No vision board, no grand plan, no dreams of greatness. The only thing comedian Sebastian Maniscalco really knew when he came to Los Angeles from the suburbs of Illinois 26 years ago was that he wanted to make people laugh and hopefully make some money doing it, at least enough to live on and keep his Italian family off his back about the dubious career choice of pursuing stand-up comedy.

Waiting tables at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills was his main prospect after showing up to L.A. in March 1998, along with getting stand-up gigs whenever and wherever he could. Since then a lot has changed.