Sam Bankman-Fried has officially made his stage debut—sort of. The disgraced FTX founder is featured as a fictionalized inmate in Luigi: The Musical, a bold, dark comedy that reimagines him sharing a prison cell with Sean “Diddy” Combs and Luigi Mangione, the alleged assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The satirical production, which opened last Friday at San Francisco’s intimate 49-seat Taylor Street Theatre, sold out its entire run in less than 24 hours.
Set inside Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center—the real-life facility where all three men were held in late 2023—the play imagines the trio navigating incarceration while delivering biting critiques of the industries they represent. Each character is cast as a fallen figurehead of a broken system: Mangione for healthcare, Diddy for entertainment, and Bankman-Fried for tech.
Portrayed by actor André Margatini, SBF delivers a monologue styled like a TED Talk, skewering Silicon Valley’s messianic self-image from behind bars. The performance lands alongside comedic numbers like “Bay Area Baby,” drawing applause from audiences eager to reflect on the absurdity of power, privilege, and downfall.
“I think we are all pretty curious about the systems at large,” said lead actor Jonny Stein in an interview with CNN.
“Health care is part of what we’re looking at, but tech and entertainment too.”
Crypto, Crime, and Camp Collide as SBF Satire Draws Standing Ovations
Sam Bankman-Fried’s fictional stage persona is striking a nerve—and a few chords—in Luigi: The Musical, where tech’s fallen “crypto king” is portrayed as a privileged Palo Alto prodigy turned prison philosopher. The satirical production leans heavily into SBF’s public image, poking fun at his awkward demeanor, tech-world hubris, and the multibillion-dollar implosion of FTX.
In one standout scene, actor André Margatini performs “Bay Area Baby,” a musical number that caricatures Bankman-Fried as a self-important startup savant who brushes off regulation like it’s a product flaw. Another gag sees him pitch a blockchain solution for prison itself—offering to “tokenize incarceration” in a not-so-subtle jab at the crypto industry’s penchant for reinventing systems without real reform.
Despite the sensitive nature of the source material—especially with ongoing legal cases involving fellow characters Luigi Mangione and Sean “Diddy” Combs—audiences have embraced the performance. The production continues to pack its 49-seat home at Taylor Street Theatre and is now expanding to The Independent on July 13, a larger San Francisco venue that seats up to 500.
While the show doesn’t shy away from controversy, it thrives on the absurdity of real-life events and the cultural appetite for catharsis through satire. As Luigi: The Musical rides its momentum, it’s clear that public fascination with scandal—especially when dressed in song and irony—remains as strong as ever.
Quick Facts
- Luigi: The Musical imagines Sam Bankman-Fried, Sean “Diddy” Combs, and Luigi Mangione as prison cellmates.
- The play critiques healthcare, entertainment, and tech through satire and music.
- SBF is portrayed delivering a TED Talk-style monologue and singing “Bay Area Baby.”
- The show sold out its 49-seat venue and will move to a 500-seat theater in July.
