Italian Comedy – Aldo, Giovanni & Giacomo Posted by Bridgette on Aug 7, 2020 in Culture
Ciao a tutti, di nuovo!
I wanted to share with you some comedy sketches in Italian that I have enjoyed, for both Italian listening practice, and because they are funny!
Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo are an Italian trio of comedians, actors and screenwriters. They have been active since 1982 and they are some of the most widely known and successful Italian comedians. They at times utilize “slapstick humor”, which is the use of exaggerated physical activity in plays and theater. This type of humor actually began in the 16th century in Italy, known as commedia dell’arte and is derived from the word battachio, slapstick, in Italian. Essentially the battachio was used to hit actors with minimal pain involved, yet producing a loud and humorous sound.
Another key attribute of their humor is their ability to create and develop outrageous characters and stories, and they quite often successfully mimic different Italian accents for those characters. Drawing on cultural differences between the South and North of Italy, their comedy routines are quite Italian-centric, so this is definitely advanced listening practice.
*You can put on the automatic Italian generated subtitles, or the automatic English translation while watching the video – but be warned, there will be mistakes.*
Il Conte Dracula e Nico il sardo
This comedy sketch is all about Il Conte Dracula, Count Dracula, who continues to bussare nella casa di Nico il sardo, to knock at the house of Nico the Sardinian… much to his sfortuna, misfortune.
Vocabolario:
Una casetta – small house
spigoloso – grouchy
spezzare le braccine – to break the little arms
spegnere le candele – to blow out the candles
stravagante – peculiar
un salice piangente – a weeping willow
le campane – the bells
indovinare – to guess
origliato – eavesdropped
sfamare – to feed
la malattia – the disease
un cucchiaino – a teaspoon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg1wY4lCoZI
Il Viaggio in Subaru Baracca
The next one is Il Viaggio in Subaru Baracca, the trip in a heap of a Subaru. I especially like this one because of their over-exaggerated gestures while “driving” and for the onomatopoeia.
Vocabolario:
sbrigati – hurry yourself
la portiera – car door
bestiale – amazing
il clacson – the horn
stufo – fed up
deficiente – imbecile
sfasato – confused
cretini – dimwits
piantala – drop it
imbestialire – to fly into a rage
insonorizzato – soundproof
la parabrezza – the windshield (“parabrizz”)
un troglodita – caveman
sazio – stuffed, full
una dalmata – a dalmatian
sterminare – exterminating
Che pensate dell’umorismo italiano? What do you think of Italian humor? Do you have any other Italian comedians that you like? Share them below!
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Comments:
Caroline Swan:
Thank you so much for your blogs … very entertaining and useful. I teach Italian at intermediate level and often use your blogs for class reference
Bridgette:
@Caroline Swan Caroline, I’m so happy to hear that you find my blogs useful and entertaining enough to use in class! Thank you tremendously for your support.