Al CorSera: «In Saint Tropez I met Gianni Agnelli, he asked me if you were going to ski in Niguarda. Celentano hasn’t heard from him in two years, he and Mori are hypochondriacs.
Archive Image / Entertainment / Teo Teocoli-Adriano Celentano / Photo Clemente Marmorino / Image
On the Corriere della Sera a long interview with Teo Teocoli, singer, stand-up comedian, impersonator, director and actor. He has always been passionate about sports and a big fan of AC Milan.
He says his parents didn’t teach him anything.
«My mother was the daughter of carousel drivers, my grandfather and grandmother only saw them once, I met them in two hours one afternoon, and then I never saw them again, I don’t even know if they are dead. My father only taught me how to parry because he was a bit abusive. Back then the slaps flew, not like today; Baby food eventually arrived. Once on the tram, he slapped my cup so hard it froze the air, all silent until the final stop in Niguarda. He was a sailor and I think the war ruined him: he was too angry, he didn’t want to work under the boss, but he didn’t even have fifth grade, what should he do? Nobody could help me, we lived behind the Ospedale Maggiore, between very clear lawns and irrigation canals where we took a bath ».
He grew up on the outskirts of Milan but frequented the VIPs of Saint-Tropez in the ’60s and ’70s. He was engaged to Brigitte Bardot’s secretary.
“She didn’t understand why I was always there, she looks at me and says: how come everyone is there and you’re here? Teò, loser“.
In Saint-Tropez he met Gianni Agnelli.
«Teo, are you Greek? No Italian. where do you live In Niguarda. But do you ski in these parts? No, but from Cusano Milanino you can see the mountains. We took him to dinner at the most expensive restaurant in Saint-Tropez, food cost around 500, I simulated a refined and elegant loss of appetite. I was afraid of the bill, but I was naive: when Agnelli is at the table, you don’t get a chance“.
Born in Taranto, he lived in Reggio Calabria, then ended up in Milan, where he was considered a southerner.
“Back then they didn’t even know where Reggio Calabria was, with the Freccia del Sud also stopping at the gas station, it took two days to get there. They were trains that would be luxurious today, with velvet, compartments, luggage nets: when I was little they put me to sleep, in Paola they rolled down the windows and finally I could breathe. In Reggio I spoke with my Milanese accent and sounded like a German; in Milan we lived a bitter life, we lived in a basement, a kind of garage, I had nothing. My father was out looking for work or something else; my mother worked as a seamstress and she was treated pretty badly; People called me Africa, terùn, andalù. The sign “Do not rent to southerners” was visible from afar ».
At the end of the sixties he was the protagonist of «Hair» with Renato Zero and Loredana Bertè.
“Loredana was already angry back then, when I asked her her name, she immediately made it clear: It will be my cock. I didn’t think she would be famous because she was in tune, but she didn’t have a specific voice. Renatino, on the other hand, was already writing ten songs a day, they had to lock him in the dressing room so he could shut up, so he could play them alone. At the time I was already a friend of Adriano Celentano and it was he who made me do hair because he turned to me all the things they offered him, he always said: let Teo do them ».
Still on Celentano:
“I waited for him at his house when I was 14, I thought his name was Cedentano with a d, he had already made it, the resemblance was in the southern face we both had. For 20 years on January 6th we always celebrate his birthday with songs, jokes, taking off all colors. I also had a romantic getaway with the two of them, him and Claudia Mori, and then there was me and Miki Del Prete: we stayed a month in a hotel in Madonna di Campiglio. I don’t know what we have to do with this, but he broke up alone with no friends. We haven’t heard from each other for two years, they are also afraid of a mosquito, they are hypochondriacsanxious, they don’t take the plane, the ship, not even the elevator ».
He came to cabaret thanks to Enzo Jannacci.
“I used to go to Santa Tecla where they did jazz and dance, There was a pianist by the name of Enzo Jannacci, who told me something I couldn’t understand, you couldn’t understand anything he said because he was mumbling. It was he who introduced me to the Derby and wanted me for his first show, Saltimbanchi si muore, where Cochi and Renato, Lino Toffolo, were also present. The day of the debut – it was Sunday afternoon – I haven’t given up seeing Milan; I arrived with the radio in hand, scarf and AC Milan hat. I went on stage like that and people laughed because they thought it was a gag ».
As the first shoulder of Gialappa, he became the protagonist in Mai dire gol.
“I made 3 million per episode, there was also Gene Gnocchi who then didn’t want to be there the following year and I never understood why. With Caccamo, Peo Pericoli and Vettorello, I’ve covered almost all of sporting Italy ».
Tell us how Caccamo was born:
“The clothing was inspired by Necco, the 90 Minutes reporter. The speech came to me from my uncles during those year and a half in Naples, I had taken the mood of the city, the Gaga talked like that, you could hear them say: Nothing ever happens here, I’m leaving this city. And where are you going? In Capri… I saw this blue jacket, it was perfect but very tight. That was fun too. The director then made a mistake and pierced his tie, it was a brilliant mistake“.
Pass off as someone in a bad mood.
“Everyone says that. I used to get angry very often. I think I’m the king of details and that’s why I immediately shout instead of thinking ».
He tells of some of his quarrels.
“I was very angry with Fatma Ruffini when she cut my sketches: But we’re crazy, you don’t touch the things I do, what can you do better? I got angry with Gialappa because they kept citing left-wing artists: too many. Even with Boldi, but he got scared and didn’t react. Gino and Michele tell me that one moment you would kill me and the next you adore me. The change in personality and attitude is something that my father may have left me“.
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