Sebastian Maniscalco on His Stand-Up Comedy Persona and ‘Bookie’

Every now and then, Sebastian Maniscalco’s stand-up personality creeps into his performance on Max’s “Bookie.” But instead of asking him to tone it down, executive producers Chuck Lorre and Nick Bakay welcome the occasional slip-up.

“He saved us,” Bakay says of an upcoming episode of “Bookie,” which returns to Max with ten more episodes for Season 2, releasing weekly starting Thursday, December 12. “Sometimes we will ask for it when we are in trouble. We’ll say, ‘Hey buddy, we got nothing here!’”

Fans of Maniscalco’s stand-up know what Bakay is talking about: When he’s ready to make a point, the stand-up star will pause, use a thicker swagger and exaggerate the syllables in a given word or phrase for a comic effect.

And he admits it shows up on camera: “Sometimes Sebastian’s stage comes out a little bit,” says Maniscalco, who plays househusband and bookmaker Danny in “Bookie.”

Viewers will especially see a bit of “stage Sebastian” in episode 2, when Danny and Ray (Omar Dorsey) try to collect a gambling debt from a scary drug lord.

Also back for that second episode is Charlie Sheen, who first guest starred on Season 1 of “Bookie,” making headlines at the time for burying the hatchet with his ex-“Two and a Half Men” boss Lorre.

“Charlie is great and he’s back, and everything is great,” Bakay says. “That was a fascinating rapprochement. They were so ready, and those guys made beautiful music together for years. And Charlie came in and knocked it out of the park.

Season 2 of “Bookie” picks up where season 1 left off: Danny’s wife Sandra (Andrea Anders) left him after he refused to give up his dangerous job as a sports bookmaker. Meanwhile, Ray’s beloved grandmother (Arnetia Walker) is about to get married when her fiancé collapses during the ceremony. As the show progresses, Danny rushes to Modesto to win back his wife, who has moved back in with her mother.

“We definitely left things hanging on Sebastian’s character. He needs to get his wife back because he realizes he’s a mess without her,” Bakay says. “Also with Omar’s character, his grandmother’s fiancée falls at the altar, but he’s not actually dead. He’s just terrified. So both boys have immediate problems. That’s a good way to approach things.”

Danny manages to win his wife back – with a caveat: his mother-in-law, played by Dale Dickey, has to move in. “She’s hilarious,” Bakay says. “The best thing about Sebastian is that he immediately regrets his decisions, and she makes him regret them quickly.”

Maniscalco says he enjoys playing Danny as his life spirals out of control. “We start to see the different scenarios that my character, Danny, gets involved in, starting with the mother-in-law, and I can’t believe the conflict this man faces in such a short period of time,” he says. “It was a lot of fun exploring the different paths Ray and Danny find themselves in, not only with their personal lives, but with their professional lives as well.”

After building a successful stand-up career, Maniscalco says building his acting skills in “Bookie” has been an interesting journey. He credits Bakay and Lorre for laughing so hard on set that “it confirms that what I’m doing is funny. Because as a comedian I love to laugh. I like to hear that what I do is funny because of the laughs. I’m getting used to impersonating other actors. I learn a lot every day.”

Lorre says he was already a fan of Maniscalco as an actor (through films like “The Green Book” and “The Irishman”) when he cast him in “Bookie.” “It was clear that he had the transition from stand-up to being in front of the camera. There was never any concern about that transition from microphone to set.”

Bookie also stars Vanessa Ferlito as Danny’s sister, while Jorge Garcia works as a bookmaker on Danny and Ray’s team. This season, Rob Corddry is the series regular, while guest stars, in addition to Sheen’s return, include Ray Romano, David Paymer, Zach Braff and Brad Garrett.

None of their characters get off easy either. “You can’t trust anyone,” Bakay says. “The only people these guys can really trust are each other. I think Ray and Danny, whether they realize it or not, are the only two guys in their lives that they can really count on. Everything brings problems. Their partners, their families, their money. Success is the worst thing that ever happened to them.”