at the Helium Comedy Club in Buffalo, NY 9:30 p.m. show
Oct. 9 at the Punch Line in Philadelphia, PA 7:30 p.m. show
Oct. 9 at the Punch Line in Philadelphia, PA 9:45 p.m. show
Oct. 10 at the Punch Line in Philadelphia, PA 7:30 p.m. show
Oct. 10 at the Punch Line in Philadelphia, PA 9:45 p.m. show
Oct. 11 at the Punch Line in Philadelphia, PA 7 p.m. show
Oct. 11 at the Punch Line in Philadelphia, PA 9:15 p.m. show
Oct. 14 at the Improv Comedy Club in Ontario, CA 8 p.m. show
Oct. 30 at the Bourbon Theatre in Lincoln, NE 7 p.m. show
Oct. 31 at the Funny Bone in West Des Moines, IA 7 p.m. show
Nov. 1 at the Funny Bone in West Des Moines, IA 6:30 p.m. show
Nov. 1 at the Funny Bone in West Des Moines, IA 9 p.m. show
Nov. 7 at the Funny Bone in Richmond, VA 7 p.m. show
Nov. 7 at the Funny Bone in Richmond, VA 9:45 p.m. show
Nov. 8 at the Funny Bone in Richmond, VA 6:30 p.m. show
Nov. 8 at the Funny Bone in Richmond, VA 9:15 p.m. show
Nov. 13 at Comedy Works in Denver, CO 7:30 p.m. show
Nov. 14 at Comedy Works in Denver, CO 9:15 p.m. show
Nov. 15 at Comedy Works in Denver, CO 9:15 p.m. show
Nov. 21 at the Funny Bone in Kansas City, MO 7 p.m. show
Nov. 21 at the Funny Bone in Kansas City, MO 9:45 p.m. show
Nov. 22 at the Funny Bone in Kansas City, MO 6:30 p.m. show
Nov. 22 at the Funny Bone in Kansas City, MO 9:15 p.m. show
Nov. 23 at the Ozark Music Hall in Fayetteville, AR 7 p.m. show
Dec. 4 at the Fort Lauderdale Improv in Dania Beach, FL 7:30 p.m. show
Dec. 5 at the Fort Lauderdale Improv in Dania Beach, FL 7:30 p.m. show
Dec. 5 at the Fort Lauderdale Improv in Dania Beach, FL 10 p.m. show
Dec. 6 at the Fort Lauderdale Improv in Dania Beach, FL 7 p.m. show
Dec. 6 at the Fort Lauderdale Improv in Dania Beach, FL 9:30 p.m. show
Dec. 7 at The Wooly in Gainesville, FL TBD
Dec. 14 at the Knitting Factory Concert House in Boise, ID 8 p.m. show
Dec. 18 at the Improv Comedy Club in Pittsburgh, PA 7 p.m. show
Dec. 19 at the Improv Comedy Club in Pittsburgh, PA 7 p.m. show
Dec. 19 at the Improv Comedy Club in Pittsburgh, PA 9:30 p.m. show
Dec. 20 at the Improv Comedy Club in Pittsburgh, PA 6:30 p.m. show
Dec. 20 at the Improv Comedy Club in Pittsburgh, PA 9 p.m. show

Gianmarco Soresi interview

A week ahead of the release of “Thief of Joy,” we chatted with Soresi for a good half hour. Here’s what the freewheeling comic had to say.

Do you have a favorite moment or bit from the special that got left on the cutting room floor?

Yeah. It was originally 80 minutes. We cut a lot. We cut a joke that I’ve been doing since my first year that I worried I’d put out too much.

It’s about my father. He’s Italian and we kiss each other goodbye. One day, my roommate asked “do you kiss each other in public?” And I said “yeah, it’d be weird if I only kissed him in private.”

My girlfriend, who is also my manager, is my guiding light in terms of telling me “I think that’s been done” in a way that it would feel like an audience member might think “I’ve already heard that part.” So, I left it out.

But, some of these jokes I’ve had since I started standup and I could point to every bit of it where I hadn’t yet figured out how to deliver the lines to their fullest potential.

What are you bringing to the stage when you’re on the road these days?

I’m retiring all the material from this special [“Thief of Joy”]. So, right now, I’m talking about artificial intelligence and the ways it feels like A.I. and robotics have moved past helping human beings.

I try to paint my dad in a more positive light because I found out he’s been on Ashley Madison and a number of other dating apps. A woman reached out to me and said she decided to not to date my father partially because of my jokes. So I had to try and readjust that so I can get a new stepmom.

In this past special, I talked about egg freezing, now I’m talking more about the philosophy of bringing another human life into this world. What kind of parent would I be? Do I want to get married? What are the consequences of getting married, not married?

And I talk about how COVID shifted our culture to the point that it informed what our government is now. I’m trying to capture those reflections with a little bit of distance.

You’ve become somewhat known for crowd work. Is that still a large part of your show when people see you on the road?

It’s dependent on the layout of the space.

If you’re in a theater, the people in the back can’t hear. Still, I always try to incorporate it to a certain degree. It makes it exciting for me. I hate doing the same thing over and over. I can’t guarantee how much crowd work will be there. I can guarantee you will be getting at least 80% of material.

I often find that you could do crowd work for two minutes, and if it’s great, the audience will have gotten their fix. They got to feel that they were part of something that only happened on this show, that was risky.

Why should people come see you live?

I’m going to put on a full show.

Once there was a New York comedy club booker who didn’t pass me because they said I was too “one-man show.” I told my friends at the time “I can mumble. I can f—ing stand still.” And I honestly don’t think I can.

I’m able to deliver a lot. Even if I go to Europe and the audience members don’t fully understand all the jokes, they appreciate how animated I am.

Now that I have the stage and time, I’m able to fuse being a one-man show with someone who moves with someone who uses the space with obsessive joke writing to deliver an elevated standup experience.

Is there any new joke you’re particularly excited about?

They’re all so dark out of context.

A lot of my past work was about my parents being divorced and growing up with divorced parents. And now I have a bit about how I’d be so good at getting divorced and theorizing the lessons I learned of how I would manipulate my child to love me over the other parent.

From the degree of how to navigate custody to which days of the week you want to how to emotionally gerrymander your child’s life.

What’s your writing process these days?

I’m pretty obsessive. I record every single set and then put it into a transcription app that allows me to look at the text and pick up at any point. I have three different Word documents going.

One is finished material that I look through, but usually that’s all burnt. I keep it more as a library of my thoughts.

The second is everything I’m working on right now, which I’m trying to consolidate.

Then, I have another one that’s 180 pages of stray thoughts that aren’t going anywhere. It’s ultimately this gargantuan mess that will never be sorted out until I am forced to do the next hour.

If someone wanted to start listening to your podcast today, what episode would you say they should start with?

Yamaneika Saunders was incredible, but it is the Yamaneika show. She’s excellent but that’s not necessarily going to give you a taste of what we do. One we just put out with Jinkx Monsoon is a good mix of riffing but is also serious and political.

Who is the average Gianmarco fan?

Neurodivergent, early twenties with a cane that you’re not sure if they actually need it or it’s a stylistic choice. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Is there one part you were up for that you wish you had gotten?

I auditioned for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” 12 f—ing times and never got it.

Another show I auditioned for but never got was “Orange is the New Black.” The role I auditioned for was the lead singer of an all-white Roots cover band. Just two lines.

I did a lot of research and the audition went really well. On the way out, my manager at the time called and said, “bad news. They canceled the audition. They found an actual all-white Roots cover band so they don’t need the role anymore.”

Do you have a favorite story from the road?

In my first year, I got hired to do a 30-minute roast of a 50-year-old guy who was having his second bachelor party. There were 12 people at a private steak house in Long Island. There was no stage. I was wearing a suit from H&M. They were all wearing shorts and t-shirts, very casual.

There was nowhere for me to sit. They asked if I wanted a drink and I said “I’ll take a wine.” One of the guys responded “you want a straw with that, you p—-?” They all laughed.

Then, I made fun of this heavy guy and after two minutes, he was like “enough with the fat jokes.”

That’s all I had. So, I made fun of his fiancee, and he said, “her son’s right there.” Then, they started eating. I was just staring at the clock and at 26 minutes I was like “that’s good enough.”

They would have been within their right to not pay me. What they wanted was for his fiancee to say “you can go to a strip club.” Instead they had to deal with me. I could have quit standup after that. It was so humiliating.

Do you have any idea if they’re still together?

I hope not. Just in the hopes that I get hired for another gig.

What’s next for you other than standup?

This is every comedian’s conundrum now. I could film another hour right now.

But also I ask myself “am I going to finish the treatment of the movie with my co-host and friend Russell? Am I going to write some TV show pitches?”

That’s where it’s at. I’m getting more auditions now. How much time do I put into that? I’d love to play the lead singer of an all-white Roots cover band on a different TV show.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Huge comedians on tour in 2025

We asked Gianmarco to recommend a few of his favorite comics. Here’s who he said came to mind.

When people describe me as theatrical, I think about Chris Fleming and feel like Steven Wright. He takes you on a journey into a world.

Geoffrey Asmus, I admire a lot.

Jeselnik for sure.

Maria Bamford, of course.

Yamaneika is always great to watch.

Daniel Simonsen is amazing.

Who else is out and about? Take a look at our list of all the biggest comedians on tour in 2025 to find the show for you.

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This article was written by Matt Levy, New York Post live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows – and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen concert and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change

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