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Italian Comedy
Below we have listed some
great Italian comic actors of all time, and
included links to other pages where you can
watch some of their video clips. We have
also included Italian-Canadian stand up
comedians such as
Joe Avati
and
Pasquale Parmiggiano, who
have reached great success all around the
world recounting their funny stories and
observations of growing up second generation
Italian. Their routines are performed in a
mixture of both English and Italian.
A brief history
The traditions of
Commedia dell'Arte and Greek
theatre are still continued in Italian
comedy today. Commedia dell'Arte
(literally translated as 'Artistic Comedy'),
dates back to the 16th century. It can be
described as a comical theatre presentation
performed by professional actors who
travelled around Italy. The travelling
acting groups performed mostly in city
streets, and sometimes in court venues. The
more famous troupes such as the Fedeli
and Confidenti, even performed in
palaces and reached international acclaim.
The Commedia dell'Arte's
style of comedy used types of music, dance
and witty dialogue, and it's style spread
throughout Europe and still lives on today
in present day theatre.
learn more...
In the past, ongoing
themes in Italian comedy films were that of
sickness, poverty, hunger, and old age, the
idea being to highlight the ironic
absurdities in tragic situations. A classic
example to illustrate this is Roberto
Benigni's Life is Beautiful
(La vita e` bella). The film is set in the
second world war in a nazi concentration
camp, but somehow through the tragedy,
Benigni still makes us laugh. Modern
comedies today still laugh at the
absurdities of modern life, although the
themes of the past of sickness, old age etc
aren't that common. Italians also appreciate
jokes about life in general, and also enjoy
jokes about politics e.g. there is a comic
tradition of political cartoons called
vignetta that can be found on the front page
of Corriere della Sera, and in Naples there
is a cartoon character of a chicken called
'Gino' who makes mini cartoon clips and
songs about politics and pokes fun at
political situations in the world today.
Some
great comic actors
Eduardo de Filippo
(1900-1984)
Born in
Naples, de Filippo (photo below left) was
the son of Scarpetta a famous
playwright, of Misera e Nobilta`
fame (starring Toto` see below) He
was a theatrical and comical legend, and
(like other works of this time),much of his
work focused on the lives of the Neapolitan
people and their hardships, their dubious
cunning nourished by centuries of hunger,
their fantasies and their love of life.
visit
his website...
 He
started acting in the theatre at the age of
5. As he got older he also became a
playwright, screenwriter, author and poet,
and in 1932 formed a theater company with
his brother Peppino and
sister Titina. Many of his works have been
translated in other languages and performed
in theatres around the world, including
Russia, and his play Filumena Marturano
at the Picadilly Theatre in London with
actress Dame Judi Dench in 1998. (A story of
a Neapolitan prostitute who is determined to
marry to secure her future). Other famous
works include Natale in casa Cupiello,
in which he wrote and starred, and he
also appeared alongside Toto` (see below)
and Sophia Loren in the famous L'oro di
Napoli in 1954.
autobiography
written in English...
Toto`
Toto` (born Antonio de
Curtis, see photo left) was a comedy genius
and the icon of Italian comedy. He was a
very talented actor and comic (appearing in
108 films), a film writer, (writing 5 of
them), a music composer, (composing music
for 4 of them), and a poet. Toto` was the
master in making people laugh, not only with
his words, but also with his facial
expressions and physical actions. One of
 the
his greatest and funniest films is
Miseria e noblita`,(see
below poster) also starring
Sophia Loren. (see photo right) It
tells the story of two Neapolitan families,
who are both very poor and starving living
in post-war Naples. They then come across an
opportunity to pretend they are nobilty, and
manage for a short time to live a life of
luxury. However their luck doesn' t last for
long.....
see photos from this film
Antoni de Curtis website (in
Italian)
Read about Toto` in English
Toto` audio & video clips
More Toto` video clips
Massimo
Troisi (1954-1994)
Born in San
Giorgio a Cremano, Naples, this great comic
actor of all time will probably
be remembered mostly for
Il
 Postino (see
photo left) (1994), a touching film about
the friendship that developed between a
humble postman played by Troisi,
and the exiled poet Pablo Neruda.
what makes this film even more touching, is
that fact that Troisi was
awaiting heart surgery whilst filming, and
sadly died the day after filming stopped.
Troisi was born into a
simple family and studied to be a land
surveyor. The theatre, however was his real
passion, and he pursued a career in acting.
By 1981, he was to star in his first film,
which he had also written and directed;
Ricomincio da tre.
(I'm starting from three). It proved a huge
success, and he went on 3 years later to
direct, write and star in another hugely
successful and funny film with his friend
Robert Benigni, Non ci resta che
piangere. (Nothing left but to
cry). This film was about two friends who
one day woke up to find they had been
transported back hundreds of years in time.
biography in
English....
 Roberto
Benigni
Benigni (left)
was born in Arezzo, Tuscany in
1952, and started acting in the theatre, at
the age of 20 in Rome. He
 then
moved onto writing and directing films
aswell as acting, and some of his best known
and most successful are Non ci
resta che piangere in which he
appeared with Troisi.
Benigni also directed The Monster
(Il Mostro), Il piccolo diavolo
(with Walter Matthau) and Johnny
Stecchino. His most successful film of
all time and what many will know him for is
La vita e` bella (Life is
beautiful - see photo right), a tragi-comedy
of young boy and his parents in a nazi
concentration camp, with some scenes of the
film being shot in Auschwitz, Poland. He
directed this film and starred in it too. It
was nominated for 7 Oscars, and won 3 :
Best Actor, Best Film Music
and Best Foreign Film.
see his website...
Visit
Rai.it
to learn about more Italian comic actors.
2nd generation Italian comedians
Check out these websites of the following
comedians who tell stories of how it is to
grow up 2nd generation Italian in Canada
(Pasquale Parmiggiano) and Australia (Joe
Avati). They tell stories in a mixture of
Italian and English.
Pasquale
Parmiggiano
Joe Avati
Giovanni
Gallino
Gabriel Rossi
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