Sooshi Mango: ‘Greeks are our biggest fans’

Sooshi Mango's Joe Salanitri talks to Neos Kosmos about their following in Greece and how the Greek characters they play have influenced their most popular skits


The comedy group made up of brothers Joe and Carlo Salanitri, and friends Andrew Manfre and Michael Kambouridis aren’t going to receive plaudits for their groundbreaking and profound views on identity politics.

But Sooshi Mango’s brand of ethnic/wog humour is gaining a huge following. After making their first video in 2015, their body of work has since amassed over 53 million views across YouTube and Facebook.

Sketches such as Shit Ethnic Dads and Mums Say, and Straight Outta WOGVILLE have struck a chord with audiences both here in Australia and around the world. With characters named Yianni and Tassoula, it’s not hard to guess which ethnic group can’t get enough of Sooshi Mango’s take on ethnic humour.

“The largest following we have is in Australia, then America and the third largest country is Greece,” Joe Salanitri tells Neos Kosmos.

“If you do something Greek, something a little patriotic, they will back you all the way. We’ve actually got some Greek characters Tasos and Vassili in the Star Wogs show. They run a Fish and Chip shop and once the show finishes we are going to make a video with those characters and pay back a bit of respect and wave the flag to our Greek followers.”

Some may see Joe, who is from an Italian background playing Greek characters as problematic, but Salanitri is adamant that his depiction of Hellenes comes from an authentic source.

“I’m married to a Greek,” he says. “There you go, there is your connection mate, there is your Greek connection. I’ve been with her since 2002 and married to her since 2009, so, it’s been 18 years since I’ve been part of this Greek family. One of my best friends growing up was also Greek. So I’ve been around the Greek dads and mums quite a lot.”

One character that is inspired by his wife’s family is Tassoula who Joe admits has been a work in progress for a number of years.

“My wife’s name is Georgina or Yeorgia and she had a yiayia that was called Yeorgia as well – obviously,” he says.

“Her yiayia passed away, she was a lovely woman and the Tasoula character who I play is loosely based on her. I used to see those yiayias at functions and family dinners. The way they use to talk and how they finished phrases, in hindsight it was all future content and all in front of me without even knowing what I was going to do with it.”

One of the sketches that started things off for Sooshi Mango was the Greeks versus Italians skit that attempted to answer the age old question of which of the two ancient cultures was superior.

It was their first viral hit and reached over a million views in just three days and Joe says the Greeks loved it.

“It got us a lot of Greek followers because we were playing these young Greek characters dressed up in Adidas gear. Growing up, there was this friendly rivalry between Greek and Italian Australians that still exists today. The stuff we did in the video like ‘it’s really a kebab not a souvlaki’ and ‘it’s a pasticcio not a fucken lasagne’ all happened in our life.”

This comedy would not work if it wasn’t for the people that were here before us. There is no way I could be an ethnic mum or an ethnic dad if the migrants that came here before us did whatever they did to get to where they are today where the have been ridiculously successful.

Another of Sooshi Mango’s viral videos that hit the million mark is the skit Dancing Around the World and the routine saw the comedy group end up being featured on Greek television.

“We dressed up all in these different costumes and it went nuts and it got played on some Greek Video Hits channel in Athens,” Joe says.

“We had a Greek Australian fan message us from Greece as it was happening, saying ‘you are on my TV!’ So they absolutely loved it.”

Sooshi Mango’s humour may have been depicted on stage and on television in the 1980’s and 90’s but the audience’s appetite to engage with similar characters today hasn’t waned.

“It brings back a feeling of nostalgia,” Joe says.

“It creates thoughts of their parents or grandparents that might not be with us anymore. This comedy would not work if it wasn’t for the people that were here before us. There is no way I could be an ethnic mum or an ethnic dad if the migrants that came here before us didn’t do whatever they did to get to where they are today, where they have been ridiculously successful.”

Joe also revealed there is more to Sooshi Mango’s creative process and that an accurate depiction of first generation migrants isn’t just a case of putting on a wig and doing an accent.

“You have to find truth with the character,” he says.

“You have to make sure that you bring out the essence. You have to make people believe that you are that character. I’m not Joe but in that moment I am Yianni or Tassoula and in someone’s mind it triggers a memory, that what I said in that skit is what their yiayia or pappou has said before.”

Sooshi Mango is currently performing with Nick Giannopoulos and Mary Coustas in Star Wogs: The Ethnics Strike Back and Joe says the experience has been quite surreal.

“It’s been great to share the stage with two of the great comic icons of Australia,” he says.

“It’s definitely mind boggling and you have to pinch yourself. After a show last week I asked the other guys, ‘how did we end up here?’
“Last year we did a show with Nick and it was great that he stuck his neck out for these three or four guys that never had any comedy stage experience before, and I thought we put on a good show. But this year, it’s a great show because we’ve got a year under our belt. Our timing on stage is crisp now and we also have Mary and we are also learning from her.”

As the culture changes many are reacting to ethnic comedy with politically correct lenses, but Joe pushes any criticism of Sooshi Mango’s comedy style aside and focuses on the positive reactions of the audience.

“We get a large amount of messages from people who tell us they have depression or have lost family members and they say thanks for making these videos,” he says.

“With all this politics and PC stuff, people have to stop and have a laugh again. I can only talk about the comedy we produce; we are paying homage to our relatives that we have lived with and looked up to all our lives. Comedy shouldn’t be taken so seriously.”

Something that is serious is the issue of who does it better: the Greeks or the Italians and it’s a question that Joe struggles to answer.

“This is my dilemma,” he says laughing.

“My answer is, they both do certain things better than each other. The one thing that Greeks know to do is have a good time and that is one thing in Australia that the Greeks do better than the Italians and I am more than happy to say that and I say it to everyone. Whether you are four years old or 80, once that bouzouki comes out everyone is raring to go.”