The first time he went on stage, Davide Rossi he had been called on stage somewhat surprisingly by his father Paolo. He was six years old and then it was he who made the theater explode in laughter, whispering to his father, who was asking him a question, just one sentence: “Can I go back to the dressing room?”.
A few years have passed, father and son find themselves together on a stage, that of the Festival dedicated to satire and comedy «Satire, what a sin!», scheduled in Milan, from 20 to 30 June. On the 29th Davide Rossi will first be involved in a talk with his group, the Terzo Segreto di Satira, then he will join his father at 9pm, for the first time together since then, «even if I still haven’t understood exactly what we’re going to do,” he shies away, more used to being behind the scenes than in the spotlight.
«Being the son of two actors (his mother is Lucia Vasini) by necessity I grew up behind their stages: my bed was set up in the dressing rooms, I had my games… I have good memories.” Even when he went up on that stage? «Since their shows were always very open, improvised, it happened that my father used me when he “needed a child”. It seemed normal to meit was all very natural, so much so that when my dad suggested I repeat the dressing room joke, I had no intention of doing so and I didn’t do it.”
Comedian-satirical author and director, even today Rossi prefers to stay behind the scenes: «I feel better, stand up comedy is not mine, I leave it to dad. I have always looked for teamwork.” Also because, she confesses, «two actor parents are demanding: they are two leading ladies, of the type that I wanted to involve them in the first film of the Third Secret but I had to give each of them the same, exact number of scenes… Theirs is a job that requires a developed ego, I compensated of course. Being alone on a stage has always seemed very tiring to me.”
In common with his father, however, he has a passion for satire: «It unites us even if, in my opinion, at this moment that policy is of little interest, we need to turn to the social». With The Third Secret of satire, however, you became famous with politics, the parties. «True, but we need to experiment and we are looking for broader topics. We chose an independent path and at the moment we are focused on a more cinematic path.”
There is a frank relationship between father and son: «We get along very well but we don’t give ourselves many compliments. In fact, there are more criticisms, but I think it’s healthy like this». Have you ever wondered what made your father an essential figure in comedy? «I think I know the answer: it’s his curiosity. It pushes him not to repeat himself endlessly but to change, even throwing himself into very different things. I think this keeps him young.” True: Paolo Rossi always looks young. «Oh God – Davide continues – it’s also partly because he runs the usual two photos to promote his shows…».
Both far from the prototype of the sad comedian, they often find themselves laughing together: «Plus it happens that you talk to him, he doesn’t seem to listen, but then you find what you said to him reworked by him and said on stage. And in the end he says to me: did you see? There is no envy between them, on the contrary: “He made the history of his profession, I don’t even get involved.” And here his modesty returns, the same one that at the beginning of his career «I didn’t say I was his son, for at least six years. I wanted to understand if I was capable of doing this job on my own. And, working in a group, I didn’t want this to prevail. Over time, having acquired a certain certainty, I have felt calmer and I have no problem saying who my father is… before, he was a little upset about it. He repeated: but why don’t you ever say it?
Vasco Rossi’s son is also called Davide. «And in fact on many sites my works are attributed to him. Years ago I had the chance to go to one of his concerts: my father had asked for tickets for me and some of my friends. They were supersonic, we could go anywhere, behind the stage, we had access to everything. I knew they had good relationships, but I didn’t think so much. In fact, after a while they called us telling us that they were for the other Davide Rossi…». With his group he became famous on social media and yet he hasn’t updated his Instagram profile for months: «It’s a paradox, I know. Yet all of us in the Third Secret are more or less like this. The web has been a tool, even if at the moment I have the feeling that being there a little isn’t bad.”
He hasn’t felt anything about the meeting he will have with his father, «but I’ll start with some questions to put him in difficulty, like I’ll make him tell me about the time when, at 18, he made me unwrap a package in front of everyone that contained the steering wheel of a car he was supposed to have given me, making a great impression. Too bad only the steering wheel arrived. Making him tell it will be my little revenge.”
