Most of the approximately 1 billion stand-up comedy specials on Netflix get right to it, with a disembodied voice proclaiming, “Ladies and gentlemen, make some noise for …” as the comic takes the stage. Occasionally there’s a prologue, e.g., Aziz Ansari walking in Brooklyn before opening the backstage door in “Aziz Ansari: Right Now,” or a montage of Anjelah Johnson making stops in Tampa, Baton Rouge, Jacksonville, Orlando, et al., in “Anjelah Johnson: Not Fancy,” or arguably the most elaborate entrance in modern stand-up TV special history: Jerry Seinfeld jumping out of a helicopter into the Hudson River in a Bond-like prelude to “23 Hours to Kill.”
For “Sebastian Maniscalco: Is It Me?,” the northwest suburban native (who sounds like he was born in a Scorsese film) intones, “Vegas: the jewel of the desert … while today the hotels are taller and shinier, the clientele has … lost some of its sheen,” as we see a montage of present-day casinos and characters.
