SOOSHI MANGO

As the hilarious Aussie comedy trio tour the country with their all-new live show Home Made, we catch up with brothers Joe and Carlo Salanitri and best mate Andrew Manfre, to find out what really goes on backstage...

- REILLY SULLIVAN

Sooshi Mango has come a long way since first rocketing to online fame in 2015. The comedy trio of brothers Joe and Carlo Salanitri and their friend Andrew Manfre, have parlayed viral success into one of Australia’s most popular touring acts. Like Jerry Lewis and the Marx Brothers before them, Sooshi Mango use props, wigs and moustaches to transform into an array of regular and recurring characters, mostly mined from their own childhoods growing up as Italian-Australians. The trio are also building a business empire which currently includes the Sooshi Mango podcast, an alcohol brand, an Italian restaurant on Melbourne’s Lygon Street and big plans for a feature-length film.

The hidden genius of Sooshi Mango is the often surprising universality of their comedy, earning the group a legion of fans across Australia and around the world. Perhaps not coincidentally, the trio really caught fire at a time when creeping political correctness saw most other comedians veer away from the edgy stuff. On the contrary, “We can laugh about anything,” they told MAXIM. Nine years and a billion or so online views later, Sooshi Mango are in the midst of their largest tour to date, headlining brand new material to arenas across the country until November.

Here, Joe, Carlo and Andrew sit down with MAXIM to talk the end of political correctness, pre-show rituals and why their audiences look like United Nations parties.

Fellas, great to chat again. How are all things with the Australian tour going?

Andrew: We’re currently on our new Australian Home Made tour, and the response has been overwhelming. Performing to the crowds is always such a high and the energy from people is amazing. The lead up saw us in rehearsals for weeks, for eight hours a day, so performing it live and hearing laughter again is just brilliant.

How did you guys all meet to become Sooshi Mango?