The first of the four event evenings broadcast on Canale 5 to celebrate 30 years of ‘Zelig’ relies heavily on showcases, but overall it works. Despite the lack of gratitude from Checco Zalone who doesn’t show up and is scandalously celebrated in absentia. Let’s look at the passed and failed ones together.

Three Oronzos are better than one, the authors know how to start with a bang: 7.5

The episode starts off well. Claudio Bisio and Vanessa Incontrada announce the character of Oronzo (Raul Cremona), but Magician Forest is unexpectedly epiphaned, as if he were the original, with dirty tank top, paunch, socks and crude gargles of order. He gives Incontrada “something made by me”, that is, a stolen car mirror. The car in question will turn out to be that of Claudio Bisio, to the enormous surprise of no one in the world. Then, chaos: Cremona, the real Oronzo, enters to claim its space. And now we’re at two. The original and the clone engage in a magic number in which Cremona (does not) risk having his hand cut off by the other one. It all ends up in the cow, just like it should. And here Bisio enters, also disguised as Oronzo. The trio appears rather repellent to the eye but credit must be given to the authors for having made a good start, with three highlights to pay homage to a historical character of the show (‘born’ there in 1996). With due proportions, it is as if Eros Ramazzotti, Biagio Antonacci and Gigi D’Alessio opened the first evening of Sanremo, in very dirty tank tops and cruel jokes. Could anyone ever change the channel?

Don’t Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo remember anything about Zelig at all? vote 4

They are absolute myths and rejecting them should be unconstitutional. Yet, we do it. Aldo Giovanni and Giacomo presented themselves on the stage of ‘Zelig’, to whom they owe a lot in any case, just to be venerated. Without doing anything other than mold. Sitting on comfortable stools styled as three owls on the dresser, they watched together with the hosts clips of their ancient performances on broadcast, including a prehistoric version of the famous number from which the catchphrase ‘Pdor, son of Kmer’ was born: it was 1991, the very first debut of the sketch, and today it seems like an excerpt from ‘Melevisione’ (especially for the ‘scenography’ made of pure cardboard and visibly forged by scissors rounded tip). Incontrada asks the trio what they remember about ‘Zelig’ but none of them can come up with a meaningful sentence. They remain there to observe their old rvm, almost bored, as if they were aquarium fish in the mirror. Now it’s no longer even time to unpack the documentary ‘Attitudini Nella’, the one released at the cinema about their career. We didn’t expect a performance, but not even the mere display of Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo like sacred relics. A truly enthralling enthusiasm and verve. Dragging towards the sleep of the righteous. What laziness, what a shame.

Max Samaritani and the treadmill with sushi on it: rating 7

There is always great fear, usually well founded, when someone ‘debuts’ on the Zelig stage. The risk of ‘Corrida’ unfortunately without cowbells is always around the corner. Apart from that, we could be wrong, but we know we have already seen him there or certainly in some other program where comedians parade, Bisio presents him as a ‘rookie’ but Max Samaritani, on the other hand, defends himself very well. To stay on topic we could almost say that the scene is eaten. He delivers a monologue about being ‘fat’ (as he defines himself) and despite some ‘Big Mama Moments’, that is, which focuses a little too much on rhetoric, it works. Our guy talks about fat phobia, but above all about the failed attempts with the dietician: on the doctor’s advice, he says he bought a treadmill. But he uses it for sushi, so he can watch uramaki, gunkan and tempura slide along the belt at different speeds. Why didn’t anyone think of this before? The world absolutely needs this cutting-edge technology, each of us deserves it at home. Samaritans, listen to us: patent it!

Manera’s Polish cinema? It would have been better to keep the good memory of it: rating 3

Leonardo Manera and Claudia Penoni return to the stage of ‘Zelig’ with their great classic: the sketch of Polish cinema. In the 2000s it was an irresistible catchphrase, like the obvious relationship problems of its passive-aggressive protagonists, Kripstak and Petrekter. What effect does it have to see them again today in those same shoes? Not quite as triumphant, to put it mildly. We never laugh, with very cold jokes between his sexual impotence and her lack of libido. The same menu as then, for goodness sake, but today unfortunately the number seems to have lost all comic potential. It would have been better to preserve the beautiful memory of it.

Max Angioni is not a pug (and he has finally stopped screaming at nonsense): 8

‘Yes, but I’m not a pug’, protests Max Angioni as soon as he goes on stage at Zelig because Incontrada and Bisio insist on patting him on the head to greet him. The host urges him: “In fact this is the rest of the pug!”, but the young comedian doesn’t give up: “And this WAS Claudio Bisio, ladies and gentlemen!”. Giving him twenty minutes at the start of the episode is a very fair card to play, given that he is a face much loved by both Biscione and social media. So what does he say? Almost nothing. He would have brought a monologue, even a poem, dedicated to his parents but Incontrada and Bisio interrupt him at every syllable and so the real heart of the number becomes the annoying (but funny) interaction between the unfortunate comedian and the two hecklers he finds next to him. Two hecklers who soon become three with the entry of Francesco Migliazza on guitar for an increasingly intrusive musical background. It works because it’s like watching a group of friends tease each other, all having fun. And above all because, finally, Angioni is not wasted with slapstick entrances in which he screams like a howler monkey for a few minutes and then leaves, as almost always happened in previous editions, for example with the unbearable character of David Scannamanna. The audience’s eardrums thank you wholeheartedly. And then, at least, here you really laugh: Angioni’s expressions between frowning and annoyed are worth more than a thousand jokes. It seems designed right down to the most micro-facial expressions to entertain. Congratulations to the aforementioned mum and dad. However, to avoid any misunderstanding, we would like to remember: Max Angioni is not a pug! Will we ever be able to get this thought association out of our heads from now on? Unfortunately (or fortunately) no. Really, think about it for a moment…

Checco Zalone, ungrateful, does not appear on the stage that gave him fame: 0

Aldo Giovanni and Giacomo were annoyingly lazy in their self-celebratory guest at ‘Zelig’. But at least they showed up, they were there on stage together with Bisio and Incontrada. And they were there to pay homage to the thirtieth anniversary of a program to which, in any case, they owe a lot. You don’t win anything just for showing up, but at the same time the absence of Checco Zalone is even more jarring. Especially because the hosts launch clips with an old-fashioned performance by the Apulian comedian and remain there, with their hands folded, to see it for themselves. It’s a piano duet between us and Incontrada, it still makes you laugh today. But the point remains: without ‘Zelig’ Zalone wouldn’t be where he is now, that program gave him fame and therefore the possibility of being able to attempt the cinema move (which he later succeeded to great effect). Allergic to television, as well as to the promotion of his feature films, since he doesn’t need it, lack of recognition is still an ugly beast. And ‘Buen Camino’ then, with long, well-stretched strides. Is it because now he no longer misses the ‘permanent job’?