Present, albeit absent. Zalone is there and everywhere. It’s in our discussions at the table, it’s in the chatter at the bar and at work, it’s in the judgments on social media, it’s in the political debate, with right and left jostling to give a label to the sarcasm of the Apulian comedian.

Zalone is on everyone’s lips, but he is not on TV, a medium he cleverly deserts thanks to an attitude of subtraction started years ago.

“Buen Camino”, in theaters since Christmas and already an absolute box office hit in the calendar year 2025, has not actually enjoyed physical promotion on the small screen. The only exception was the intrusion into unified networks on 17 December on Mediaset channels. Just 40 seconds, around 9pm, during which there was barely time to joke about the President of the Republic’s end-of-year message.

For the rest, no incursion. Because Luca Medici knows perfectly well the risk of saturation, which he would certainly generate if he indulged left and right, abusing that ‘big cock’ which, as a mask, must be used with care and intelligence.

Zalone’s ‘cadence’ is that of a world football championship. After “Sole a catinelle”, dated 2013, he reappeared in 2016 with “Quo Vado”, and then reappeared only in 2020 with “Tolo Tolo”, a work now more than five years distant.

Six years in which Zalone has practically not been seen on TV, if we remove a silent eight-minute participation in “Via dei matti numero 0” in March 2021 (among other things at the same time as Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s press conference) and the fleeting guest appearance on an evening of Sanremo in 2022. We should also add the broadcast on Canale 5, in November 2023, of the show “Amore + Iva” at the Arena in Verona, which however was nothing more than a live theatrical performance reproduced on the screens.

Zalone is not practice, it is not customary. It’s an event. And this is probably the secret of its success. Absence generates waiting, waiting causes demand, request leads to cash. And television, in this sense, has a negative impact, as it is capable of inflating and suffocating characters that you see practically everywhere.

Take, precisely, cinema promotions. At the time of the cinepanettoni Boldi and De Sica did not hesitate, if necessary, to dress up as bodyguards or paparazzi. Not to mention Pieraccioni, Aldo Giovanni and Giacomo or those who, in other periods, have exploited (and will exploit) the juicy showcase of the Festival to send Italians into the theaters. In 2008 Verdone even took the stage at the Ariston for two evenings for the launch of Grande, Grosso and Verdone, without forgetting Favino and Impacciatore who, already engaged in Sanremo, gave a strong push to Muccino’s “A casa tutti bene”. And Favino didn’t even shy away from co-hosting an entire episode of “GialappaShow”, if this served to launch “Il maestro”, his latest effort.

Zalone no. For him there are no Fazio, Gramellini, Cucciari, Toffanin, Venier, Fialdini. And the same goes for the cast of “Buen Camino”, unknown until watching the film, despite Martina Colombari who was in the constant spotlight of “Dancing with the Stars” for three months.

A sort of metamorphosis, because in reality Medici had done the binge in his very first phase of his career, between “Zelig”, related spin-offs and the supporting role of Amadeus in “Canta e vinci”, a musical quiz that did not enter the annals that Italia 1 placed outside the guarantee period between 2007 and 2008.

A one-man show entitled “Resto Umile” was even created about him. It was 2011 and Zalone made headlines above all for his controversial imitation of Michele Misseri, Avetrana’s uncle who changed his version every three seconds. A ferocious (and hilarious) reading of reality which, seen again today, tells a lot about the character and the tone of his satire.

Then television didn’t reward him. Now he chases him, dreaming of his saving appearances. Which, certainly, won’t arrive.

In short, what Checco Zalone’s new film is like