Sooshi Mango

Sooshi Mango is an Australian comedy troupe founded in 2015.^[1][2] The group consists of two brothers, Joe and Carlo Salanitri, and their best friend, Andrew Manfre. Sooshi Mango is best known for its comedy skits, acts, videos, series and live shows, usually regarding wogs, particularly Italians and Greeks, living in Australia.^[3][4]

The comedic influences of the group include Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, Benny Hill and many more. Being most strongly inspired by their European ancestry, their content is commonly rooted in humorously depicting the Italian and Greek ethnic and cultural diaspora and their role in Australian society, and its racial prejudice and social mechanisms of the modern-day world.^[5][6]

Sooshi Mango features many characters in their skits, with characters Johnny, Vince and Sam being seen in the majority of their videos. With over 130 million views,^[7] Sooshi Mango has been featured in four – soon to be five – theatrical shows in multiple countries. The troupe's first solo theatre show, Fifty Shades of Ethnic, aired 33 times in over 10 cities.^[7][8] Sooshi Mango has also done advertisements for numerous companies, have begun a podcast and won the AACTA Comedy Awards.^[9][10]

History[]

The name Sooshi Mango originated from Joe Salanitri's son, who, when Joe and Carlo were trying to think of a name for their comedy group, yelled 'SOOSHI MANGO' whilst running through the house.^[11] The silliness and essence of the name caused Joe and Carlo to adopt it.^[11] Sooshi Mango gained popularity soon after the trio began in 2015 when their video Italians Vs Greeks went viral on Facebook.^[12][13]

Sooshi Mango has worked with several personalities, including Nick Giannopoulos and Mary Coustas.^[14] The trio has been able to transform their comedy to the stage and has had success touring internationally and several times in Australia.^[14][15] Their first show, Wogs At Work, aired on stage with Giannopoulos.^[9] Their second show, Star Wogs, which also featured Giannopoulos,^[9] along with Coustas,^[9] went live in 2018.^[9] The Sooshi Mango crew have stated that they believe Star Wogs was the show that lifted their skills in acting.^[9] Sooshi Mango conducted two of their own shows in 2019. Ethnic Vacation - The Invasion of Canada was an international show that aired in three of Canada's major cities.^[14] Fifty Shades Of Ethnic took place in Australia, which proved to be extremely successful in over 10 Australian cities.^[9]

Sooshi Mango later announced a new show named Off The Boat, that was set to air in 2021, however it was later rescheduled to early 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[16] This show marks their biggest performance yet, with it scheduled to take place in arenas due to the unexpected amount of sold tickets.^[9] Before the delay was made, Sooshi Mango released a new brand of Pino Silvestre before Father's Day.^[17] September 2021 saw Sooshi Mango announce a new podcast titled Saucy Meatballs: A Podcast Not About Meatballs,^[9] which the trio had been wanting to host for over three years.^[9] Sooshi Mango will soon be seen in cinemas, having a cameo in Giannopoulos' .^[18] In late 2021, Sooshi Mango were nominated for and won the AACTA Favourite Digital Comedy Creator award.^[10][19]

Podcast[]

The first episode of the Saucy Meatballs podcast was released on 13 October 2021,^[9] and is mainly centred around the story of the comedy troupe.^[9] During the first episode, the Sooshi Mango cast promised that the podcast would feature guest stars,^[9] include prank calls,^[9] and have a series of different segments.^[9] The second episode featured comedian Tommy Little,^[20] with Alexander Volkanovski appearing in the third episode.^[21] The fourth episode was a skit involving Sooshi Mango's ethnic dads and prime minister Scott Morrison,^[22] and the fifth episode interviewed Christian Petracca.^[23] The sixth episode saw Archie Thompson, ^[24] with comedian Andy Lee featured in episode seven and an appearance from in episode eight.^[25][26] For the ninth episode, fellow ethnic Sam Greco joined the Sooshi Mango cast,^[27] while Joe, Carlo and Sam discussed their AACTA award in episode 10.^[28] After his boxing win, Sooshi Mango interviewed George Kambosos Jr. in episode 11.^[29]

Characters[]

Throughout the history of their comedy troupe, Sooshi Mango has featured numerous ethnic characters in their skits, videos, advertisements and theatre shows, all of which can be seen below. The Sooshi Mango cast has stated that the characters' backstories will be revealed in their upcoming show, Off The Boat.^[30]

Main characters[]

• Johnny (played by Joe Salanitri) – Johnny is one of Sooshi Mango's main characters and is portrayed by Joe Salanitri. He is made fun of by Vince and Sam for having a large nose. He has a wife and at least one son and daughter.^[31][32] He migrated to Australia with Vince and Sam in 1967.^[30] Johnny does not like his neighbour, Shane.^[33]
• Vince (played by Carlo Salanitri) – Vince is the second main character, played by Carlo Salanitri. He often jokes about his wife, Carmela, and has a love–hate relationship with both his adjacent neighbours, Nunzio and Jeff.^[34][35][33] Some regard Vince as the funniest character. Along with Johnny and Sam, Vince arrived in Australia in 1967.^[30] He and Carmela have a son.^[36]
• Sam (played by Andrew Manfre) – Andrew Manfre is the actor for the final main character that makes up Sooshi Mango's ethnic dads. In 1967,^[30] Sam went fishing with his friend, Gino, and their boat took them to Australia.^[31] At 15 years old, Gino took Sam's girlfriend, now wife, Angela.^[37] Gino died in 2020.^[37]

Recurring characters[]

• Giussepina (played by Joe Salantri) – Johnny's wife, also played by Joe Salanitri. Giuseppina has been featured in numerous episodes with the rest of the ethnic mothers. Salanitri reprised his role of Giussepina in an interview with Studio 10.^[38] Giuseppina and Johnny have a son and a daughter.^[31][32] Her daughter has slept with Angela's son,^[32] but is now engaged to a Greek man.^[38]
• Carmela (played by Carlo Salanitri) – Carlo Salanitri plays Carmela, Vince's wife. She and Vince often make fun of each other, and are confused as to why their son, Giuseppe, sees a psychologist.^[36] Carmela is not a fan of Giuseppe's wife, Sharon.^[39]
• Angela (played by Andrew Manfre) – The wife of Sam, whose son used to be in a relationship with Giussepina's daughter.^[32] She and Sam have another ten children,^[40] including a daughter,^[36] and nine grandchildren.^[40] Angela had a crush on Sam's brother, but married Sam when his brother died.^[40]
• Greek man #1 (played by Carlo Salanitri) – The owner and boss of Kalamata Fish & Chips shop. He works at his shop with his nephew and Greek man #2.^[41] His nephew teases him for not being able to pronounce the word "chips".^[41]
• Greek man #2 (played by Joe Salanitri) – A worker, who works in Kalamata Fish & Chips.^[41] He is from Kalamata.^[42]
• Greek man #3 (played by Andrew Manfre) – A man, who comes to eat at Kalamata Fish & Chips.^[41] He explains that his cousin was run over by Uber Eats and that he had to sell his donkey to enable his wife to migrate to Australia,^[41] as he lost his money to the TAB.^[41]
• Giacomo (played by Carlo Salanitri) – Carlo Salanitri also portrays old married man Giacomo, who gives marital advice to Joe, with the help of Pino.^[43]
• Pino (played by Andrew Manfre) – An ethnic grandparent, who also gives advice to Joe.^[43] He has a wife.^[43]
• Joe^[a] (played by Joe Salanitri) – A young gas salesman, acted by Joe Salanitri.^[43] When he tries to sell gas, he ends up getting marital advice.^[43] Joe is on parole.^[43]

Reception[]

Sooshi Mango has had over 130 million views and has over 110,000 subscribers on YouTube.^[7] The comedy trio have been interviewed by Sunrise and three times by Studio 10.^[31][38] Sooshi Mango's podcast trailer reached the top ten most listened tracks on Spotify within 24 hours of being released and their interview with Scott Morrison mocked various Australian "scandals", including Joe Biden forgetting Morrison's name, Franco-Australian tensions, Australian vaccine issues and the resignation of Gladys Berejiklian.^[22][44] Sky News stated Morrison had "put himself at the mercy of comedians".^[44] Aussie Theatre has said that Sooshi Mango's Off The Boat will "bring the house down once more".^[45] Sooshi Mango's first show, Fifty Shades of Ethnic, went live 33 times in over 10 cities, completely selling out 14 times.^[14] The trio have also brought their comedic skills to the international stage, airing shows in Canada's Toronto, Vancouver and Montréal.^[14] Sooshi Mango have done advertisements for a number of businesses, including Red Rooster and Azzurri Concrete.^[37][46] They have also branded their own line of Pino Silvestre.^[17] Sooshi Mango has won the AACTA Favourite Digital Comedy Creator award., in which they were contending against many entertaining personalities, and were congratulated by many fans and celebrities, such as Scott Morrison.^[10][19]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website