Imitator at the beginning, entertainer on Sunday afternoons, keeper of memories, helmsman of the Festival on several occasions and, continuously since 2003, host of Che tempo che fa. Fabio Fazio is the man of a thousand television lives, of many projects that are often different from each other and of approaches that have changed several times over the course of his career.

Born in Savona on 30 November 1964, Fazio took his first steps in private radio, inspired by the spirit of Renzo Arbore. The first turning point came at eighteen, when Rai announced that it was looking for a new face for the eighties. He comes forward, but for another reason: “My real goal was to be able to see the Rai studios – he recently told Gianluca Gazzoli’s BSMT – then, unexpectedly, I received a letter at home where they told me that they would be reserve the right to use me.”

The opportunity appears almost immediately and has the appearance of Carrà. Fazio was in fact hired to “Pronto, Raffaella?”, taking over the running in the second week of airing. “I would never have caught myself, I was unconscious. I never thought that TV could become my profession.”

“Those who play football”, Fazio’s explosion

Subsequent commitments are wasted: Fazio works on “Loretta Goggi in Quiz”, on “L’Orecchiocchio”, on “Jeans”, on “Fate il tuo gioco” and again with Goggi on “Via Teulada 66”, just to mention some titles. They are nothing more than the preliminaries that anticipate the adventure that will mark his career and give the history of the small screen one of the most successful shows ever: “Quelli che il calcio”. Rai is focusing on Fazio because before him Dario Fo had declined the offer. The basic idea of ​​the program is extremely simple: talk about football without seeing it, setting up a container inside which the radio appears.

Relegated to Rai 3, “Quelli che il calcio” remained on the third network for five years, until the ratings – as excellent as they were unexpected on the eve – pushed Viale Mazzini to promote the broadcast on Rai 2. It was the definitive explosion: Fazio (re)launches Paolo Brosio and makes a real diamond like Teo Teocoli shine. At the same time, “Anima mia” was born, the first show focused on nostalgia and television imagery. Fazio recounts the years between 1968 and 1983, dusting off the myths and fashions of mass culture with absolute irony.

With him, Rai rejuvenated Sanremo. He was just 35 years old

After Bongiorno in 1997 and Vianello in 1998, Rai understands that it is time to rejuvenate Sanremo. And who better than Fabio can identify the U-turn? When they entrusted him with the leadership of the event, Fazio was not even 35 years old. Crazy, if you consider that the 44-year-old Alessandro Cattelan is still considered too young for such a role.

“I wanted to bring the catalog of the twentieth century to the stage, from Neil Armstrong to Gorbachev, passing through the Nobel Prize winner Dulbecco”. The revolution worries everyone, especially Rai itself, which summoned Fazio a few days after the start of the Festival: “They told me that, according to a study they conducted, the Rai 1 audience was quite distant from mine”. On the contrary, the results are excellent and the encore appears automatic, inevitable. At Sanremo number 50 he wants Luciano Pavarotti and his beloved Teocoli alongside him, who also lights up the after-festival.

Fazio is a kind of King Midas. He continued his “Quelli che…” for another season and, in the summer of 2001, decided to make the big leap into the unknown, in the direction of the newly formed La7 which aspired to establish itself as the third television hub. From Alcatraz in Milan, Fazio and Littizzetto (long before “Che tempo che fa”) officially turned on the channel in a “First Evening” which totaled over 2 million viewers. An exploit which, however, represents a mere illusion. The “FabShow”, which was supposed to air in the late evening five days a week, was canceled in mid-September. “The project was immediately put aside, but I earned a lot of money,” he also confided to Gazzoli.

“Che Tempo Che Fa”, where the Pope and Obama passed

At that point, Fazio disappeared from the radar for a while. The television resurrection took place on 13 September 2003, when the public heard for the very first time the theme song of “Che tempo che fa”, which is a deliberate evocation of the musical theme of Bernacca’s weather forecast. “I’m a bit out of practice – begins the host, who is wearing Fabrizio De André’s lucky tie, given to him by Dori Ghezzi – talking about the weather is a way of talking about the weather, but it’s also a way of talking about the times are running.”

Initially three weekly appointments are planned: Saturday and Sunday from 8.10pm to 9pm, as well as a shorter streak on Friday, of just twenty minutes. The political controversies, which will accompany Fazio for twenty years, manifest themselves already in the conception phase, when the host is forced to give up the physicist Franco Prodi, Romano’s brother, excluded by a directive from the Rai board of directors.

If the comic moments were originally entrusted to Francesco Paolantoni and Antonio Cornacchione, it was in 2005 that Littizzetto’s presence became permanent. At the same time, the times dedicated to interviews are expanding, proving to be a distinctive feature of the format. “The first great guest was Bill Gates, it was his staff who asked to come”, explains Fazio who, over time, welcomed practically everyone: Madonna, Lady Gaga, Emmanuel Macron, Barack Obama, Richard Gere and even the Pope, with the episode of 6 February 2022 which still holds the audience record today: 6,731,000 viewers, equal to a 25.4% share.

His living room is not intimidating. Indeed, those who sit in the chair of “Che tempo che fa” know that they will not run any risks. “I don’t know if you have to make the guest happy, but you have to respect him. You have no right in half an hour to hurt a person you may never see again for the rest of your life.”

In 2010 he invented “Come away with me” with Roberto Saviano. There are over 9 million viewers glued to the TV. They were not enough to predict a sequel and the spin off – “What I don’t have” – ​​was welcomed in the spring of 2012 by La7 (here it is again!), consistently obtaining excellent numbers.

In 2013 he reappeared in Sanremo and it was yet another success. It gives the big names the opportunity to present two songs, with spectators asked to choose which one will continue the competition. As happened the first time, Rai confirms it. Fazio accepts and in hindsight regrets it, because the 2014 Festival goes down in history as one of the least seen editions ever.

A year without Costanzo, Maria De Fillippi chooses Fabio Fazio for the celebratory show

Fazio and the attacks on compensation (never seen before). From Brunetta to Salvini

Fazio’s name is inevitably linked to the word ‘compensation’. Constant and ferocious attacks that no other TV professional has ever received with equal intensity. Inaugurating the practice is Renato Brunetta, who addresses the presenter live and alludes to the 5 million euro salary. “I can’t say whether it’s true or not, I have a contract that binds me to confidentiality,” is the prompt reply. “This program is entirely paid for by advertising, I make my company earn money.”

The theme, therefore, turns into a catchphrase and Matteo Salvini fuels it cyclically: “Fazio takes in a month what the Minister of the Interior perhaps takes in a year”, says the head of the Interior Ministry. Fazio collects, resists and moves forward. He christens the ‘table’, which is equivalent to a return to those origins dominated by messing around and light-heartedness. But “Che tempo che fa” can also be a public service, becoming a precious information beacon during the terrible months of the pandemic.

As a lover of memory, it was he who took care of the remake of “Rischiatutto” in 2016, faithfully maintaining its structure. “It’s like a vintage car, which must be driven at its own speed. It wouldn’t make sense to give it the engine of a modern car.”

Among the rumors never denied by Fazio is that concerning his unshakable superstition. “I always take the same route from the dressing rooms to the studio, the ladies have to come on stage first, I always get miked in the exact same place and woe betide me naming the unmentionable colours,” he confided to Tv Sorrisi e Canzoni.

Fazio is a novel with a thousand chapters, the last of which we can find on page nine. The arrival at Discovery is in any case a revolution only on paper, as it is a perfect reproduction of what it had long produced at Rai. A limit and, at the same time, the guarantee (for those who love it) of always being able to dock in a safe port.