Sal Iacono (born July 5, 1971)[1] is an American comedian, writer and game show host best known as "Cousin Sal" on The Man Show and the late night television show Jimmy Kimmel Live.
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Iacono was born in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from John Glenn High School in 1989 and attended State University of New York at Oswego, earning a degree in Public Justice in 1993.[2] He went on to study law at Touro Law Center in Huntington, Long Island receiving his Juris Doctorate in 1996. In 1997, Iacono moved from Long Island to Hollywood to pursue a career in television.
Iacono currently resides near Los Angeles with his wife, two sons and the family dog Carlos.[3]
Iacono's first foray into television writing was on the Fox Sports Net program Sports Geniuses,[1] 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 and Iacono's cousin Jimmy Kimmel.[4] In 2002, Iacono joined Kimmel during his weekly prognostication sketches on Fox NFL Sunday. Iacono wrote for the puppet show Crank Yankers.[5]
When Win Ben Stein's Money co-host Nancy Pimental left the show in 2002, Iacono replaced her, becoming Ben Stein's co-host and comic tormentor.[6] Iacono was the co-host through the rest of the run of the series and was nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Game Show Host category.
Iacono has been a permanent member of the Jimmy Kimmel Live writing staff since 2003.[1] He also appears frequently on the show in comedy sketches. These comedy bits are often shot using a hidden camera, and "Cousin Sal" 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.[7]
On Jimmy Kimmel Live on May 16, 2008, Iacono had a birthday cake delivered to Kimmel on air by his favorite wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper. 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.
Iacono is a regular guest on the podcast The B. S. Report by Bill Simmons. "Cousin Sal" picks the lines for the next weeks NFL games, defends the Dallas Cowboys, and talks about sports and sports betting with Bill. In addition Sal also joined the Adam Carolla Podcast on Mondays during the 2010 NFL season to discuss the previous Sunday's NFL action.[8]