Gianfranco Funari (21 March 1932 – 12 July 2008) was an Italian television host, writer, stand-up comedian and actor.

Biography

Funari was born in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, where his father was a coachman. After working as a croupier in casinos in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and Saint Vincent, he was introduced to stand-up comedy by actor

Oreste Lionello Oreste Lionello (18 April 1927 – 19 February 2009) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Biography Lionello was born in Rhodes (which was then a possession of Italy), to Calabrian parents, and grew up in Reggio Calabria. He began his career as ...

, who had spotted him doing an amateur performance in a Roman nightclub. Funari then specialized in satirical monologues, and in 1970 he made his television debut in the

RAI (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

variety show ''La domenica è un'altra cosa''. In 1980 Funari debuted as TV host and writer with the

Telemontecarlo La7 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned by Cairo Communication. Cairo Communication acquired it from Telecom Italia Media, itself owned by Telecom Italia, in 2013. La7 features a generalist programming schedule, primarily ...

program ''Torti in faccia''. In 1981 he created the successful political talk show ''Aboccaperta'', which was first broadcast on Telemontecarlo and from 1984 to 1987 on

Rai 2 Rai 2 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's second television channel, and is known for broadcasting '' TG2'' news bulletins, ta ...

. Other television shows he wrote and hosted also include ''Mezzogiorno è'' (Rai 2, 1987–90), ''Mezzogiorno italiano'' (

Italia 1 Italia 1 (Italian pronunciation ) is an Italian free-to-air television channel on the Mediaset network, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It is aimed at both a young adult and adult audience. Italia 1 was launched on 3 January 1982 and, was or ...

, 1991), ''Zona Franca'' (a TV show he hosted on a network on 75 local TV station following a series of disagreements over his political freedom with

Mediaset Mediaset S.p.A. is an Italian mass media and television production and distribution company that is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE – MediaForEurope (the original ...

, 1992); ''Funari news'' (

Rete 4 Rete 4 (in English Network 4, also known as Retequattro) is an Italian free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset and owned by MFE - MediaForEurope MediaForEurope, officially MFE – MediaForEurope N.V., formerly Mediaset Grou ...

, 1993-4), ''Napoli capitale'' (Rai 2, 1995-6), ''A tu per tu'' (

Canale 5 Canale 5 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel of Mediaset, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was the first private television network to have national coverage in Italy in 1980. On 4 December 2012, Mediaset launched Canale 5 HD, a ...

, 2000) and the Saturday night show ''Apocalypse Show'' (

Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship television channel and is known for broadcasting ...

, 2007).Aldo Grasso, Massimo Scaglioni. ''Enciclopedia della Televisione''. Garzanti, Milano, 1996 – 2003. . pp.279-80. In 1994 Funari was invited to edit the newspaper ' where he also worked as a columnist. He was also a television critic for the magazine ''

Il Borghese ''Il Borghese'' is a monthly cultural and political magazine with a right-wing stance published in Rome, Italy. The magazine has been in circulation since 1950 and is named after the conservative Borghese family. and published until 1993. The n ...

''. Funari died on July 12, 2008, at the

San Raffaele Hospital The San Raffaele Hospital, known in Italian as ''Istituto scientifico universitario San Raffaele'' or ''Ospedale San Raffaele'' (HSR), is a university hospital situated in Segrate, in the province of Milan, Italy. It was founded in 1969 by don L ...

in Milan, where he was hospitalized for five months for lung and heart problems.

Bibliography

* Gianfranco Funari. ''Il potere in mutande: il dito nell'occhio della TV italiana'', Rizzoli, 2009. . * Massimo Emanuelli. ''Gianfranco Funari. Il "giornalaio" più famoso d'Italia'', Greco & Greco, 2009. .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Funari, Gianfranco 1944 births 2008 deaths Mass media people from Rome Italian television presenters Italian stand-up comedians Italian male comedians Italian male film actors Italian television writers Italian newspaper editors Italian male journalists 20th-century Italian comedians Italian male television writers 20th-century Italian journalists 20th-century Italian screenwriters 20th-century Italian male writers Deaths from lung disease Male actors from Rome Comedians from Rome