Sooshi Mango
Sooshi Mango is an Australian comedy troupe founded in 2015. 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. 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. 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, 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. Sooshi Mango has also done advertisements for numerous companies, have begun a podcast and won the AACTA Comedy Awards. 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. The silliness and essence of the name caused Joe and Carlo to adopt it. Sooshi Mango gained popularity soon after the trio began in 2015 when their video "Italians Vs Greeks" went viral on Facebook. Sooshi Mango has worked with several personalities, including Nick Giannopoulos and Mary Coustas. The trio has been able to transform their comedy to the stage and has had success touring internationally and  several times in Australia. Their first show, "Wogs At Work", aired on stage with Giannopoulos. Their second show, "Star Wogs", which also featured Giannopoulos, along with Coustas, went live in 2018. The Sooshi Mango crew have stated that they believe "Star Wogs" was the show that lifted their skills in acting. 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. "Fifty Shades Of Ethnic" took place in Australia, which proved to be extremely successful in over 10 Australian cities. 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. This show marks their biggest performance yet, with it scheduled to take place in arenas due to the unexpected amount of sold tickets. Before the delay was made, Sooshi Mango released a new brand of Pino Silvestre before Father's Day. September 2021 saw Sooshi Mango announce a new podcast titled "Saucy Meatballs: A Podcast Not About Meatballs", which the trio had been wanting to host for over three years . Sooshi Mango will soon be seen in cinemas, having a cameo in Giannopoulos' "". In late 2021, Sooshi Mango were nominated for and won the AACTA Favourite Digital Comedy Creator award. Podcast. The first episode of the "Saucy Meatballs" podcast was released on 13 October 2021, and is mainly centred around the story of the comedy troupe. During the first episode, the Sooshi Mango cast promised that the podcast would feature guest stars, include prank calls, and have a series of different segments. The second episode featured comedian Tommy Little, with Alexander Volkanovski appearing in the third episode. The fourth episode  was a skit involving Sooshi Mango's ethnic dads and prime minister Scott Morrison, and the fifth episode interviewed Christian Petracca. The sixth episode saw Archie Thompson, with comedian Andy Lee featured in episode seven and an appearance from Ibby Akbar in episode eight. For the ninth episode, fellow ethnic Sam Greco joined the Sooshi Mango cast, while Joe, Carlo and Sam discussed their AACTA award in episode 10. After his boxing win, Sooshi Mango interviewed George Kambosos Jr. in episode 11. 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 revealed the characters' backstories in their 2022 show, "Off The Boat". Reception. Sooshi Mango has accumulated millions of views and followers across their socials channels with over 117,000 subscribers on YouTube alone. The comedy trio have been interviewed by "Sunrise" and multiple times by "Studio 10". 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. Sky News stated Morrison had "put himself at the mercy of comedians". "Aussie Theatre" has said that Sooshi Mango's "Off The Boat" will "bring the house down once more". Sooshi Mango's first show, "Fifty Shades of Ethnic", went live 33 times in over 10 cities, completely selling out 14 times, while the trio have also brought their comedic skills to the international stage, airing shows in Canada's Toronto, Vancouver and Montréal. Sooshi Mango have done advertisements for a number of businesses, including Red Rooster and Azzurri  Concrete. They have also branded their own line of Pino Silvestre. 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.