INTERVIEW: FIORELLO RETURNS WITH “FRIDAY NIGHT FEVER”, COSTANZO ACTS AS AN ACCOMPLICE*

Rome January 11 - After the not so brilliant results of his last show, Fiorello gives it another shot with "La Febbre del Venerdi Sera" (Friday Night Fever)  A program in which the man of the codino (ponytail) will be free to improvise skits and jokes in good company. With him there are in fact Maurizio Costanzo (whom returns on tv variety after twenty years, last we saw of him doing a variety show was back in 1976 when he signed “Bambole non c'e' una lira" with Dino Verde, Antonello Falqui, and Marcello Marchesi), Lello Arena, the model Randi Ingerman (a lot of you will probably remember her from this passed summer in a tv commercial for a vodka's brand)  and the singer Lara Martelli.   

- How will this new program be?  

“Two hours of pure entertainment - answers Fiorello - that does not follow the rents of TV programs as usual.  It will be all very open, with spacious margins of improvisation. To give you an example, in the monologue, obviously not mine, there could  suddenly be written “Maurizio Costanzo comes to the scene without Fiorello's knowledge", and from there on we won't know what will happen.  It's Costanzo's style anyway, he likes it when I get caught unprepared, and therefore he's forced to come up with something. I should say that this does not displease me either.   
 
- How was this collaboration with Costanzo born? 
 
“The idea was born given the fact that the first time I went to the “Costanzo Show”: he said to me with his typical voice “I could  see you as a showman, free and loose”. Then we met up again, and until a month ago when we asked ourselves: “Well, what are we doing? ”. That evening the guests Lello Arena and Randi Ingerman were there as well, and so we involved both of them in the project”. 
 
- How many shows will be aired? 
 
“Only three, because this was a last moment idea, and there already was another program in the making, but we wouldn't exclude the possibility of a fourth. Then you know how it works: if the numbers are good you go ahead. If not, I'll just say I had a good time and end it. 
 
- How do you find yourself with Costanzo? 
 
“He's got an affectionate attitude towards me, he often pinches me on the cheeks and strokes my head, he's almost paternal. And then he's extremely likeable, to me he's a great comedian. When we have meetings he fires up great jokes. The only thing that I probably won't be able to make he do is sing and dance, and he's already told me that himself.  
 
- And Lello Arena? 
 
“I'm starting to get to know him well these days. In the past I appreciated him as a comedian, now I'm learning to understand the man he is. A person of incredible sensibility. The other day we were doing a photo shoot, and this song from Pino Daniele came on the radio. A song from a soundtrack of one of Troisi's movies, and he automatically started to get emotional.  We find ourselves in such good tune, that during the show we go "arm in arm" improvising without nothing ever being decided beforehand.  
 
- Do you feel you're more comfortable in this program instead of the previous one? 
 
The "Karaoke" had the similar spirit in the sense that you'd go up on stage and nothing was really prepared, whereas in "Spazzolino" everything was prepared and in the end you really don't have any fun. Perhaps, that's why that show wasn't going well. The public prefers me in my natural way.  
 
- Do you have any fear of the public's judgment? 
 
“I don't feel as if I were under examination. In the end, one can see, it's not that I really have all this experience, I've done one show "Karaoke" that went well, then another "Superkaraoke" which went well as well, and then there was "Spazzolino" which didn't. At that point, I understood that one should only do the things he feels. Now, I'm taking a different route, and if it still won't go well I'll change once more. I see this as being an experience more than anything. If indeed I should feel as if I were under examination each time, I wouldn't feel calm. I'm doing the type of work that pleases me, and thinking of many co-workers at the holiday villages I feel lucky in the respect that many others don't know how to do it at a professional level. Furthermore, I want to continue to maintain this style. Perhaps, if Costanzo hadn't been there, I would have stayed still doing nothing for another six months.