In an era in which everything is updated and not contextualized, diving into the celebration of a success that has spanned this entire first slice of the millennium appears very difficult. Thirty years to be contained within a comedy show, where comedy itself – in the meantime – has changed drastically.

Television is not that of the early 2000s and, above all, we are not. We laugh for different reasons and get indignant more easily. This is why “Zelig 30” risked walking on quicksand, with the danger of sinking and an enormous effort to stay upright.

The birthday of “Zelig” enjoys great fortune: the hosts. Claudio Bisio and Vanessa Incontrada seem not to have aged a second. No tarnish, no rusty mechanism. Indeed, an iron complicity which is the true driving force of a transmission which, otherwise, would not exist.

The age, in any case, is hidden very well thanks to a mix of amarcord and contemporaneity, both necessary to get the car fueled.

“Zelig 30”, which so far has never fallen below 20% share, speaks to the nostalgic. Or rather, it speaks to ‘grown-up’ viewers. People who were 15-20 years old then and are now 35-40. People who know the big picture, but who have changed the parameters of entertainment in the meantime. Because it’s normal (and inevitable) that what you thought was hilarious as a teenager is a little less so today.

Hence the intelligence in including more recent protagonists such as Max Angioni and perennially relevant figures such as the Magician Forest who, not surprisingly, inaugurated the very first appointment.

The reunion of Katia Follesa and Valeria Graci was also very successful (and highly anticipated). But if the parody of Miss Italia was hilarious to say the least, precisely because it played on the physical metamorphosis of the two comedians (phenomenal in their self-irony), the ‘throne moment’ of “Men and Women” seemed a little less brilliant, linked to stereotypes and languages ​​that were stuck three or four decades ago.

The ones who suffered – and it was predictable – were above all the bearers of catchphrases, that is, those sketches frozen in a specific historical period and ‘defrosted’ after the deadline. This category includes Kripstak and Petrekter by Leonardo Manera and Claudia Penoni, Fabrizio Fontana’s James Tont and Dado’s ‘centoni’.

Never worse, however, than the listless Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo, invited, welcomed and acclaimed without having given anything back in return, except the bored viewing of a clip dating back to 1991 in the midst of an exhausting and annoying gag on the stools.

Vintage footage that also interested Checco Zalone, the big absentee at the party. Praised, glorified and exalted, the blockbuster with “Buen Camino” deserted the reunion, forcing Bisio and Incontrada to launch simple rvm. A strategy of absence, that of Zalone, which now represents a mark of recognition that not even Gino and Michele have managed to scratch.

Defections suffered and defections decided. Pino Campagna is included in the second list, to say the least regretful for the choice: “Not being called back really hurt me”, he confided to Fanpage. “Unfortunately, Zelig has children and stepchildren. Some comedians were involved, others like me, Cornacchione and Braida were not. It’s as if they brought me into the world and then abandoned me on the motorway. I understand that they couldn’t call us all back, but making us say at least a ‘hello’ on stage would have been nice. We felt abandoned and this attitude hurts a lot for an artist.”

According to the comedians mentioned, it is possible that the exclusion is linked to skits which, as mentioned before, would have leveraged dated scenarios and situations. Because comedy evolves and requires the same commitment from those who carry it.

Much more than a simple anniversary. For “Zelig” this gathering is equivalent to a testing ground.