In just six years in comedy, Gianmarco Soresi has made quite the impact.
The young comic has appeared alongside Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish in the movie “Here Today,” been featured on Comedy Central and Netflix, amassed over 26 million likes on TikTok and has a special on Amazon Prime. Now, the New York City-based comedian is making his way to the West Coast, playing at the Brea Improv on June 5.
The Jewish-Italian Soresi is enjoying his career, thus far, because of the feedback he receives for his work.
“I like stand-up comedy because as an insecure, indecisive creature, I need constant feedback to know that I am on the right track.”
“I like stand-up comedy because as an insecure, indecisive creature, I need constant feedback to know that I am on the right track,” he said. “If I wrote books, I’m sure my friends would be very exhausted by me sending them every new sentence [and] asking, ‘Is this good?’ But with stand-up, I get to do that in a way. I don’t have to ask directly ‘Is this funny?’ The laugh lets me know.”
After taking a comedy class at Carolines on Broadway during college, Soresi entered the world of show business as an actor. Then, he decided he wanted to try getting up on stage and doing stand-up. That evolved into funny videos on TikTok that have gone viral, stints as the spokesman for both General Electric and Baby Bottle Pop and the movie with Crystal and Haddish.
“Working with Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish was very cool, and that movie is a big hit on airplanes,” he told the Journal. “Every time I’m sitting next to someone watching it, I’m sure to stare at them until they realize I’m the guy doing a Jeff Goldblum impression in one of the scenes.”
Soresi, whose Twitter bio says he is a “stand-up comic/child of divorce,” grew up without much connection to his Judaism.
“But I did the Birthright trip, got a speed bar mitzvah at the Western Wall and I’m now dating a woman who grew up in a Chabad community, so I’m learning a lot more,” he said.
The creator of a sketch series called “Matza Pizza,” Soresi makes it a point to talk about his Jewish background in his comedy, “whether it’s the kvetching or the somewhat cynical point of view,” he said. “Sometimes I’ll even say onstage that I’m Jewish and the audience will laugh as if to say, ‘Yeah buddy … we knew that already.’”
One joke that he tells to see how many Jews are in the audience, or how familiar an audience is with Jewish culture, is “I went on a date with a Mormon woman and she asked if I go to ‘Jewish church’ and I said ‘Sweetheart, they’re called delis.’”
“That joke did not work great in Oklahoma City,” he said.
Even though Soresi’s name sounds very Italian, the comedian’s father “really exaggerated the amount of Italian I am, so much so that I’m hesitant to find out the actual percentage with a DNA test,” he said. “We watched ‘The Godfather’ like it was a home movie, I ate ravioli for every meal in middle school and if my dad and I ever get into an argument he’s quick to say, ‘Don’t ever go against the family!’”
The Brea Improv is just one of many stops on Soresi’s upcoming tour. He’s also heading to San Diego, Oxnard and San Francisco while he’s in California. Getting on stage as much as possible is his goal.
“I’d like to be able to tour comfortably to sold out — or close to sold out — shows where I get to do long sets, build and fine-tune my material and start releasing it on an annual basis, whether through a traditional platform or on my own,” he said. “Whether I become some modicum of famous is not fully in my control but getting good at my craft is, so I’m trying to focus on that.”
He continued, “Please come see me so I can be famous. I was lying before. That’s all I really want!”
You can purchase tickets for Gianmarco Soresi’s show on Ticketweb.com.
