L’AQUILA – Pope Francis will meet a group of over one hundred comedians and artists from all over the world in the Apostolic Palace at 8.30 am on Friday 14 June, from Whoopi Goldberg to François Cluzet to Luciana Littizzetto. The event was organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education and the Dicastery for Communication with the aim of establishing a link between the Catholic Church and comic artists. “The human attitude closest to God’s grace is humor“, Pope Francis has said and written several times and in various forms, who prays daily with the words of Saint Thomas More: «Give me, Lord, a sense of humor». “Francesco recognizes the notable impact that the art of comedy has in the world of contemporary culture. Through the humorous talent and unifying value of laughter today, unique reflections on the human condition and the historical situation are offered”, notes the Dicastery of Culture.
Among the 67 Italians present, the largest group, in addition to names like Boldi, De Sica and Verdone, there is also an Abruzzo native: he is Gabriele Cirillicomedian, stand-up comedian, actor, humorist and writer Sulmonawhich just a few days ago in The Eagle opened the theater school “The Factory“. After two years in San Salvo (Chieti), the school has in fact moved to the capital of Abruzzo a few days ago to train new entertainment professionals. Gabriele was born in the theater and is an artist in love with his profession and above all with the contact with the public, which only the theater can offer: his is in fact the only advanced training school inspired by the stage exercises of Gigi Proietti, with which Cirilli himself trained more than thirty years ago. Gabriele Cirilli is also a man of faith, which allowed him to overcome depression in a difficult moment in his career. “I have always been a person who tries to do good. We collected money for the most needy either by organizing football matches or by doing charity shows“, he adds in his biography. We also remember him as a priest in the part of Don Juan in the film “The invisible city” by director Giuseppe Tandoi in 2010, who tries to instill confidence in the tent city in those who were forced to leave their homes following the devastating earthquake in L’Aquila.
Gabriele Cirilli was born in Sulmona on 12 June 1967. As a child he imitated teachers, while his grandmother took him to all the operas they performed at the theater in Sulmona. And right in his hometown at the age of 8 he saw his teacher, Gigi Proietti, for the first time: his show “To me the eyes” in fact he made his debut in Sulmona in 1975. Gabriele then attended the acting school founded by Proietti, who was like a second father to him and began working in theater and television. In 1993 Gabriele married Maria De Luca, whom he met at school when he was only 14 years old, and who will always be by his side in all the ups and downs of his career. During a dinner in Trieste Proietti gave him the idea of making a new character, the Standard of living, with a catchphrase: “Un caffeeee!”. Character who in 1996/1997 was part of Seven shows, a program that saw the television birth of the most important Italian comedians of the last decades and also that of the comedian from Abruzzo. From here it is called a Zelig, where in the early 2000s he achieved great popularity with his character of Kruska, a Roman villager who was a friend of Tatiana, from which the catchphrase “Who is Tatiana?!?” was born. After some minor roles, Gabriele Cirilli also made his debut at the cinema, in the role of Tino, protagonist of A liar in heaven by Enrico Oldoini, alongside Paolo Villaggio, and is in various television miniseries such as Chiara and Francescoin 2007, on Rai 1. In the same year he participated in the fourth edition of the Rai 1 talent show dancing with the Stars, hosted by Milly Carlucci. Since 2009 she has been in the cast of A doctor in the family, where he plays Dante Piccione, a somewhat naive but playful gambler, who gets engaged and then marries Melina. From 2012 to 2017 he was the beloved face and appreciated imitator in Carlo Conti’s talent show Such and such show, first from 2012 to 2017 and then resumed in 2020 for a total of 75 imitations. And all this is just a small part of his career: today he dreams of a show all his own and for the moment he will be the mentor of the new entertainment professionals in L’Aquila.
