Gialappa's Band

"And here that in a single moment an apparently normal man covers itself of ridicule."

Gialappa's Band is the name used by the Italian trio of TV and radio commentators Marco Santin, Carlo Taranto and Giorgio Gherarducci.

Gialappa's members first united in 1985 at the Radio Popolare of Milan, where they launched the show "Bar Sport". The show concerned satirical commentary on Sunday matches of Italian football Serie A. The trio also commented on the FIFA World Cup, employing large doses of sarcasm and sound effects (crashing glasses, car crashes, babies crying) to emphasize the players' errors or game fouls. The format was very successful and, as of 2006, they have broadcast comments on every football match for the European Championships and World Cups since 1986. Several UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup matches were also commentated during in the 90's.

Their main event, however, remains the European and World Football cup. Several editions of the program also featured guests from the same nations as the playing teams. The trio moved from local radios to major private radio Radio Deejay and, later on, to Radio Due. In 2006, satellite television Sky Sport offered the Gialappa's comments as an alternative to the official report.

In parallel, the Gialappa's were hired as TV writers for several shows broadcast by Silvio Berlusconi's network Mediaset. The first TV show of their own was 1989's "Mai dire Banzai" ("Never Say: Banzai!"), a personalized version of the Japanese show "Takeshi's Castle". As in all of their shows, the trio never appears on the screen. Instead, they added voiceover comments, often mocking the acting characters with sharp comments.

The success of "Mai dire Banzai" spurred their most famous TV show, "Mai dire Gol" ("Never Say: Goal!") and the similar "Mai dire Mundial" (devoted to 1990 FIFA World Cup and repeated for 1994 FIFA World Cup). These formats, very similar in concept to the radio program "Bar Sport", featured performances by talented comical actors: in the long stint of "Mai dire Gol", Gialappa's hosted actors like Teo Teocoli, Gene Gnocchi, Antonio Albanese, Paola Cortellesi, Bebo Storti, Claudio Bisio, Neri Marcorè, Maurizio Crozza, Aldo, Giovanni & Giacomo, Daniele Luttazzi and many others. Several of those guest starts gained popularity in Italy through their work on the show.