The shows
popularity lured many famous guests sports, music and movie stars to the
Mostly, though,
devoted fans are pining for their daily dose of the shows star Rosario Fiorello,
better known by his last name alone and the menagerie of Italian celebrities
he so uncannily mimics, from former Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi to the growly-voiced Sicilian best-selling
author Andrea Camilleri to the model and singer Carla
Bruni.
Dont
leave us orphaned for too long, wrote a blogger
named Mary, musing on the Fiorello-less months
stretching before her. Sarah Nichele, who runs a Web
site devoted to Fiorello, said that many people had
written to convey how empty their lives were now that Viva Radio
2 is off the air.
The show will not
return until October.
Fiorello was surprised to hear
that a non-Italian paper was interested in interviewing him. Apart from a bit
role in Anthony Minghellas 1999 film, The
Talented Mr. Ripley, he hasnt
exported his shtick outside
But
here hes a superstar, and one of the countrys most popular showmen. In recent months hes been on the cover of several magazines, including
the Italian edition of Vanity Fair, a popular womens gossip magazine and Famiglia Cristiana, a widely read Roman Catholic news
weekly.
And it was Fiorello who, on live television, wished the Italian soccer
team good luck on behalf of the nation before it kicked off the first game.
Fiorello, 46, is a former D.J. and
television entertainer. Despite past successes, he has no intention of
returning to the small screen, for now.
People say
that when I left television for radio, I was going backwards, he said.
But I see it as a step forward. It shows that in
He also does
funny celebrity endorsements for Fiat and for Infostrada,
a telephone company. He just recently came out with a reading of one of Mr. Camilleris books on CD.
The Fiorello phenomenon, read the cover of the Catholic
magazine.
Actually, the
real phenomenon is that he has managed to breathe new life into an old medium.
If radio is alive, if its at the center of the interest of experts
and advertising investors, its above all because of Fiorello,
Aldo Grasso, the media critic of the
Fiorello, Mr. Grasso continued,
should be credited with bringing back the most rare and least
technological good that exists: talent.
At Radio Due,
home of the lunchtime show (which runs again each night and the next morning),
the mood is buoyant. It broke records, said Eodele
Bellisario, deputy director of the channel, citing
high audience shares and some two million radios tuned in each day.
It was the
event of the year, he added, even though Viva Radio 2 had just
finished its fourth season.
Marco Baldini, one of the main writers, explained the shows
popularity: Its because we have fun together. Even at 46, were
still horsing around. Mr. Baldini has cast
himself as the straight man to Fiorellos verbal
metamorphoses. And we try not to be vulgar, he added.
This does not
mean banishing the puerile altogether. On June 8, before the show went off the
air for the summer, Mr. Baldini strutted down the
streets wearing flesh-colored underwear, paying a bet that the shows
compilation CD would not go to the top of the charts.
In less than a
month, it had reportedly sold 60,000 copies.
But Viva
Radio 2 is not all lighthearted banter. The show is topical. Daily
meetings start with scouring the newspapers.
You
cant be detached from reality, Mr. Baldini
said during a telephone interview. The ideas just happen. The two
stars regularly rail against various social problems.
Still, its
clear that above all Fiorello and Mr. Baldini have fun doing what they do, and the fun is
infectious.
Wearing a
baseball hat, military pants and sneakers, Fiorello
bounded into the studio before the taping of one of the last shows of the
season and exuded good cheer, a knack held over from his start as an
entertainer in tourist villages.
With 10 minutes
to go before taping, he took time to sign autographs, shook countless hands and
was immortalized with admirers on dozens of digital cameras and cellphones. The same routine was repeated after the show.
With barely a
pause during 75 minutes on the air, Fiorello
periodically went in and out of his various personae. A talented singer and
performer he is currently on a
stand-up tour that has reportedly been seen by 350,000 he excels at impersonations poking gentle
fun at quintessentially Italian foibles and politicians.
Fiorello said that feedback from
his subjects had always been positive. Berlusconi is smart; he knows that
its to his advantage to be imitated and poked fun at, Fiorello said.
In fact, he said,
he got letters from the supporters of Romano Prodi,
Mr. Berlusconis foe, demanding that he be imitated too. Fiorello complied.
One of his new
characters is the recently elected president of the republic, Giorgio
Napolitano. Two minutes after Napolitano was elected, we were already
working on southern stereotypes, Mr. Baldini
said.
Fiorellos impersonation of
the last president, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, whose
mandate ended in May, was rewarded by an on-air phone call from Mr. Ciampi. The politician unexpectedly called during a show in
the spring, thanking Fiorello for keeping me in
line.
The radio show
has become so popular that Italian newspapers have reported on Viva Radio
2 clubs, groups of friends that met daily to listen to the broadcast.
When you
capture people over time, you become a friend of sorts, Mr. Baldini said. You get into their hearts.