Make Page Six a Preferred Source After comics launched a heartfelt campaign to restore a vital piece of the standup economy, its targets — Sebastian Maniscalco and SiriusXM — seem largely unmoved.
The famed comic recently took over the satellite radio network’s Raw Comedy channel, which had provided a financial lifeline for working club comics by featuring their work on air, providing much-needed royalty checks.
However, ever since it became Maniscalco’s Comedy Radio in April, it has featured household-name comics, largely cutting the touring folks out of its programming.
On Monday, comics including Michelle Wolf, Margaret Cho, Dan Soder and Patton Oswalt took part in an online campaign on behalf of their lesser-known colleagues.
They begged Maniscalco — who broke records by selling out four nights at Madison Square Garden in 2024 — to put the rank-and-file back on the air.
Additionally, industry advocacy group Stand Up for Standup said that many comics who live paycheck-to-paycheck through SiriusXM satellite radio “spins” earn approximately $15 in royalties.
“The spins on Sebastian’s channel have drastically shifted from a wider pool of 800+ comedians enjoying spins … to a narrower pool of comedians getting plays per month,” the group explained in a statement.
“And of those few hundred who are getting spins, over 75% of the plays are going to the top 50 artists, which results in a concentration of wealth among the top echelon, which is largely made up of big-name celebrity comics.”
Want more celebrity and pop culture news? Start your day with Page Six Daily.
Others pointed out that many of those big names are dead, such as Joan Rivers and Norm Macdonald.
When Page Six reached out to Maniscalco’s rep for comment, they referred us to Sirius, which sent a statement that didn’t exactly suggest a rush to return to its role as a benefactor to comedy’s middle class.
“SiriusXM works together with our creative partners to program the best possible experience for our listeners,” a SiriusXM spokesperson told us in a statement.
“The launch of Sebastian Maniscalco’s Comedy Radio introduced a new creative direction and a regularly evolving programming mix for the channel, and SiriusXM continues to invest in comedians more than any other audio platform to deliver a wide range of comedy offerings across our channels.”
It sounds like road comics shouldn’t book any island vacations any time soon. Or Seamless.
Your voice matters. Discussions are moderated for civility. Read our guidelines here
Community Guidelines Welcome to the Page Six Community! Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas in a safe space.
In order to do so, we've created a simple set of rules that will improve your experience.
Your post will/might be rejected if it contains:
User accounts will/might be blocked if we notice:
Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Don't forget, freedom of speech is not the freedom of reach!
