Mauro Pagani’s affectionate nostalgia for Fabrizio De André: rating 9
Among the guests of ‘Splendida Cornice’, Mauro Pagani. He defines himself as a “lucky musician” for having had the opportunity to work together with Fabrizio De André. His anecdotes are funny, but also full of affectionate nostalgia. That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for a bit of healthy teasing: “He was a compulsive perfectionist you think, huh? Despite this, among the infinite things I miss about him are his moral rigor and humor. Even today, when a joke comes to mind that I find funny, I feel like calling him to tell him because I know we would have laughed out loud together.” Then, the tasty memory about the ‘origins’ of Faber’s ‘Creuza de Mä’ album: “When we played it to the record company, they got a lot of compliments. ‘Very good Fabrizio, brilliant as always!’, everyone told him. The moment he left the room to go to lunch, I remained in there for a moment with the director who said to me: ‘We hope to sell at least one copy outside Genoa!’”. Yes, that’s how it went in the end. Also incomparable is the brief flash on De André in the car rejecting his cassettes: “Belin Mauro, enough with these Americans, I can’t take it anymore!”. Umbre de walls, walls de mainé…
Carlo Amleto is the dance bust of Tg Zero (again?!): vote 5
“So handsome, so comical and with a lot of hidden talents that we will soon discover… Guys, I’m not responsible for myself!”. Geppi Cucciari is really enthusiastic about Carlo Amleto, a comedian who (also) brings his ‘Tg Zero’ to ‘Spendida Cornice’. We have already seen it on Zelig, as well as on LOL – Talent Show on Prime Video. Just to mention the two most recent occasions. In fact, it’s been a while since our guy brought this sketch to TV which sees him in the role of a news correspondent. He always begins with the ritual tone, pretending to be about to deliver sensational news. Then, however, he takes part in ‘Bomba (Movimento Sexy)’, a group dance of which he is the main animator: “Beware of NATO, NATO, NATO/There is tension with Russia, with Russia, with Russia!”. And so on. Perhaps those who have seen it for the first time will have half a smile. The gag, however, is always the same and by dint of repetition it leads to a sort of vuvuzela effect. Despite his good intuition, Hamlet will sooner or later have to change the music and update the repertoire. Out of pity.
The brutal gratitude of Geppi Cucciari: vote 10
We have already had the opportunity to define her as ‘leader’ because we find the term ‘host’ to be reductive for her. And we confirm. Geppi Cucciari is carrying on with sarcastic disenchantment the funniest, most interesting and wonderfully written program on our TV. In short, truly the best. If ‘Splendida Cornice’ shines like the jewel that it is, it is due even if not above all to her. Irreverent, she sends everyone to the floor with brutality if necessary. But even when she isn’t. It doesn’t matter whether she is faced with an unfortunate spectator present in the studio or Linus himself, Cucciari is democratic: she asphalts everyone in equal measure. And every edge of her style is a real delight. Ours, however, is also capable of great emotion. Still ferocious, but very present. Here she is, for example, dismissing Linus and Nicola Savino with an anecdote of just a few sentences, but very significant: “When I moved to Milan from Sardinia almost 25 years ago, I had always listened to you since my university days. As soon as I arrived here, I rang the intercom to you in via Massena just to say hello and you let me in. This is something I will never forget, I will be forever grateful. Now, go away.” And yes, here is everything.
We need to explain why it is not appropriate to bully young children: rating 5.5
Among the group of ‘Competents’ of this episode, also the pediatrician Paola Di Turi. Who has to answer the question from Stefano, father of two girls (five and eight years old). The man asks if “adopting a sort of home teasing with the little ones could be useful for their growth”. “Are you talking about bullying, Stefano?”, Geppi asks amused, just to clarify. The Doctor intervenes politely: “Irony is a great resource for raising children. But there is an age below which it is difficult to grasp it. We need to relate to children as such, not as if they were little adults.” And here the presenter asks the prankster dad the question that any of us, from home, would have asked him: “Yes, but what do you say to these girls?”. “I don’t know… Often they are short, like their mother”. Cucciari advises his wife, present in the studio, to start teasing her husband in retaliation. It’s all very funny, but at this point we need to remember that no, you shouldn’t bully your children at an early age. Pure Public Service…
“Spaceships make love like human beings”, science confirms it: rating 8.5
Amalia Ercoli-Finzi, born in 1937, was the first woman in Italy to graduate in aerospace engineering. Consultant and designer of NASA missions, we pleasantly find her a regular guest among the ‘Experts’ of Splendida Cornice to answer questions about stars and their surroundings. “I have had thousands of students,” she says, “I especially remember those who took embarrassing exams. To one of these, I said: ‘If you ever find yourself having to defend yourself in court, please don’t speak because otherwise they will give you a life sentence!’ Ruthless. She comes to visit, surprisingly, another student, Guido, who wrote a thesis “on the simulation of the maneuver of docking between two spacecraft.” Cucciari intervenes to ask if it is the same one that is used “to spit out a morsel that has gone sideways” but, obviously, this is not the case. Ercoli-Finzi has not forgotten Guido, especially for his thesis: “I was very fascinated by it because the method of coupling between spaceships that he described was very particular, similar to that of humans…”. “But are you saying that spaceships make love like human beings?” the presenter asks, astonished. And the answer is that yes, we can see it that way. Guido and his 98/100 degree obtained in ’84 confirm this.
Dargen D’Amico wants to be fined: vote 7
After the last Sanremo Festival, there was talk of resorting to a sort of ‘Daspo’ for singers who would bring political themes to the Ariston stage. On the occasion of the interview with Dargen D’Amico, Splendida Cornice returns to the topic by warning the rapper that he would be fined (500 euros) for every ‘political’ statement made. Starting from a ‘budget’ of 10 thousand, the artist is left with little or nothing left in his pocket at the end of the conversation. “Hospitals bombed, children in incubators without electricity. I think it’s happened to everyone these days to feel uncomfortable with the world we are living in. We need to understand what improvements our complicit silence should bring to the economic system of this country. Maybe the point is not that certain things can’t be said, but that we don’t want to hear them.” Jacopo Matteo Luca D’Amico (the registry office forgot to put commas between the names and so it ends up being triple) always knows what not to say. And he says it. If it were a less verbose thread, it would also be more effective. Anyway, chapeau.
Peppa Pig never gets a subjunctive wrong: rating 8
One of the most bizarre and fascinating phenomena of ‘Splendida Cornice’ is the way in which, very often, the real delicacies come from the circle of ‘Competents’ rather than from the famous guests interviewed in the studio. This is the case of Professor Giovanni Antonelli, a linguist, who reveals a hitherto unsuspected truth regarding Peppa Pig. When Massimiliano, from the audience, asks him if there is a trick to not get the subjunctives wrong, the Teacher replies: “Studying the verbal entries well is always the first thing. Watching cartoons with my daughters, however, I realized how, for example, in the dubbing of Peppa Pig the subjunctives were all perfect. It could be useful for a review!”. Be careful, however, not to exceed with the hypothetical period in speech or via chat: “There the subjunctive often sounds a little too formal and, in many cases, gives a more serious tone”. As for Peppa Pig, however, there are no limitations: binge-watching ad lib.
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