Gialappa's Band is the collective name used by Marco Santin (born 11 February 1962 in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

), Carlo Taranto (born 16 December 1961 in Milan), and Giorgio Gherarducci (born 1 November 1963 in Milan), an Italian trio of TV and radio commentators.

Overview

Gialappa's Band formed in 1985 at the

Radio Popolare Radio Popolare (or RP) is an independent radio station based in Milan, Italy. Founded in 1976, Radio Popolare is one of the oldest listener-supported radio stations in Italy. Mostly known for its progressive and liberal political orientation, in ...

, where they launched the show ''Bar Sport''. The show contained satirical commentary on Sunday matches of Italian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

. The trio also commented on the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

, employing large doses of sarcasm and sound effects (smashed glass and car crashes for tackles and fouls, babies crying for injured players, sounds of hammers and saws for medical interventions on the pitch, etc.) to emphasize on-screen action. Their delivery was hectic and at times chaotic, sharpened by hyperbole and zany, sharp, non-sequitur witticisms. The format was very successful and, , they have broadcast comments on every football match for the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

and

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

since 1986. Several

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

and

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

matches were also commentated upon during the 1990s. The trio also employed mock national anthems, such as the Sex Pistols' "

Anarchy in the U.K. "Anarchy in the U.K." is a song by English punk rock band the Sex Pistols. It was released as the band's debut single on 26 November 1976 and was later featured on their album ''Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols''. "Anarchy in th ...

" for England,

Krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electron ...

tracks for Germany, etc. They eventually moved to private radio station

Radio Deejay Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connected t ...

, and later on to Radio Due. In 2006,

Sky Sport Sky Sport or Sky Sports may refer to: *Sky Group **Sky Sports, a group of sports television channels available in the UK and Ireland ** Sky Sport (Germany), a group of sports television channels available in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, formerl ...

offered Gialappa's Band as an alternative live commentary to its official broadcast featuring

Fabio Caressa Fabio Caressa (born 18 April 1967) is an Italian journalist and football commentator, broadcasting for Sky Italia. Career Caressa began his career in 1986 for Canale 66, a local Roman broadcaster linked to TeleRoma56. The first match for w ...

and Giuseppe "Beppe" Bergomi — which coincided with

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

winning that year's World Cup, its first since 1982 and its fourth title overall. At the same time, Gialappa's Band were hired as television writers for several shows broadcast by

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...

's network

Mediaset Mediaset S.p.A. is an Italian mass media and television production and distribution company that is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE – MediaForEurope (the original ...

. Their first original show was 1989's ''Mai dire Banzai'' (Never Say Banzai!), an Italian interpretation of the Japanese game shows ''

Takeshi's Castle is a Japanese game show that aired between 1986 and 1990 on the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS). It features the Japanese comedian Takeshi Kitano (also known as Beat Takeshi) as a count who sets up difficult physical challenges that players ...

'' and '' Za Gaman''. As in all of their previous shows, the trio never appeared on-screen, instead, adding voice-over comments, often mocking the acting characters. The success of ''Mai dire Banzai'' spurred their most famous TV show, ''

Mai dire Gol ''Mai dire Gol'' was an Italian football television program of featuring Gialappa's Band, which was broadcast on Italia 1 from 18 November 1990 to 25 February 2001. The program was, at the beginning, the footballing version of Gialappa's Band's ...

'' (Never Say Goal!) as well as the similar ''Mai dire Mundial'' (Never Say World Cup!), which was devoted to the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

and repeated for the 1994 edition. These formats, very similar in concept to the radio program ''Bar Sport'', featured performances by various comical actors. During ''Mai dire Gols long run, Gialappa's Band hosted such actors as

Teo Teocoli Antonio "Teo" Teocoli (born 25 February 1945) is an Italian actor, comedian, cabaret performer, showman, TV conductor, singer and writer appearing in about 30 mostly Italian productions since 1975. Selected filmography * ''Paolo e Francesc ...

, Gene Gnocchi,

Antonio Albanese Antonio Albanese (born 10 October 1964 in Olginate, Province of Lecco), is an Italian comedian, actor, director and writer. Biography Born in Lombardy to Sicilian parents, he studied at the Civic Drama School in Milan, then opted to pursue a ...

Paola Cortellesi Paola Cortellesi (; born 24 November 1973) is an Italian actress, comedian, film director, screenwriter and producer. She has starred in about 20 movies as well as a number of theatrical, television and radio shows. In 2023, she made her director ...

, Bebo Storti,

Claudio Bisio Claudio Bisio (; born 19 March 1957) is an Italian actor, presenter, comedian, voice actor, showman, director, cabaret performer and writer. Early life Bisio was born in Novi Ligure, Piedmont, and raised in Milan, Lombardy. He attended '' sc ...

Neri Marcorè Neri Marcorè (born 31 July 1966) is an Italian actor, voice actor, impressionist, television presenter and singer. He has appeared in 22 films and television shows since 1994. He starred in the film '' Incantato'', which was entered into the 200 ...

, Maurizio Crozza,

Aldo, Giovanni & Giacomo Aldo, Giovanni e Giacomo are an Italian trio of comedians, actors, directors and screenwriters, comprising Cataldo "Aldo" Baglio (; born 28 September 1958), Giovanni Storti (; born 20 February 1957) and Giacomino "Giacomo" Poretti (; born 26 ...

Daniele Luttazzi Daniele Luttazzi (; born Daniele Fabbri on 26 January 1961) is an Italian theater actor, writer, satirist, illustrator and singer. His stage name is an homage to musician and actor Lelio Luttazzi. His favourite topics are politics, religion, s ...

Gioele Dix David Ottolenghi (born 3 January 1956), known by the pseudonym Gioele Dix, is an Italian actor and comedian. Life Born in Milan to a family of Jewish descent, Gioele Dix began his theatrical career at the end of the 1970s, promoting and anim ...

Luciana Littizzetto Luciana Littizzetto (born 29 October 1964) is an Italian comedy actress, shock jock and humor writer. Littizzetto is known in her home country for her irreverent gags, lampooning government ministers and church prelates alike. Nicknamed "Luc ...

, Paolo Hendel,

Fabio De Luigi Fabio De Luigi (born 11 October 1967) is an Italians, Italian actor, comedian, film director, television presenter, and former baseball player. Biography Great-grandson of Tonino Guerra; has a son, Dino, born in 2007, and a daughter, Lola, born ...

, and many others. Several of these actors gained popularity in Italy through their work on the show. Currently, Gialappa's Band have parlayed the show into an alternative commentary program on RTL Radio, entitled ''Noi dire Gol'' (We Say Goal), which has included commentary from Euro 2012 and the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

.2014 FIFA World Cup Semifinal - Brazil 1-7 Germany (Commentary by Gialappa's Band on ''Noi Dire Gol'')
YouTube (originally aired on RTL)

References

External links

Official Facebook Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gialappas Band Italian television personalities Italian comedians Mass media people from Milan 1962 births Living people