Argentine humour
Encyclopedia
Argentine humour is exemplified by a number of humorous television programmes, film productions, comic strips and other types of media. Everyday humour includes jokes related to recurrent themes, such as jokes at the expense of Galicians (the inhabitants of Galicia, Spain
) called chistes de gallegos (where they are commonly portrayed as simpletons), often obscene sex-related jokes (chistes verdes, literally "green jokes", a term equivalent to the English-language "blue humour"), jokes about the English, the Americans, blonde women (supposedly clueless), dark humour (called humor negro), word and pronunciation games, jokes about Argentines themselves , etc.
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There are and have been many humorous Argentine television shows, of many genres and themes. Many artists focus on political humour. Shows include Cha Cha Cha
, Todo por dos pesos, Caiga Quien Caiga
commonly referred to as CQC, El Show de Videomatch, etc.
Notable television comedians include Juan Verdaguer, Tato Bores, Alberto Olmedo
, Jorge Porcel
, Antonio Gasalla
, Jorge Guinzburg
, Alfredo Casero
, Juan Carlos Mareco
, Gianni Lunadei
, Guillermo Francella
, and most recently, Diego Capusotto
. Many of these and others have also appeared in numerous comedy roles in Argentine cinema, notably Olmedo, Porcel, Francella, Niní Marshall
, Luis Sandrini
, and Javier Portales
.
Quino
's Mafalda
is one of the internationally best-known Argentine comic strips and comic-book series. Its humour is related to local and international politics.
Caricaturist Andrés Cascioli edited and created cover art for one of the nation's longest-running satirical publications, Humór, which ran from 1978 to 1999, and frequently met with censorship. Maitena is another successful comic-book writer, dealing with women and family values.
Fontanarrosa
was another famous Argentine cartoonist, known for his comic strip Inodoro Pereyra featuring a gaucho
.
See: Gaturro
, Macanudo
, Yo, Matías
was known for his dry, sometimes dark, humour. He begins his story "The Dread Redeemer Lazarus Morrell" by describing Bartolomé de las Casas
as having taken pity on the natives suffering and dying in the mines of the Antilles
, thereby leading the Spanish government to relieve their suffering by importing African slaves to suffer and die in the mines of the Antilles. His one-paragraph short story "On Accuracy in Science", probably inspired by a remark of Lewis Carroll
's, imagines a map drawn at 1:1 scale, so that it covers the entire country that it illustrates. Borges and another of the country's leading writers, Adolfo Bioy Casares
, created the pseudonymous H. Bustos Domecq
, under whose name they wrote, among other things, comic detective fiction.
, Pepe Biondi, Niní Marshall
, Juan Carlos Altavista
, Antonio Gasalla
, and others. Well-known Argentine stand-up comics include Enrique Pinti
and Luis Landriscina.
Established in 1967, Les Luthiers
is the nation's best-known musical troupe, and are known for inventing many of their instruments. Midachi, a musical comedy trio established in 1983, i also popular both on stage and on television.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
) called chistes de gallegos (where they are commonly portrayed as simpletons), often obscene sex-related jokes (chistes verdes, literally "green jokes", a term equivalent to the English-language "blue humour"), jokes about the English, the Americans, blonde women (supposedly clueless), dark humour (called humor negro), word and pronunciation games, jokes about Argentines themselves , etc.
Television shows
Cha Cha Cha (TV show)
Cha Cha Cha was an Argentine sketch comedy television program aired in the 1990s on América TV, starring Alfredo Casero, Fabio Alberti, Diego Capusotto, and others. It was characterized by absurd humour, sometimes bordering on the surreal.-History:...
, Todo por dos pesos, Caiga Quien Caiga
Caiga Quien Caiga
Caiga Quien Caiga , also known as CQC, is an Argentine television show. Under the format of the production company Cuatro Cabezas, and led by Ernestina Pais, CQC has also been adapted in Spain, France, Chile, Italy, Brazil, Portugal and briefly in Israel and the Netherlands.It won an International...
commonly referred to as CQC, El Show de Videomatch, etc.
Notable television comedians include Juan Verdaguer, Tato Bores, Alberto Olmedo
Alberto Olmedo
Alberto Olmedo was an Argentine comedian and actor.Olmedo was born in Barrio Pichincha, Rosario, Santa Fe Province. In his teens, he was a gifted gymnast and an aspiring actor, who tried his luck with several amateur theater companies and enjoyed some local success.Olmedo moved to Buenos Aires in...
, Jorge Porcel
Jorge Porcel
Jorge Raúl Porcel de Peralta was a comedy actor and television host from Argentina. He was nicknamed El Gordo de América...
, Antonio Gasalla
Antonio Gasalla
Antonio Gasalla is a well-known Argentine actor, comedian, and theatre director.-Life and work:Antonio Gasalla was born in Ramos Mejía, a western suburb of Buenos Aires, in 1941...
, Jorge Guinzburg
Jorge Guinzburg
Jorge Ariel Guinzburg was an Argentine journalist, theatrical producer, humorist, and TV and radio host.-Background:...
, Alfredo Casero
Alfredo Casero
Alfredo Casero is an Argentine musician, actor and comedian.Casero began studying acting with Norman Briski in 1987. Soon after he started working in the underground humour scene of Buenos Aires...
, Juan Carlos Mareco
Juan Carlos Mareco
Juan Carlos Mareco was a Uruguayan actor and radio and television talk show host. He achieved fame in Spain, Chile and Argentina from the 1960s onwards in comedy roles and as a television host in a variety of genres....
, Gianni Lunadei
Gianni Lunadei
Gianni Lunadei was a versatile Italian Argentine actor best known for his work in Argentine comedy.-Life and work:...
, Guillermo Francella
Guillermo Francella
Guillermo Francella is an Argentine actor and comedian. Apart from being a television performer, he also has had a long theatrical and film career.-Life and work:...
, and most recently, Diego Capusotto
Diego Capusotto
Diego Esteban Capusotto is an Argentinian TV presenter, actor, and humorist who is noted for his participation in TV shows like Cha Cha Cha, Todo por dos pesos, and Peter Capusotto y sus videos.-Career:...
. Many of these and others have also appeared in numerous comedy roles in Argentine cinema, notably Olmedo, Porcel, Francella, Niní Marshall
Niní Marshall
Niní Marshall was a popular Argentine comedienne and actress.-Life and work:She was born Marina Esther Traveso in Buenos Aires to Pedro and María Ángela Traveso, a well-to-do family in Rosario, in 1903...
, Luis Sandrini
Luis Sandrini
Luis Sandrini was a prolific Argentine comic film actor and film producer. He has made over 80 appearances in film between 1933 and 1980....
, and Javier Portales
Javier Portales
Javier Portales, whose birth name was Miguel Ángel Álvarez, was an Argentine actor with work in television, film and theater....
.
Comic strips and comic books
Quino
Joaquín Salvador Lavado, better known by his pen name Quino is an Argentine cartoonist. His comic strip Mafalda is very popular in Latin America and many parts of Europe.-Early life and work:...
's Mafalda
Mafalda
Mafalda is a comic strip written and drawn by Argentine cartoonist Joaquín Salvador Lavado, better known by his pen name Quino. The strip features a 6-year-old girl named Mafalda, who is deeply concerned about humanity and world peace and rebels against the current state of the world...
is one of the internationally best-known Argentine comic strips and comic-book series. Its humour is related to local and international politics.
Caricaturist Andrés Cascioli edited and created cover art for one of the nation's longest-running satirical publications, Humór, which ran from 1978 to 1999, and frequently met with censorship. Maitena is another successful comic-book writer, dealing with women and family values.
Fontanarrosa
Roberto Fontanarrosa
Roberto Alfredo Fontanarrosa was an Argentine cartoonist and writer. He created the characters Inodoro Pereyra, a fictional gaucho, and Boogie, el aceitoso, a fictional serial killer.-Early life:...
was another famous Argentine cartoonist, known for his comic strip Inodoro Pereyra featuring a gaucho
Gaucho
Gaucho is a term commonly used to describe residents of the South American pampas, chacos, or Patagonian grasslands, found principally in parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Chile, and Southern Brazil...
.
See: Gaturro
Gaturro
Gaturro is the title of a famous Argentine comic strip created by cartoonist Cristian Dzwonik . The comic has been published in more than 30 books, magazines and comic volumes. A 3D computer-animated film Gaturro: The Movie was released theatrically in Argentina on September 9, 2010...
, Macanudo
Macanudo
Macanudo is an Argentine daily comic strip by the cartoonist Liniers. It is published in the newspaper La Nación. It appears on the last page of the paper. Just like Liniers' previous strip, Bonjour, Macanudo is very experimental and deals with meta humor...
, Yo, Matías
Yo, Matías
Yo, Matías is an Argentine comic strip, created by the cartoonist Fernando Sendra in 1993. It currently appears in the Clarín newspaper.- Characters :...
Literary humour
Humour can be found in the works of some of Argentina's best-known writers. For example, Jorge Luis BorgesJorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
was known for his dry, sometimes dark, humour. He begins his story "The Dread Redeemer Lazarus Morrell" by describing Bartolomé de las Casas
Bartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolomé de las Casas O.P. was a 16th-century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians"...
as having taken pity on the natives suffering and dying in the mines of the Antilles
Antilles
The Antilles islands form the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. The Antilles are divided into two major groups: the "Greater Antilles" to the north and west, including the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico; and the smaller "Lesser Antilles" on the...
, thereby leading the Spanish government to relieve their suffering by importing African slaves to suffer and die in the mines of the Antilles. His one-paragraph short story "On Accuracy in Science", probably inspired by a remark of Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's, imagines a map drawn at 1:1 scale, so that it covers the entire country that it illustrates. Borges and another of the country's leading writers, Adolfo Bioy Casares
Adolfo Bioy Casares
Adolfo Bioy Casares was an Argentine fiction writer, journalist, and translator. He was a friend and collaborator with his fellow countryman Jorge Luis Borges, and wrote what many consider one of the best pieces of fantastic fiction, the novella The Invention of Morel.-Biography:Adolfo Bioy...
, created the pseudonymous H. Bustos Domecq
H. Bustos Domecq
H. is a pseudonym used for several collaborative works by the Argentine writers Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares.-Origin:Bustos Domecq made his first appearance as F...
, under whose name they wrote, among other things, comic detective fiction.
Theatre and Stand-up comedy
Numerous comedy theatre actors earned renown among Argentine audiences over the years, including Florencio Parravicini, José MarroneJosé Marrone
José Carlos Marrone was an Argentine actor and humorist.His beginnings were in vaudeville theaters and the radio; afterwards he hosted several children-oriented TV shows, such as "El Circo de Marrone" , playing the clown character Pepitito...
, Pepe Biondi, Niní Marshall
Niní Marshall
Niní Marshall was a popular Argentine comedienne and actress.-Life and work:She was born Marina Esther Traveso in Buenos Aires to Pedro and María Ángela Traveso, a well-to-do family in Rosario, in 1903...
, Juan Carlos Altavista
Juan Carlos Altavista
Juan Carlos Altavista was an Argentine actor and comedian.-Life:Juan Carlos Altavista begun his career at Teatro Infantil Labarden, in Buenos Aires. There attended future actress as Julia Sandoval and Beba Bidart...
, Antonio Gasalla
Antonio Gasalla
Antonio Gasalla is a well-known Argentine actor, comedian, and theatre director.-Life and work:Antonio Gasalla was born in Ramos Mejía, a western suburb of Buenos Aires, in 1941...
, and others. Well-known Argentine stand-up comics include Enrique Pinti
Enrique Pinti
Enrique Pinti is a famous Argentine political humorist and actor.As a humorist, he performs stand-up shows with long monologues on Argentine politics and history, speaking at an extremely fast pace and resorting to a mix of common swearwords and elaborate insults to qualify notorious examples of...
and Luis Landriscina.
Musical comedy
Les Luthiers
Les Luthiers is an Argentine comedy-musical group, very popular also in several other Spanish-speaking countries such as Paraguay, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Spain, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela. They were formed in 1967 by Gerardo Masana, during the height of a period of very...
is the nation's best-known musical troupe, and are known for inventing many of their instruments. Midachi, a musical comedy trio established in 1983, i also popular both on stage and on television.