“Television is your G-spot,” warned Beppe Grillo in 2012, who then campaigned to expel “dissidents” from the movement who dared contradict his statements. Now he is returning to the small screen: On Sunday he will be a guest on Che tempo che fa sul Nove, as presenter Fabio Fazio announced in a concise post on his Twitter profile (X). These days the trial of his son Ciro Grillo and three of his friends, who are accused of sexual violence by gangs, is taking place in Tempio Pausania. In the past, Beppe Grillo filmed and published a video to defend his son and his three friends.
It is currently unknown whether the interview on Sunday will also address this topic. The last time the guarantor of the Five Star Movement – of which Giuseppe Conte is president – sat in a television lounge was in 2014 with Bruno Vespa (at that time he had not returned to Rai for 21 years). In the same year he was interviewed by Enrico Mentana for Bersaglio Mobile on La7 at his home in Marina di Bibbona. Just a year ago, the movement’s founder made a live call – again with Mentana – to make it clear that he and Conte had never spoken about Draghi in Colle. There have always been tensions between Fazio and Grillo in the past. As in 2019, when the comedian attacked the presenter of Che tempo che fa, then on Rai1, for an interview with the secretary of the Democratic Party Nicola Zingaretti. But that’s not all: Fabio Fazio was preparing to headline Sanremo 2014 – his fourth festival after the 2013 edition and the 1999-2000 double – when Grillo announced his intention to protest outside the Ariston. A travel monologue, in a hurry, on the way to the theater, besieged by cameras and reporters, an impromptu rally on the red carpet, with a very harsh attack on Rai, “responsible for the country’s catastrophe” and his leaders, the host of the festival . Then a break in the stalls with a duly purchased ticket to attend the beginning of the festival, with the surprise of the protest of two workers from the Land of Fires who steal the show in the first minutes.
New insults at the bar during a commercial break. He finally left the crime scene shortly after 10 p.m. accompanied by the police.
In January 2019, Beppe Grillo was back, albeit in the form of a revival, for an evening on Rai2, C’è Grillo. A tribute to the comedian in a format created by the director of the second network Carlo Freccero and dedicated to the performances of the great characters of Italian television. The lower-than-expected result of 1 million and 31,000 viewers, with a share of 4.33%, led the opposition to call for the resignation of the director of Rai2, who had desperately wanted the broadcast.
Grillo’s golden era in television dates back to the 1980s, with “Te la dò io l’America” in 1981, followed by “Te lo do io il Brasile” in 1984, with which he pioneered the monologue serial broadcast genre introduced that it was actually his strength. Grillometro (1985) also focused entirely on his personal experiences, then his performances took on increasingly satirical, direct and biting tones. This began the first problems with public television, starting with Fantastico in 1986, when it attacked then Prime Minister Bettino Craxi. Statements that cost him an exile that lasted until 1993, when the Beppe Grillo Show, broadcast by the Teatro delle Vittorie, became a ratings success. However, this is another blow for Fabio Fazio, who marked the start of the television season with the first season of Che tempo che fa outside Rai.
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