MAKING IT MANZO Homegrown reality TV stars talk business, manhood, and life in the Mile Square BY AMANDA STAAB PHOTOS BY ANTHONY SAINT JAMES
CHRIS (L.) AND ALBIE MANZO
rothers Albie and Chris Manzo know well where they got their fame, the phenomenon that is reality TV. “We don’t confuse ourselves with anyone who has a talent,” says Chris. But certainly what the 20-somethings do have is charisma, work ethic, and—most important—each other. They live and work together, and together, they are making the most of their 15 minutes. At ages 22 and 19, the brothers were introduced to a national audience after their mother, Caroline Manzo, was cast in Bravo’s reality TV hit, “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.” Packed with tearful family dramas, vicious rivalries, catfights, love, loss, and a whole lot of levity (thanks to the Manzo brothers), the show has had three successful seasons. Before the first episode aired, Chris says he thought about how cool it would be to appear on the show. Now, both brothers have been in several episodes and even had their own web series spinoff, “Boys to Manzo,” on Bravotv.com. The series, mostly filmed in Hoboken, highlights how different the brothers are from one another. “I don’t think if you scoured the globe that you could find
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two brothers more opposite than me and Chris,” says Albie in one of the webisodes. Albie, now 26, is a neat-nick with a preference for sport coats. On the show, he’s told he’s handsome by just about everyone but criticized for taking just about everything too seriously. Chris, now 23, is a jokester who wears whatever is clean and takes life dayby-day. But when they’re together, they have balance. “We need each other pretty bad,” says Chris. The Manzos say they don’t even think about the cameras anymore and live as if they don’t have a crew in tow. “We are not acting,” Chris says. “This is a reality show.” Their move into a threebedroom apartment on River Street in Hoboken with Albie’s college friend, Greg Bennett, was filmed two years ago. Since then, they’ve appeared at charity events and fundraisers in town and hosted tasting parties at local bars and restaurants. Chris even worked at the Wicked Wolf Tavern for a while. “We wanted to be somewhere we could have a good time and just enjoy our young 20s,” says Chris. “This is really the perfect spot.” The brothers say they’ve gotten to know a lot of people in town, and now whenev-
