He has become an icon and a saying, a mask and a character, mixing comedy and tragedy, comic vision and social reflection. Fantozzi was born in 1971 when Rizzoli published the first book written by Paolo Villaggio (he wrote 32, because in addition to being a great actor he was also a great writer) and inspired by his “adventures”. But from a television point of view, Fantozzi was born in ’68, when Rai broadcast the program Those on Sunday where Villaggio told those “adventures” orally. And from a theatrical point of view it was born years earlier, on an unspecified day, when Villaggio began to always tell those same “adventures” in the theater, at Roman cabaret Cab37 and before that who knows where, who knows when. Villaggio couldn’t say for sure. And he concluded that from a corporate point of view – yes, that’s the right word – Fantozzi was born when Villaggio worked at Italimpianti in Genoa and one of his colleagues had that surname destined to become a category of the spirit and an adjective of the Italian language: “fantozziano”, recorded in the Treccani Encyclopedia, as “Fellinian”. It happens to very few.
The rest is history: Fantozzithe first film of the saga released in 1975 directed by Luciano Salce, grossed six billion lire at the cinema, humiliated the Hollywood giants and created a saga with eight sequels, ended by Fantozzi 2000 Cloning (1999). From the theater, the Cab37, to the cinema and back. Yes, because Fantozzi, like all the great masks of commedia dell’arte, never dies. And in the theater he found a second life. Credit to the show Fantozzi. A tragedydirected by Davide Livermore with Gianni Fantoni in the role of the famous and unlucky accountant who brings all his ferocious and melancholic comedy to the stage. The show, which debuted in 2024 in Genoa, returns to Milan at the Carcano Theater (from 12 to 15 March) and reinterprets the most famous episodes of the first books dedicated to Fantozzi as a true contemporary tragicomedy. Together with Fantozzi we find Pina, Mariangela, colleagues Filini, Calboni, Miss Silvani, Countess Serbelloni-Mazzanti-Viendalmare, the Honorable Knight Count Catellani, played respectively by Cristiano Dessì, Lorenzo Fontana, Rossana Gay, Marcello Gravina, Simonetta Guarino, Ludovica Iannetti, Valentina Virando
Fantoni, how do you explain the great success of this show?
«Thanks to the great quality of Paolo Villaggio’s writing who, in addition to being an amazing comedian, was also an extraordinary writer. He was able to change the language of a nation, to insert words that he invented into the Italian dictionary, he deserves the Nobel Prize for literature. When someone manages to be such a rooted classic, he becomes immortal.”
Who is the accountant Ugo Fantozzi?
«The archetype of the loser who will always exist as long as man exists. In fact, it seems to me that the number of losers is increasing as we go along. They are no longer just employees crushed by the system of a large company: today they are those crushed by large IT multinationals. Let’s think about the riders who bring food home, the call center workers. Many believe they are “cooler” just because they have many followers on social media, but then they take selfies with filters to have whiter teeth, a redone nose, a swollen face. In reality we are all much more Fantozzi than we were fifty years ago. And paradoxically, the accountant Ugo Fantozzi of the time, compared to today, was almost a millionaire: he had a fixed salary, paid holidays, a guaranteed pension, supported his wife and daughter and went on holiday. Today, if they proposed something like this to us, we would think it was a joke. The situation is truly dramatic.”
Really.
«Fantozzi has multiplied. I often think about the fact that our life is full of objects. Once upon a time, if your legendary Bianchina broke, you could fix it by going to the bicycle mechanic. Today’s machines are so complex that not even workshops can repair them easily. The more objects there are, the more things break. Henry Ford, when he made the Model T in 1908, designed it very simply. They asked him why, and he replied: “Because what isn’t there doesn’t break.” Today we are surrounded by very complicated objects. I, who worked in IT when I was young, realize that I use perhaps 10% of the functionality of the smartphone I have in my pocket. We have very complicated dishwashers. The more technology we have, the more overwhelmed we are. Now there is also ChatGPT who can give us a hand, but in five minutes maybe he will tell us: “Move over, I’ll take care of it. Tomorrow go buy me some batteries”. We will be increasingly crushed.”
What if we were to imagine Fantozzi today?
«Simple: it would be enough to make him walk down the street and he would already be ruined. He can’t find a parking space, he falls for scam offers, he buys something online thinking it’s a car for 10,000 euros and he receives a photo of the car. The scams are much more sophisticated. This is why Fantozzi is immortal: because his condition has become the condition of many.”
What is its tragic aspect instead?
«The fact that he understands that he won’t be able to win his daily battle. He knows he is condemned to defeat, but he continues to fight anyway. And this is profoundly tragic: the condemnation to perpetual defeat, with the awareness of not being able to do it. Many people do not accept defeat: they think they can win a place in the sun. But the “place in the sun” doesn’t exist, it’s a TV drama, or very few people in the world have it.”
How do you avoid the simple imitation of such a complex character?
«Imitation is two-dimensional: you reproduce a sound without putting your personal color on it. You become a good sampler, what I call the talent of the Indian blackbird, an animal, which is also called gracula, which if you keep it at home after a week repeats the sentences you say with your voice, but it doesn’t know what it is saying.
Interpretation, on the other hand, is three-dimensional: you start from some vocal or interpretative characteristics and add your experience. I have a very similar experience to Fantozzi’s: not only in terms of physical appearance but because I am an accountant too and I worked in an office at the beginning of my life. So I have some points of contact with him. And then, unfortunately, physically over the years I have resembled him more and more. This is why I can experience it from the inside much more easily than, say, Alain Delon or Timothée Chalamet could.”
From accountant to television personality.
«The turning point came when I realized that I only wanted to do this job. It happened one morning while I was going to work in Bologna: I’m from Ferrara and I sold computers. I had already participated as a competitor in Stasera mi toto, which at the time was a great opportunity for young imitators. At a certain point I asked myself: “What do I really want to do?”. I went to university for my parents, but I wasn’t interested. Selling computers would make the company I worked for rich, not me. What I really liked was performing. So, when I got to the office, I resigned. Then I also got lucky: in 1990 I was among the competitors of Tonight I’m going hosted by Gigi Sabani and two years later I was hosting Strip the news with Ezio Greggio. It was a leap into hyperspace.”
What was Paolo Villaggio like?
«A genius but he was very bored to be told how brilliant he was. For this reason he often tested the interlocutor with gruff and even unfriendly tones. I met him in 1991 and have frequented him intermittently over the years. I also participated in the last film of the saga, Fantozzi – Cloningreleased in 1999. And in the last years of his life I attended him more, because I personally bought the rights to bring Fantozzi to the theater. When they tell me: “You have won Fantozzi’s legacy”, I always reply: “No, I paid for it”. It is the only inheritance in which the heir pays.”
By giving her the rights, did he “invest” her with the role?
«He knew that I imitated him well, so I had an advantage. But he told me clearly: “It’s my life, I can’t give it to just anyone. I have to make sure it isn’t mistreated.” We met many times, talking about the show. At the beginning it was even supposed to be a musical, then it became a prose show. Little by little he became convinced that I was not a generic madman but a specific madman. And maybe that’s why he trusted.”
Did Villaggio feel “crushed” by Fantozzi’s character?
«No, it was his life. Maybe he could have made a few fewer films, as he himself admitted. The problem is that Villaggio wasn’t just a great comedian: he was above all a great writer. And unfortunately his fame as a comedian has overshadowed his literary greatness.”
Which episodes are staged in the show?
«The most famous ones: the tennis match with Filini, the billiards match, the Battleship Potemkin, the bus I took on the fly to go to work. But there is a scene that I care a lot about: when Fantozzi discovers he can fly. It is an episode present in the books but never brought to the cinema. Davide Livermore and I had the idea at the same time and brought it to the stage: it’s a small theatrical exclusive that we’re very proud of.”
Isn’t there a risk for the public to experience a feeling of déjà-vu?
«No, because we don’t make a bad imitation of something we’ve already seen. Let’s do a Fantozzi in a parallel universe. It is a show without traditional scenography: all the noises are produced by the actors on stage, including me. It’s like an orchestral score in which we are the instruments. It’s not comparable to cinema: it’s really something else.”
Is there any public appreciation that pleased you?
«The thing that makes me happiest is when they say they have found the authentic Fantozzi, without regretting that of cinema. And especially when they are amazed by our staging.”
His favorite joke?
«“Beat her” from the famous tennis match at dawn with Filini. The first time I heard it I laughed so hard. Even today, when I do it on stage, I have to hold back.”
