A very brief history of Stoneham native Mario Cantone’s run as Anthony Scaramucci
"Politics is no place for good looking people, so I had to go."
Perhaps the only thing more fleeting last week than Anthony Scaramucci’s tenure as White House communications director was actor Mario Cantone’s run impersonating the Long Islander.
Cantone, a Stoneham native and Emerson College graduate, first debuted his “Mooch” impression last Thursday on the satirical Comedy Central series The President Show.
“I’m going to fire so many people,” Cantone said, after being introduced by a faux-President Donald Trump.
“I don’t know who it’s going to be — Reince — but I’m going to get to the bottom of the leaks in the White House,” he continued in an exaggerated Long Island accent. “Do you hear me, Reince?”
Cantone proceeded to spoof Scaramucci’s expletive-laden interview with The New Yorker, as well as his boasts about Trump’s athletic prowess.
His appearance on the cable show garnered bipartisan plaudits.
“The tragedy of losing @melissamccarthy impersonating Spicer is being lessened by @macantone playing Scaramucci,” Republican political strategist Ana Navarro tweeted the following day. Salon called Cantone’s “Mooch” portrayal “perfect.”
“I’m Italian and I recognize this guy,” Cantone told CNN in a Friday morning interview.
He explained that after Scaramucci was appointed, fans on social media began pointing out how similar he looked to the brash hedge fund magnate.
“Four days later, Anthony [Atamanuik, the producer and star of The President Show] called me and said will you do this,” Cantone said.
Of course, he accepted.
Coincidentally, Cantone told The View that Scarmucci’s mother, Marlena Yanetti, a dance teacher at Emerson, “choreographed” him for plays at the college.
“You got to strike while the iron’s hot,” he told CNN. “Who knows if he’ll be here in October.”
Scaramucci didn’t last near that long.
He was fired Monday by newly appointed Chief of Staff John Kelly, who replaced Reince Priebus, who left the White House last Friday amid Scaramucci’s ire.
In a video Tuesday for The New York Times, Cantone signed off on the short-lived impression.
“I owe the American people nothing, but they’re gonna get an explanation because that’s how I roll” he told the camera from some unidentified seaside location, later adding, “Politics is no place for good looking people, so I had to go.”
