NICKY SMIGS
Nick’s career has taken off since his TikTok impersonation of Sebastian Maniscalco blew up the internet in September 2020. Back then, he earned reviews from Maniscalco himself plus invaluable screen time when the fellow Arlington Heights native spotlighted Smeriglio’s video on the Jimmy Kimmel show.
In October 2021, Smeriglio packed his bags and moved to New York, immediately making the rounds at East Coast comedy clubs. An 11-day, nine-show tour paved the way for a headlining gig at the famed Caroline’s on Broadway in Times Square. Then, it was back to Chicago for six shows at the Chicago Improv with fellow Italian-American comic and mentor Anthony Rodia.
Smeriglio traveled to Burbank, California, in early November to perform with Jay Leno. “Mr. Leno was incredibly genuine and kind,” he says. “We had about 30 minutes to talk, and he was an inspiration.” In late January, it was back to Chicago to appear on WGN-TV and 670 AM The Score after he produced a skit on how celebrities would have fired former Chicago Bears Head Coach Matt Nagy.
Smeriglio has also accepted roles in television commercials, hosted and emceed corporate sales meetings and trade shows throughout the country, and performed multiple events for charities in the Edison Park neighborhood of Chicago.
ELYSE DELUCCI
New York native Elyse DeLucci is a stand-up comedian and writer. Best known for her distinct voice and relatable material about marriage, divorce, motherhood, food and her big Italian family. Elyse is a “clean comic”, using little profanity in her act.
Elyse started her career on Wall Street, but her real passion had more to do with pursuing her dream of making people laugh as a stand-up comic, a dream she is realizing through pounding the pavement, hard work and talent.
Known as @ElyseDeLucci on TikTok & Instagram, Elyse has amassed over 160,000 followers with over 40 million video views.
Elyse uses social media to develop her comedic skills further. Through her videos on her very relatable everyday musings and sketch videos like “Staten Island Mom”, she’s amassed a loyal and engaged following.
Her dedicated fans asked for more, so Elyse created “The Elyse DeLucci Show”, a podcast on Apple Podcasts & Spotify. Her podcast has a 5 Star rating with rave reviews.
She performs stand-up comedy playing anywhere from bars to world-famous comedy clubs such as Caroline’s, Gotham Comedy Club, The People’s Improv Theater, Broadway Comedy Club, Governor’s & Greenwich Village Comedy Club.
In 2021, she was featured in the The New York Comedy Festival, in the prestigious show “New York’s Funniest”.
She has also been seen in The New York Times, Marketwatch, The Staten Island Advance, Cheddar TV and more.
She lives in Manhattan with her two small daughters.