\u201cI grew up in the best Staten Island lens possible,\u201d Guardino told the Advance\/SILive.com. \u201cEveryone on our block knew each other. You\u2019d come out of your front door and the neighbors would be sitting on their stoop \u2026 It was like this little bubble, but yet, at the same time, it was the most gigantic, eclectic and exciting world.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sense of closeness (and the lack of privacy that came with it) defines \u201cItalian Bred.\u201d In the special, Guardino seamlessly inhabits a rotating cast of family members: her hyper-vigilant mother, her blunt father, her loud younger sister, and most memorably, her rule-breaking grandmother. <\/p>\n
And while the stories are deeply specific, their appeal is universal.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone\u2019s got a family member or a family like this,\u201d Guardino said. \u201cI always wanted people to sit in the theater and go on a journey with me. My hope is that they literally feel like they\u2019re in my living room, and then they feel like they\u2019re part of my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guardino, a theater major who once envisioned a straight path to Broadway, didn\u2019t plan to make a comedy special. The project evolved gradually, inspired by artists like Lily Tomlin, John Leguizamo and Whoopi Goldberg, whose one-person shows blurred the line between theater and stand-up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat to me was foreign,\u201d she said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know how to get there. I was like, \u2018I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m doing.\u2019 So I started out with 10 minutes of material. Then 20. And over the years, we landed on a 90 minute [theatrical production].\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019s careful not to label herself a traditional stand-up comic, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cI consider myself more of a storyteller,\u201d Guardino said. \u201cI definitely take you on a journey, and I incorporate theater and music and singing, and each character grows throughout the show.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Candice](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/XZFEMRUYGBHL5K5EHPY3EL3RKY.jpeg\")
Candice Guardino’s theatrical comedy special “Italian Bred” streams Jan. 27 on Amazon, Apple and other platforms, featuring stories from Guardino’s Italian-American upbringing on Staten Island.Courtesy of Dirty Sugar Photography.<\/p>\n
That theatricality is physical as much as it is emotional. Guardino switches between characters without breaking the narrative, shifting posture, voice and energy in rapid succession. The process, she said, took years to refine. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf I keep breaking and not seamlessly going from grandma to dad, for example, it actually ruins the storytelling,\u201d she said. \u201cIt took a bit of massaging. That was not overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the center of \u201cItalian Bred\u201d is Guardino\u2019s grandmother, a force of nature whose presence ultimately became the spine of the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t realize it until I was about three years in,\u201d Guardino said. \u201cEveryone else\u2019s grandma was sweet. Mine was heels, black sexy dresses, no rules. She lived by her own set of rules.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the real-life details, Guardino admits, were actually toned down: \u201cI sugarcoated her for the special,\u201d she laughed. \u201cShe was harder and rougher and scarier in real life … I didn\u2019t want people to think I\u2019m absolutely insane.\u201d <\/p>\n
Music also plays a key role in the special, with songs used for comedic and emotional beats (one standout moment: her dramatic car rendition of Styx\u2019s \u201cCome Sail Away\u201d). There\u2019s also one original song, \u201cChange in Me,\u201d written by Guardino and Emmy-nominated composer David Dabbon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the first original song I\u2019ve ever written,\u201d Guardino said. \u201cI was nervous. I knew what I wanted to say. I just didn\u2019t know how to do it in musical form.\u201d<\/p>\n
The song functions as an internal monologue, part of a larger structure where Guardino sings only as herself, not as a character.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time I sing, I\u2019m just me,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s my mental check-in of what\u2019s happening in that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the special represents a culmination, Guardino said it doesn\u2019t feel like an ending. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s sort of a closure of the first show called \u201cItalian Bred,\u201d and then it 100% feels like the beginning of what the next show will be,\u201d Guardino said. The next chapter will explore marriage, parenting, adulthood and, of course, family characters: \u201ca whole new level of drama and trauma.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even as her career takes her bicoastal between New York and Los Angeles, Staten Island remains central. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always back,\u201d she said. \u201cMy family\u2019s there. My friends are there. It\u2019s always home.\u201d<\/p>\n
To keep up with Guardino, visit her website,<\/a> listen to her podcast<\/a>, see her on tour<\/a> or follow her on Instagram (@candiceguardino<\/a>). <\/p>\n