Daniele Luttazzi
Encyclopedia
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
theater actor, writer, satirist, illustrator and singer/songwriter. His stage name is a homage to musician and actor Lelio Luttazzi. His favourite topics are politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
, religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
and death
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
.
He is also famous as in 2002 he was effectively banned from RAI
RAI
RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...
, the Italian public broadcasting company, by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
, who was angry because Luttazzi, at that time host of Satyricon, a raunchy late night comedy show, interviewed Marco Travaglio
Marco Travaglio
Marco Travaglio is an Italian investigative journalist, writer and commentator.-Biography:Travaglio was born in Turin. He started his career writing for Catholic publications such as Il nostro tempo , then worked for the renowned journalist Indro Montanelli for newspapers such as Il Giornale and...
, the author of a book that pointed at the unknown origins Mr. Berlusconi's wealth as potential links with the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
.
Nowadays he only works in theatres. He is often cited by the European press (i.e. The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
, Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
, El Pais) as proof of Mr. Berlusconi's censorship of the opposition. In addition to writing and performing monologues and theatre works, he occasionally writes political and satirical essays for Micromega
MicroMega
MicroMega is a political, cultural, social and economic Newsmagazine, published bimonthly in Italy.It was founded in March 1986 by the editors Giorgio Ruffolo and Paolo Flores d'Arcais, published by the Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso...
and il manifesto
Il Manifesto
il manifesto is an Italian newspaper. While it calls itself communist, it is not connected to any political party. It was founded as a monthly review in 1969 by a collective of left-wing journalists engaged in the wave of critical thought and activity on the Italian left in that period. Prominent...
, two left-wing periodicals.
Luttazzi is also interested in drawing, with a selection of his graphical works published as a book called Capolavori (Masterpieces). Daniele Luttazzi is also a musician: as of 2007, he released two CDs, named respectively Money for Dope and School is Boring, in which he sings in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
Biography
Luttazzi was born in Santarcangelo di RomagnaSantarcangelo di Romagna
Santarcangelo di Romagna is a town and comune in the province of Rimini, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, on the Via Emilia. As of 2009, it had a population of some 21,300. It is crossed by two rivers, the Uso and the Marecchia.- Santarcangelo Festival :...
, province of Rimini
Province of Rimini
The Province of Rimini is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Rimini. It borders the state of San Marino.-History:...
. He began his comic career performing satirical monologues in theatre shows. In 1994 he performed characters in the popular comedy show Mai dire Gol (Never Say Goal), aired by Italia 1
Italia 1
Italia 1 is an Italian commercial television channel on the Mediaset network. It is oriented especially at young people.Italia 1 was launched in January 1982 and, originally, was owned by Rusconi; after a few months, however, due to the aggressive dumping practices of Silvio Berlusconi's rival...
.
In 1988, his monologue won an award in a comedy contest held at Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
's Teatro Sistina
Teatro Sistina
The Teatro Sistina is a theatre in Rome, Italy.The building, designed by Marcello Piacentini, was begun in 1946 on the former site of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Polish Institute. It was inaugurated on 28 December 1949 as a cinema, but later become mostly used for theatrical and cabaret...
.
In 1998, he began his first one-man show, called Barracuda. Luttazzi did monologues about recent news, interviews with famous showbiz and political personalities, and skits for adult audiences. The same formula was then adopted for his next TV show, called Satyricon, aired by the public channel Rai Due
Rai Due
Rai 2 is one of the three main television channels broadcast by Italian public television company RAI alongside with Rai 1 and Rai 3. Rai 2 first started transmissions on November 4, 1961...
.
In March 2001, Luttazzi interviewed journalist Marco Travaglio
Marco Travaglio
Marco Travaglio is an Italian investigative journalist, writer and commentator.-Biography:Travaglio was born in Turin. He started his career writing for Catholic publications such as Il nostro tempo , then worked for the renowned journalist Indro Montanelli for newspapers such as Il Giornale and...
about the contents of his book "L'odore dei soldi" (The scent of Money). Topic: the mysterious origins of Berlusconi's money. "Satyricon" was suspended, Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
, Mediaset
Mediaset
Mediaset S.p.A., known as Gruppo Mediaset in Italian, is an Italian-based media company which is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country...
, Fininvest
Fininvest
Fininvest is a financial holding company controlled by Silvio Berlusconi's family and managed by Silvio Berlusconi's eldest daughter Marina Berlusconi.-Structure:...
and the Forza Italia
Forza Italia
Forza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....
party sued Luttazzi and Travaglio for defamation, asking them 40 billions lire (about 20 million euros). Luttazzi and Travaglio won all the trials.
In 2002, Berlusconi said that Luttazzi, the journalist Enzo Biagi
Enzo Biagi
Enzo Biagi was an Italian journalist and writer.-Biography:Biagi was born in Lizzano in Belvedere, and began his career as a journalist in Bologna. Active in journalism for six decades and author of some eighty books, Biagi won numerous awards, among which the 1979 Saint Vincent prize and the...
(the Italian analogous of Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
) and the anchorman Michele Santoro
Michele Santoro
Michele Santoro is an Italian journalist, anchorman, television host and presenter.He also served till October 2005 as Member of the European Parliament for Southern Italy with the Olive Tree, part of the Socialist Group and sat on the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice...
made "a criminal use of public tv" (Rai, the State owned TV company) so Berlusconi "hoped this thing couldn't happen again." This action has since then been named the Editto Bulgaro
Editto Bulgaro
The Editto Bulgaro , also going under the name of "the Bulgarian Ukase" in Italian newspapers, was a statement of Silvio Berlusconi, at the time Prime Minister of Italy, about the behavior of some journalists and television stars in the Italian media system, which was pronounced during a press...
, and had an harsh impact on the careers of those three men. Since the banning, Luttazzi is still not working in Rai, his once huge TV share notwithstanding.
After television, Luttazzi concentrated on theatre shows and bookwriting. Since his debut as the host and writer of the late-night talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
Barracuda in 1999, he has also collaborated as script doctor
Script doctor
A script doctor, also called script consultant, is a highly-skilled screenwriter, hired by a film or television production, to rewrite or polish specific aspects of an existing screenplay, including structure, characterization, dialogue, pacing, theme, and other elements...
for Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
and HBO.
Luttazzi returned on TV in 2007 with the new satyrical programme "Decameron: Politica, Sesso, Religione e Morte" (Decameron: Politics, Sex, Religion and Death) for the small national private channel La7
La7
La7 is an Italian television channel owned by Telecom Italia Media and operated by Telecom Italia.-History:In 2001, Lorenzo Pellicioli and Roberto Colaninno, of Telecom Italia announced they had acquired Telemontecarlo, in order to create a strong competitor against the six other national channels...
. He was suspended again after the taping of the sixth episode of the show (a monologue about the Pope's new encyclical).
Plagiarism
Early accusations of plagiarism came in 2007, from "Il FoglioIl Foglio
Il Foglio is a Italian centre-right daily newspaper, with circulation of about 13,000 copies per day. It was founded in 1996 by the Italian journalist and politician Giuliano Ferrara, after he left as editor of the magazine Panorama- Characteristics :...
", a centre-right newspaper under control of Berlusconi's family and of his political allies; and from "La Repubblica
La Repubblica
la Repubblica is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. Founded in 1976 in Rome by the journalist Eugenio Scalfari, as of 2008 is the second largest circulation newspaper, behind the Corriere della Sera.-Foundation:...
", a centre-left newspaper often critical towards mr. Berlusconi. Those accusations were focusing only on very few of the jokes found plagiarized subsequently. At the time Luttazzi was back after the television ban following the Editto Bulgaro
Editto Bulgaro
The Editto Bulgaro , also going under the name of "the Bulgarian Ukase" in Italian newspapers, was a statement of Silvio Berlusconi, at the time Prime Minister of Italy, about the behavior of some journalists and television stars in the Italian media system, which was pronounced during a press...
, and his new show "Decameron" had just been canceled by La 7.
In 2010 he has been accused of having plagiarised
Joke thievery
Joke thievery is the act of performing and taking credit for comic material written by another person without their consent. This is a form of plagiarism and sometimes can be copyright infringement....
many jokes from comedians such as George Carlin
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....
, Mitch Hedberg
Mitch Hedberg
Mitchell Lee "Mitch" Hedberg was an American stand-up comedian known for his surreal humor and unconventional comedic delivery. His comedy typically featured short, sometimes one-line jokes, mixed with absurd elements and non sequiturs...
, Eddie Izzard
Eddie Izzard
Edward John "Eddie" Izzard is a British stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy style takes the form of rambling, whimsical monologue and self-referential pantomime...
, Chris Rock
Chris Rock
Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted in the US as the 5th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central...
, Bill Hicks
Bill Hicks
William Melvin "Bill" Hicks was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, satirist, and musician. His material largely consisted of general discussions about society, religion, politics, philosophy, and personal issues. Hicks' material was often controversial and steeped in dark comedy...
and Robert Schimmel
Robert Schimmel
Robert George "Bob" Schimmel was an American stand-up comedian whose material was often X-rated and controversial. He was perhaps best known for his comedy albums and his appearances on HBO and The Howard Stern Show...
. Five years before those charges, Luttazzi himself told about his scheme on his personal blog: he wrote that he adds unoriginal material to his work as a defense against the million-euro lawsuits he has to face because of his satire. Luttazzi calls his ruse “the Lenny Bruce trick” after a similar trick played by his hero, Lenny Bruce. Luttazzi asked his readers to find out the original jokes. He awards a prize to anyone who finds a “nugget”, i.e. a reference to famous jokes: he calls the game “treasure hunt”
Reactions
Many commentators accused Luttazzi of lacking integrity.Other commentators, such as Wu Ming
Wu Ming
Wu Ming is a pseudonym for a group of Italian authors formed in 2000 from a subset of the Luther Blissett community in Bologna.In their pre-Wu Ming days, the group wrote the novel Q ....
, while supporting the plagiarism accusation in full, pointed out that, with more and more jokes being spotted, many former fans were switching to angered detractors of Luttazzi, with the risk of denying Luttazzi's original artistic and cultural contributions and deep renovation of Italian satire.
On June 16, 2010 Luttazzi appeared in Keith Olbermann
Keith Olbermann
Keith Theodore Olbermann is an American political commentator and writer. He has been the chief news officer of the Current TV network and the host of Current TV's weeknight political commentary program, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, since June 20, 2011...
's "worst person in the world
Countdown with Keith Olbermann
Countdown with Keith Olbermann is an hour-long weeknight news and political commentary program that airs on Current TV, where it began airing on June 20, 2011. The program was broadcast on MSNBC from March 31, 2003, to January 21, 2011. On MSNBC, the show presented five selected news stories of...
".
Luttazzi calls the charges “naive”, explaining why those jokes are not “plagiarized”, but “calqued”, which is a fair use of original material. He uses a joke by Emo Philips to prove that the meaning of a joke depends on its context. Luttazzi’s blog lists all the comedians and writers quoted in his works.
External links
- Official site with blogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
and podcastPodcastA podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
s