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Sam Bankman-Fried Satirized in Sold-Out Play Luigi: The Musical Alongside Diddy and Mangione

Sam Bankman-Fried Gets the Satirical Treatment in “Luigi: The Musical”

Less than two years into his 25-year prison sentence, Sam Bankman-Fried has already become a punchline—literally. The disgraced FTX founder is now a fictional inmate in *Luigi: The Musical*, a darkly comedic play that just wrapped up a sold-out run in San Francisco.

Bankman-Fried shares the stage—or rather, the imaginary prison cell—with two other high-profile figures: Luigi Mangione, the accused killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and Sean “Diddy” Combs, who’s currently facing federal sex trafficking charges. The play tosses them together in a Brooklyn detention center, riffing on the real-life moment last December when all three were briefly housed at the same facility.

A Surprise Hit

The show opened last Friday at the tiny Taylor Street Theatre, which only holds 49 people. Somehow, it managed to sell out its entire run in just 24 hours. Maybe it’s the absurdity of the premise, or maybe people just really want to see Silicon Valley’s golden boy get roasted.

Jonny Stein, who plays the lead, told CNN the play isn’t just about mocking individuals. “I think we’re all pretty curious about the systems at large,” he said. “Health care, tech, entertainment—they’re all part of what we’re looking at.”

And Bankman-Fried’s character? He’s the poster child for tech’s worst excesses. Played by André Margatini, he delivers a prison-cell monologue styled like a TED Talk—a not-so-subtle dig at Silicon Valley’s love of self-important speeches. According to *The San Francisco Chronicle*, it’s one of the show’s sharpest moments.

Crypto Comedy and Crowd Reactions

The play doesn’t hold back on the FTX jokes. One scene has Bankman-Fried trying to bribe a guard by suggesting they “tokenize incarceration”—a clear jab at crypto’s habit of slapping blockchain onto everything. Another moment features him singing *Bay Area Baby*, a song that pokes fun at his privileged Palo Alto upbringing and casual disregard for rules.

It’s risky, given that Mangione and Combs’ legal battles are still playing out in real time. Bankman-Fried, meanwhile, is appealing his conviction. But audiences didn’t seem to care. The play reportedly got standing ovations.

For now, the original run is still going at Taylor Street Theatre, with a bigger show planned for July 13 at The Independent, a 500-capacity venue. Whether it’ll catch on beyond San Francisco is anyone’s guess. But for a city that’s seen its share of tech flameouts, the timing feels just right.

*Edited by Sebastian Sinclair*

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