Gialappa's Band
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Gialappa's Band is the name used by Marco Santin (born 11 February 1962 in Milan), Carlo Taranto (b. 16 December 1961 in Milan) and Giorgio Gherarducci (b. 1 November 1963 in Milan), the Italian trio of TV and radio commentators.
Overview
Gialappa's members formed in 1985 at the Radio Popolare of Milan, where they launched the show Bar Sport. The show contained satirical commentary on Sunday matches of Italian football Serie A. The trio also commented on the FIFA World Cup, employing large doses of sarcasm and sound effects (smashed glass and car crashes for tackles and fouls, babies crying for injured players, sounds of hammers and saws for medical interventions on pitch...) to emphasize the on-screen actions. Their delivery was hectic and at time chaotic sharpened by hyperbole and zany, sharp, non-sequitur witticisms. The format was very successful and, as of 2006[update], they have broadcast comments on every football match for the European Championships and World Cups since 1986. Several UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup matches were also commentated during the 1990s.
However, Gialappa's main events remain the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship when they also employ mock national anthems (Sex Pistols' Anarchy in Uk for England, Krautrock tracks for Germany...) and take their uncorrect jokes and blatant rooting for one side over the other to comical extremes. Several editions of the program also featured guests from the same nations as the playing teams. The trio moved from local radios to major private radio Radio Deejay and, later on, to Radio Due. In 2006, Sky Sport offered Gialappa's Band as an alternative live commentary to its official broadcast featuring Fabio Caressa and Giuseppe "Beppe" Bergomi - which coincided with Italy winning that year's World Cup, its first since 1982 and its fourth title overall.[1]
At the same time, Gialappa's Band were hired as TV writers for several shows broadcast by Silvio Berlusconi's network Mediaset. The first TV show of their own was 1989's Mai dire Banzai ("Never Say: Banzai!"), an interpolated Italian localization of Takeshi's Castle and Za Gaman. As in all of their shows, the trio never appears on the screen. Instead, they added voice-over comments, often mocking the acting characters with sharp comments.
The success of Mai dire Banzai spurred their most famous TV show, Mai dire Gol ("Never Say: Goal!") as well as the similar Mai dire Mundial (devoted to 1990 FIFA World Cup and repeated for 1994 FIFA World Cup). These formats, very similar in concept to the radio program Bar Sport, featured performances by talented comical actors. In the long stint of Mai dire Gol, Gialappa's hosted actors like Teo Teocoli, Gene Gnocchi, Antonio Albanese, Paola Cortellesi, Bebo Storti, Claudio Bisio, Neri Marcorè, Maurizio Crozza, Aldo, Giovanni & Giacomo, Daniele Luttazzi, Gioele Dix, Luciana Littizzetto, Paolo Hendel, Fabio De Luigi and many others. Several of those guest starts gained popularity in Italy through their work on the show. Currently, they have parlayed it into an alternative commentary show on RTL Radio entitled Noi dire Gol, which has included commentary from Euro 2012 and the 2014 FIFA World Cup.[2]
References
- ↑ 2006 FIFA World Cup Semifinal - Germany 0-2 Italy (Commentary by Gialappa's Band) YouTube (originally broadcast on Sky Italia/Sky Sport)
- ↑ 2014 FIFA World Cup Semifinal - Brazil 1-7 Germany (Commentary by Gialappa's Band on Noi Dire Gol) YouTube (originally aired on RTL)
