A program with two friends in an armchair at home. It was the idea to realize together, that Gianni Boncompagni had mentioned to Renzo Arbore in the last period. “There wasn't time to delve into it in depth,” explains the host of Dietro tutta at the Prix Italia, which he dedicates to all the inventions and artistic journey of his 'accomplice' for over 20 years on radio and TV, “between inventions, discoveries and misdeeds”, 'No non è la Bbc', an event evening broadcast on September 26 at 21,05 pm on Rai2. “It won’t be the usual commemorative program with people sitting around talking, it will be a fun show – assures Arbore, also author with Barbara Boncompagni (Gianni’s daughter), Ugo Porcelli, Giorgio Verdelli and Luca Nannini – it will reserve surprises starting from a gimmick that will be discovered at the opening. To create it we asked ourselves how Gianni would have liked to be remembered. We did it his way… and a little bit my way.” “Thanks to Renzo and Carlo (Freccero, director of Rai2) - says Barbara Boncompagni - who better than them could understand the spirit of my father, and this program has it all”. Freccero was “a fan of Boncompagni, even before meeting him, he had won me over with his innovative strength – explains the director of Rai2 -. for his 80th birthday I gave him a bishop's mitre... he was thrilled with it." The program features many archive gems, from their revolutionary programs such as Bandiera Gialla (1965 – 1970) and Alto Gradimento (which continued in waves from its debut in 70 until the early 80s, with a return in 1998), to many surprises, such as "the participation in Canzonissima, where, for a sketch with too much toilet paper in 1971, they kicked us out of TV for five years" or the film of the first meeting between Gianni Boncompagni and Raffaella Carrà for a joke interview on the steps of Piazza di Spagna: "I remember that time, before going Gianni was annoyed... you never know what fate has in store for you" comments Arbore smiling, who gives many hilarious anecdotes at the press conference. Raffaella Carrà will also be among the guests of the evening, where there will be testimonials, among others, by Giancarlo Magalli, Fabio Fazio, Piero Chiambretti and artists launched by Boncompagni, such as Ambra Angiolini Claudia Gerini, Sabrina Impacciatore and Lucia Ocone. “They are all so grateful for Gianni,” says Arbore, who also comments on the famous idea of the earphone on Non e' la Rai for Ambra: “It was a brilliant invention, Gianni would even tell her the wrong things, to see how she would react in the moment.” Boncompagni, who had met Arbore in 1964 at the benches of an exam for radio music programmers, was "a courageous man, a utopian of beauty, lively, 'scetato' as they say in Naples, he hated the banal and everything that wasn't ahead of its time and sometimes, for this reason, I purposely told him ancien régime jokes" explains his friend. Arbore doesn't remember any big fights with him, but among the best memories "there is a laugh, to the point of tears, that made us create together that genius that was Mario Marenco". Is there an heir to the Boncompagni – Arbore style? “A bit like Fiorello, because he improvises like we did, just go to one of his shows and you'll see how much energy there is. Now I wish him the best for the adventure that is about to begin on Rai Play. Talking about the harmony I had with Gianni, I also find it a lot in Lillo and Greg”. The host will return to Rai2 in December for two evenings dedicated to Renato Carosone, and then there are other ideas, "in the spirit of the TV I like, the soft kind."
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