Ezio Greggio
Encyclopedia
Ezio Greggio (ˈɛtsːi̯o ˈgɾɛdʒːo) (7 April 1954) is an Italian
comedian
, actor
, writer
and film director
.
In Italy he is mostly known for his long lasting appearances in TV shows like Drive In and Striscia la Notizia
, while abroad he his noted for his movies and his collaboration with Mel Brooks
.
, a small town near Biella
, Greggio began his TV career at age 18 in Telebiella, the first local private owned station in Italy thanks to the help of founder Peppo Sacchi.
In 1978 he was hired as a comedian in RAI
, appearing in La sberla e Tutto compreso of Giancarlo Nicotra and Giancarlo Magalli. His appearances in the national TV didn't gained him success, but Greggio had the chance to meet Gianfranco D'Angelo, another young comedian.
D'Angelo convinced Greggio to move to the newborn Fininvest (later Mediaset
), a local TV channel founded in Milan
by Silvio Berlusconi
. They were both included in the cast of the main show of the network, Drive In: it was a 2 hour weekly show featuring a bunch of young emerging comedians, and quickly Greggio became spotlight chaser of the whole show.
Drive In was a very innovative show, and had great success giving national fame to almost all the actors involved, like Enrico Beruschi, Giorgio Faletti
, Teo Teocoli
, Francesco Salvi
, Carlo Pistarino, Enzo Braschi and many others, including of course Greggio and D'Angelo.
In 1988 he followed the creator / head writer Antonio Ricci to a long series of successful shows: after Odiens, a show loosely inspired by Drive In, Greggio in 1990 and 1993 presented Paperissima, a container for blooper
s and funny homemade videos. In these shows, Greggio created his most famous recurring gags.
Since 1988 he has been the main presenter (along with D'Angelo and later Enzo Iacchetti) of Striscia la notizia
, a daily television news parody. He starred in the program every year for some months, from the beginning up to now.
He was noted by Carlo Vanzina
, and was included in the cast of Yuppies, i giovani di successo, in the 1986 sequel
Yuppies 2 and in the 1987 movie Montecarlo Gran Casinò with Paolo Rossi.
He appeared in many other comic/trash films, almost always directed by Enrico Oldoini.
In 1994, he debuted as director with The Silence of the Hams
, a parody movie inspired by The Silence of the Lambs and Psycho
. The movie was shot in the United States
: during this work, Greggio built a strong friendship with movie director Mel Brooks
and with Dom DeLuise
(both appearing in the movie).
Brooks named one of Dom DeLuise's killers in his Robin Hood: Men in Tights
, "Dirty Ezio, and had Greggio in the cast of Dracula: Dead and Loving It
.
In 1997, Greggio came back to the camera, directing Killer per caso and in 1999 Svitati, with Mel Brooks
as actor.
Since 2000, Greggio acted in a great number of TV productions.
Greggio moved his residence to Montecarlo, and is the director of the Montecarlo Film Festival.
In those books, Greggio gathers anecdotes about his life as a cabaret actor and comedian.
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...
comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
.
In Italy he is mostly known for his long lasting appearances in TV shows like Drive In and Striscia la Notizia
Striscia la notizia
Striscia la notizia is an Italian television program on the Mediaset-controlled Canale 5. Its name in Italian translates as "the news slithers", a probable parody of the slighting italian journalist, submitted to politicians and overwhelmed with shame...
, while abroad he his noted for his movies and his collaboration with Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
.
TV career
Born in CossatoCossato
Cossato is a comune in the province of Biella, Italy, in the north-west part of Piedmont, 11.6 km to the east of Biella.It is crossed by the Strona di Mosso stream....
, a small town near Biella
Biella
Biella is a town and comune in the northern Italian region of Piemonte, the capital of the province of the same name, with some 45,800 inhabitants as of 2009. It is located about 80 km northeast of Turin and about 80 km west-northwest of Milan.It lies in the foothills of the Alps,...
, Greggio began his TV career at age 18 in Telebiella, the first local private owned station in Italy thanks to the help of founder Peppo Sacchi.
In 1978 he was hired as a comedian in 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...
, appearing in La sberla e Tutto compreso of Giancarlo Nicotra and Giancarlo Magalli. His appearances in the national TV didn't gained him success, but Greggio had the chance to meet Gianfranco D'Angelo, another young comedian.
D'Angelo convinced Greggio to move to the newborn Fininvest (later 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...
), a local TV channel founded in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
by 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...
. They were both included in the cast of the main show of the network, Drive In: it was a 2 hour weekly show featuring a bunch of young emerging comedians, and quickly Greggio became spotlight chaser of the whole show.
Drive In was a very innovative show, and had great success giving national fame to almost all the actors involved, like Enrico Beruschi, Giorgio Faletti
Giorgio Faletti
Giorgio Faletti is an Italian writer, actor and singer-songwriter. Born in Asti, Piedmont, he currently resides in Elba Island....
, Teo Teocoli
Teo Teocoli
Teo Teocoli is an Italian actor, TV conductor, singer and writer, appearing in about 30 mostly Italian productions since 1975.-External links:...
, Francesco Salvi
Francesco Salvi
Francesco Salvi is an Italian actor, writer, comedian and singer.Born in the northern town of Luino, near the Italian border with Switzerland, Salvi started his career in the mid-eighties. His performances over the years have included but are not limited to: cabaret, cinema, animated cinema,...
, Carlo Pistarino, Enzo Braschi and many others, including of course Greggio and D'Angelo.
In 1988 he followed the creator / head writer Antonio Ricci to a long series of successful shows: after Odiens, a show loosely inspired by Drive In, Greggio in 1990 and 1993 presented Paperissima, a container for blooper
Blooper
A blooper, also known as an outtake or boner is a short sequence of a film or video production, usually a deleted scene, containing a mistake made by a member of the cast or crew. It also refers to an error made during a live radio or TV broadcast or news report, usually in terms of misspoken words...
s and funny homemade videos. In these shows, Greggio created his most famous recurring gags.
Since 1988 he has been the main presenter (along with D'Angelo and later Enzo Iacchetti) of Striscia la notizia
Striscia la notizia
Striscia la notizia is an Italian television program on the Mediaset-controlled Canale 5. Its name in Italian translates as "the news slithers", a probable parody of the slighting italian journalist, submitted to politicians and overwhelmed with shame...
, a daily television news parody. He starred in the program every year for some months, from the beginning up to now.
Movie career
Greggio wrote and acted his first movie, Sbamm! in 1980.He was noted by Carlo Vanzina
Carlo Vanzina
Carlo Vanzina is an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter. He was born March 13, 1951.In 2001 he directed the romantic comedy film South Kensington starring Rupert Everett and Elle Macpherson. Two of his films, Eccezzziunale.....
, and was included in the cast of Yuppies, i giovani di successo, in the 1986 sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
Yuppies 2 and in the 1987 movie Montecarlo Gran Casinò with Paolo Rossi.
He appeared in many other comic/trash films, almost always directed by Enrico Oldoini.
In 1994, he debuted as director with The Silence of the Hams
The Silence of the Hams
The Silence of the Hams aka Il Silenzio dei Prosciutti is a comedy movie directed and written by Ezio Greggio and features an image-by-image parody of Thriller...
, a parody movie inspired by The Silence of the Lambs and Psycho
Psycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
. The movie was shot in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
: during this work, Greggio built a strong friendship with movie director Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
and with Dom DeLuise
Dom DeLuise
Dominick "Dom" DeLuise was an American actor, comedian, film director, television producer, chef, and author. He was the husband of actress Carol Arthur from 1965 until his death and the father of: actor, director, pianist, and writer Peter DeLuise; actor David DeLuise; and actor Michael DeLuise...
(both appearing in the movie).
Brooks named one of Dom DeLuise's killers in his Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Robin Hood: Men in Tights is a 1993 French-American adventure comedy film and a parody of the Robin Hood story. Produced and directed by Mel Brooks, the film stars Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis, and Dave Chappelle in his film debut...
, "Dirty Ezio, and had Greggio in the cast of Dracula: Dead and Loving It
Dracula: Dead and Loving It
Dracula: Dead and Loving It is a 1995 comedy film starring Leslie Nielsen, directed by Mel Brooks. It is a parody of the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, and of some of the films it inspired....
.
In 1997, Greggio came back to the camera, directing Killer per caso and in 1999 Svitati, with Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
as actor.
Since 2000, Greggio acted in a great number of TV productions.
Greggio moved his residence to Montecarlo, and is the director of the Montecarlo Film Festival.
As a writer
Ezio Greggio published five humor books with Mondadori:- Presto che è tardi (1997)
- Chi se ne fut-fut (1998)
- E lui o non è lui? (1999)
- E su e giù e trik e trak (2003)
- In una certa manieeera (2005)
In those books, Greggio gathers anecdotes about his life as a cabaret actor and comedian.
As actor
- 1981 - Sbamm, directed by Franco Abussi
- 1985 - Yuppies, directed by Carlo Vanzina
- 1986 - Yuppies 2, directed by Enrico Oldoini
- 1987 - Montecarlo Gran Casinò, directed by Carlo Vanzina
- 1989 - Occhio alla Perestroika, directed by Castellano e Pipolo
- 1990 - Vacanze di Natale '90, directed by Enrico Oldoini
- 1991 - Vacanze di Natale '91, directed by Enrico Oldoini
- 1992 - Infelici e contenti, directed by Neri Parenti
- 1993 - The Silence of the HamsThe Silence of the HamsThe Silence of the Hams aka Il Silenzio dei Prosciutti is a comedy movie directed and written by Ezio Greggio and features an image-by-image parody of Thriller...
, directed by himself - 1994 - Miracolo italiano, directed by Enrico Oldoini
- 1995 - Selvaggi, directed by Carlo Vanzina
- 1996 - Dracula: Dead and Loving ItDracula: Dead and Loving ItDracula: Dead and Loving It is a 1995 comedy film starring Leslie Nielsen, directed by Mel Brooks. It is a parody of the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, and of some of the films it inspired....
, directed by Mel Brooks - 1997 - Killer per caso, directed by himself
- 1999 - Svitati directed by himself
- 2001 - 2001: A Space Travesty2001: A Space Travesty2001: A Space Travesty is a 2000 American spoof comedy film starring actor Leslie Nielsen. The film has a few sequences parodying elements of 2001: A Space Odyssey, but is not focused on parodying Odyssey.-Plot:...
- 2011 - Box Office 3D
As writer
- 1986 - Italian Fast FoodItalian Fast FoodItalian Fast Food is a movie directed by Ludovico Gasparini, and written by Carlo and Enrico Vanzina, Lorenzo Beccati and Ezio Greggio.The movie was inspired by the TV show "Drive In", a popular 2-hour show of the '80s....
, directed by Lodovico Gasparini - 2011 - Box office 3D
External links
- Sito ufficiale
- http://www.striscialanotizia.mediaset.it/biografia/biografia_ezio_greggio.shtml