Sal Iacono (born July 5, 1971),Sal Iacono profile at IMDb
/ref> also known as Cousin Sal, is an American comedian, writer, and game show host. He is known for his roles on '' The Man Show'' and the late night television show ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, Los ...

''. He is Jimmy Kimmel's cousin, hence his nickname Cousin Sal.

Early life

Iacono was born in Brooklyn to Fran Iacono and Vincent Iacono. He graduated from

Elwood-John Glenn High School Elwood-John H. Glenn High School (often shortened to simply John Glenn High School) is a four-year secondary school of about 800 students and 70 faculty members, located in the hamlet of Elwood, Town of Huntington, Long Island, New York. The schoo ...

in 1989 and attended SUNY Oswego, earning a degree in Public Justice in 1993. He went on to study law at Touro Law Center in

Huntington, New York The Town of Huntington is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York. Founded in 1653, it is located on the north shore of Long Island in northwestern Suffolk County, with Long Island Sound to its north and Nassau County adjacent to the west. ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, receiving his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

in 1996. In 1997, Iacono moved from

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

to pursue a career in television.

Career

Television writing and hosting

Iacono's first foray into television writing was on the Fox Sports program ''

Sports Geniuses ''Sports Geniuses'' is an American sports-themed game show that aired for 65 episodes from March 27, 2000, until June 23, 2000, on cable channel Fox Sports Net. It was the network's second game show (''Ultimate Fan League'' was the first, airing i ...

'', a sports-themed game show starring Matt Vasgersian on which Sal also appeared nightly in a trivia challenge. From there, he joined the writing staff of Comedy Central's '' The Man Show'' starring

Adam Carolla Adam Carolla (born May 27, 1964) is an American radio personality, comedian, actor and podcaster. He hosts '' The Adam Carolla Show'', a talk show distributed as a podcast which set the record as the "most downloaded podcast" as judged by ''Guin ...

and Iacono's cousin Jimmy Kimmel. In 2002, Iacono joined Kimmel during his weekly prognostication sketches on '' Fox NFL Sunday''. Iacono wrote for the puppet show ''

Crank Yankers ''Crank Yankers'' is an American adult puppet television show produced by Adam Carolla, Jimmy Kimmel and Daniel Kellison. It features actual crank calls made by show regulars and celebrity guests, while re-enacted onscreen by puppets for a vis ...

''. When ''

Win Ben Stein's Money ''Win Ben Stein's Money'' is an American television game show created by Al Burton and Donnie Brainard that aired first-run episodes from July 28, 1997, to January 31, 2003, on Comedy Central. The show featured three contestants who competed to an ...

'' co-host

Nancy Pimental Nancy Marie Pimental (born May 31, 1965) is an American actress and film and television writer. Early life and education Born in Boston, Massachusetts, and of Portuguese descent, Pimental graduated from Somerset High School in 1983 and Worcest ...

left the show in 2002, Iacono replaced her, becoming

Ben Stein Benjamin Jeremy Stein (born November 25, 1944) is an American writer, lawyer, actor, comedian, and commentator on political and economic issues. He began his career as a speechwriter for U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford before ente ...

's co-host and comic tormentor. Iacono was the co-host through the rest of the run of the series and was nominated for an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

in the Outstanding Game Show Host category.

''Jimmy Kimmel Live!''

Iacono has been a permanent member of the ''

'' writing staff since 2003. He also appears frequently on the show in comedy sketches. These comedy bits are often shot using a hidden camera, and "Cousin Sal" either helps Jimmy prank their aunt Chippy or he pretends to be a store employee or delivery person who is incredibly inept or annoying. Cousin Sal's victims are invariably dumbfounded or become extremely infuriated, much to the delight of the viewing audience.

WWE

On ''

'' on May 16, 2008, Iacono had a birthday cake delivered to Kimmel on air by his favorite wrestler

Rowdy Roddy Piper Roderick George Toombs (April 17, 1954 – July 31, 2015), better known as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and actor. In professional wrestling, Piper was best known to international audiences for his ...

. He and Piper were confronted by Santino Marella, who had the cake thrown on him and was attacked by Iacono. The following Monday, Marella (dressed as Piper) brought Iacono to the ring on '' Monday Night Raw'' to "apologize" to "Cousin Sal". The real Piper entered the ring and Marella got his own apology cake thrown on him and on his way back to the locker room, he challenged Iacono to a wrestling match, which Piper accepted on Iacono's behalf. The match took place at the '' Friday Night SmackDown!'' tapings in Los Angeles on June 3, 2008. Sal was accompanied to the ring by Kimmel and Piper, and won the match.

Podcasts

Iacono is a regular guest on

The Bill Simmons Podcast William John Simmons III (born September 25, 1969) is an American sports analyst, author, podcaster, and former sports writer who is the founder and CEO of the sports and pop culture website '' The Ringer''. Simmons first gained attention with ...

. "Cousin Sal" picks the lines for the next weeks NFL games, defends the Dallas Cowboys, and talks about sports and sports betting with Bill. Sal also joined the Adam Carolla Podcast on Mondays during the 2010

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

season to discuss the previous Sunday's

action. In May 2017, Iacono became host of the 'Against All Odds' gambling podcast, part of Simmons's Ringer Podcast Network. In July 2020 Iacono debuted a new podcast called ''Extra Points'' with his friend Dave Dameshek as part of a newly formed sports gambling media company of the same name founded by Iacono.

Writing

Along with his appearances on Bill Simmons's podcast, Sal was also a regular columnist on

Grantland.com ''Grantland'' was a sports and pop-culture blog owned and operated by ESPN. The blog was started in 2011 by veteran writer and sports journalist Bill Simmons, who remained as editor-in-chief until May 2015. ''Grantland'' was named after famed e ...

, which was a sports and pop culture website formerly run by Simmons. His book, ''You Can't Lose Them All'' was released in early 2021.

Fox Sports

Sal is an analyst on Fox sports gambling show Fox Bet Live. Its series premier was on September 10, 2018. In 2002, Sal was a guest prognosticator with his cousin Jimmy Kimmel on FOX NFL Sunday. In addition, starting in 2019 for FOX NFL Thursday, Sal will be the prognosticator. Kimmel has also made a guest appearance on it.

Personal life

Iacono currently resides near Los Angeles with his wife, Melissa, and three sons, Archie, Jack, and Harrison (aka Harriso).''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' biopage

References

External links

Jimmy Kimmel Live! website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iacono, Sal 1971 births American game show hosts American male comedians American lawyers and judges of Italian descent American podcasters Living people People from Brooklyn New York (state) lawyers State University of New York at Oswego alumni Touro Law Center alumni Comedians from New York (state) 21st-century American comedians Fox Sports 1 people