«I was a greengrocer, when I danced they called me a rich guy. The word most associated with me? Former”

He sings Dance Dance Dancer by Lucio Dalla, remembering when in Torre Annunziata they called him “rich”, in his words, for that passion for dance which “was stronger than the fear of being different”. He recounts the sacrifices made as a teenager, when, before entering the “Amici” school, he was a greengrocer: «I woke up at 4.30: I unloaded the van». He jokes about the gossip that has always accompanied him (the latest one is linked to Rocío Morales, Raoul Bova’s ex): «Do you know what word is most associated with me on Google? Belen? No, I would have gambled the house too: it’s “ex””. All with the lightness of a great man of variety.

THE MONOLOGUES

It’s a surprising Stefano De Martino who is told between song and dance numbers, gags and monologues in Meglio Tonight! Almost one man show, which arrives today on RaiPlay. The show brings together the best of the theater show that the host of Affari Tui took around Italy this summer, achieving sold outs everywhere. While the early evening challenge between Rai1’s “packages” and Gerry Scotti’s Wheel of Fortune on Canale 5 continues with no holds barred, even in these festive days, the former Amici dancer tries his hand at what looks like the dress rehearsal of a Saturday night variety show. With a nod to the creativity of Massimo Ranieri and the flashes of Renzo Arbore: «I really like his taste, his way of writing and hosting, which is so participatory – says De Martino of the Foggia showman – I try not to be influenced by contemporary hosts so as not to be a copy, but instead I try to rework inspirations from the past».
Accompanying De Martino on stage are the eight orchestral members of the Disperata Erotica Band (this is why it is an “almost one man show”): if the title of the show pays homage to the Italian version, with lyrics by Franco Migliacci (the “dad” of Nel blu dipinto di blu), of the version It Had Better Be Tonight composed by Henry Mancini for La pantera rosa, the name of the ensemble is instead a tribute to Disperato erotico stop by Lucio Dalla. What does the author of Piazza Grande, from Bologna, have to do with De Martino, from Naples? «I’m omnivorous, I listen to everything. But the gratification that Lucio’s lyrics give me is unparalleled. An album like Henna, which is not among the best known but for him it was the most beautiful, with the participation of a giant like Marcello Mastroianni in Cinema, is something unimaginable.” In short, the boy studies.
On stage he brings together dance, live music, personal story and irony, reworking the variety formula, which many now consider obsolete, but always maintains its charm: De Martino’s is a contemporary variety show, made up of numbers that involve the audience, with a rhythm closer to the theater than to the television studio and a fresher language. Better tonight! Almost a one man show, there is De Martino who talks about his childhood in a town in southern Italy, the one who decided to leave his job as a greengrocer to try to make his way in the world of entertainment, the one who with the band – suspended between Carosone and Sanremo – stages musical games and tributes, the one as a dancer and also the one who plays games on TV whose mission is to “distract viewers from what is happening in the world”. De Martino wrote the text together with the TV author Riccardo Cassini (who also directed), already behind the former dancer’s television successes, starting from Tonight everything is possible, and already Fiorello’s right-hand man at the time of Tonight I’ll Pay, The Greatest Show After the Weekend and Fiorello Show.

CONTINUITY

Speaking of Stasera, everything is possible: after closing the last episode of the Rai2 game show last April with a greeting that seemed like a farewell, De Martino confirmed that he will return to host the program for another season. According to Tv Sorrisi e Canzoni, the new edition of Tonight everything is possible should debut on 23 February 2026, but the program does not appear in the latest version of the Rai2 schedule (on the evening of 23 February, for the record, Rai2 plans to broadcast Boss in incognito with Elettra Lamborghini, whose debut is set for 12 January). Meanwhile, on 6 January he will host the Affari Tui special linked to the Italian Lottery, in prime time on Rai1. Try to stop it.