Daniele Luttazzi

Daniele Luttazzi (Italian pronunciation: [daˈnjɛle lutˈtattsi]; born January 26, 1961), real name Daniele Fabbri, is an Italian theater actor, writer, satirist, illustrator and singer/songwriter. His stage name is an homage to musician and actor Lelio Luttazzi. His favourite topics are politics, religion, sex and death.

Luttazzi was born in Santarcangelo di Romagna, province of Rimini. He began his comic career performing satirical monologues in theatre shows and writing comedy books. In 1988, his monologue won an award in a comedy contest held at Rome's Teatro Sistina. From 1989, he began working in TV variety shows: Fate il vostro gioco (1989, Rai 2), Banane (1989, Telemontecarlo), Magazine 3 (1993, 1994, Rai 3), Mai Dire Gol (1996, 1997, Italia 1). In 1998, he hosts his own late night show, Barracuda (Italia 1). Luttazzi did monologues about recent news, interviews with famous showbiz and political personalities, and skits for adult audiences. The same formula was then adopted for his next TV show, called Satyricon, aired by the public channel Rai 2 in 2001. In March 2001, Luttazzi interviewed journalist Marco Travaglio about "L'odore dei soldi" (The Scent of Money), a book on the mysterious origins of Silvio Berlusconi's wealth. The next year, shortly after Berlusconi's statement on the "criminal use of public television" made by Luttazzi (see Editto Bulgaro), Luttazzi's show was cancelled by RAI's management. Since then, Luttazzi has been often cited by the European press (i.e. The Economist, Le Monde, El País) as proof of Mr. Berlusconi's censorship of the opposition.

After television, Luttazzi toured Italy doing theatre shows and wrote books. He returned on TV in 2007 with the new satirical program "Decameron: Politica, Sesso, Religione e Morte" (Decameron: Politics, Sex, Religion and Death) for the private channel La7. Eventually his show was suspended after a controversial joke on journalist Giuliano Ferrara (who was working for La7 too).

2012: Luttazzi wins his legal battle against La7. La7 shall pay Luttazzi 1 million 2 hundred thousand euros.

In 1994, Susanna Tamaro, bestselling author of "Va' dove ti porta il cuore", sued Luttazzi for plagiarism after his parody "Va' dove ti porta il clito". Luttazzi won the trial: it was a parody, not plagiarism.

Since then, Luttazzi has been further accused of plagiarism. In 2001 the Italian progressive newspaper La Repubblica noticed the similarities between Luttazzi TV show Barracuda and the David Letterman Show. Luttazzi replied that the actual model of David Letterman is, in turn, Johnny Carson's Tonight Show and stated that all jokes and texts were original. In 2007, Christian Rocca, a journalist from "Il Foglio" (a conservative newspaper controlled by Silvio Berlusconi's family)accused Luttazzi of plagiarizing jokes from American comedians; and in 2010 he has been accused by several Italian newspapers, across the political spectrum, of having plagiarised many jokes from comedians such as George Carlin, Mitch Hedberg, Eddie Izzard, Chris Rock, Bill Hicks and Robert Schimmel. The accusation of plagiarism, according to Luttazzi, is a misleading half-truth. Five years before those allegations, Luttazzi himself told about his scheme on his personal blog: he wrote that he adds famous comedians' material to his work as a defense against the million-euro lawsuits he has to face because of his satire. Luttazzi calls his ruse "the Lenny Bruce trick" after a similar trick played by his hero, Lenny Bruce. Luttazzi asks his readers to find out the original jokes. He awards a prize to anyone who finds a "nugget", i.e. a reference to famous jokes: he calls the game "treasure hunt". Luttazzi also calls the allegations "naive", explaining why those jokes are not "plagiarized", but "calqued", which is a fair use of original material. He used a joke by Emo Philips to prove that the meaning of a joke depends on its context. Luttazzi's blog lists all the comedians and writers quoted in his works.

In 2012, Luttazzi won the first step of a legal battle against La7 broadcasting company, which in 2007 abruptly closed his late show "Decameron", accusing him, among other charges, of plagiarism from Bill Hicks. La7 was sentenced to pay 1,200,000 Euros as compensation.

Reactions

In 2010, a few commentators, after the first batch of news which did not mention Luttazzi's 2005 post in his blog about the "Lenny Bruce trick", said Luttazzi did what web aggregators do. Others, such as Wu Ming, pointed out that as a result many former fans were switching to angered detractors of Luttazzi, with the risk of denying Luttazzi's original artistic and cultural contributions and deep renovation of Italian satire.

In Luttazzi's defense, film director Roberto Faenza quoted Roberto Benigni: Benigni compares Luttazzi's copying to the greatest artists' copying, writers like Virgil, Ovid, Dante, Shakespeare, Buster Keaton, Eduardo De Filippo, and Woody Allen.

Books

• 101 cose da evitare a un funerale, Modena, Comix, 1993. ISBN 88-7686-221-8
• Locuste. Come le formiche, solo più cattive, Modena, Comix, 1994. ISBN 88-7686-496-2 Le 101 locuste sono poi state incluse nelle prime edizioni di CRAMPO
• Sesso con Luttazzi, Modena, Comix, 1994. ISBN 88-7686-497-0; Milano, Mondadori, 2000. ISBN 88-04-47641-9
• Adenoidi, Milano, Bompiani, 1995. ISBN 88-452-2446-5; Milano, Rizzoli, 1999. ISBN 88-17-68016-8
• Va' dove ti porta il clito, Modena, Comix, 1995. ISBN 88-7686-630-2; 1996. ISBN 88-7686-681-7
• C.R.A.M.P.O. Corso Rapido di Apprendimento Minimo per Ottenebrati, Modena, Comix, 1996. ISBN 88-8193-009-9 Le prime edizioni contenevano in appendice Locuste
• Gioventù Cannibale, con altri, Torino, Einaudi, 1996. ISBN 88-06-14268-2
• Tabloid", Modena, Comix, 1997. ISBN 88-8193-017-X; 1997. ISBN 88-8193-040-4
• Teatro. Rettili & roditori, Scene da un adulterio, Modena, Comix, 1998. ISBN 88-8193-056-0
• Cosmico! Una valida alternativa all'intrattenimento intelligente, Milano, Mondadori, 1998. ISBN 88-04-45082-7
• Barracuda, Milano, Mondadori, 1999. ISBN 88-04-45850-X
• Luttazzi Satyricon, Milano, Mondadori, 2001. ISBN 88-04-49523-5
• Benvenuti in Italia, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2002. ISBN 88-07-84011-1
• Capolavori, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2002. ISBN 88-07-84021-9
• La castrazione e altri metodi infallibili per prevenire l'acne, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2003. ISBN 88-07-84029-4
• Bollito misto con mostarda, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2005. ISBN 88-07-84054-5 include I giardini dell'epistassi
• Lepidezze postribolari, ovvero Populorum progressio, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2007. ISBN 88-07-84077-4
• La guerra civile fredda, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2009. ISBN 978-88-07-70213-6
• La quarta necessità, (disegni di Massimo Giacon), Milano, Rizzoli, 2011. EAN: 788817053471
• Lolito. Una parodia, Roma, Il Fatto Quotidiano, 2013; Milano, Chiarelettere, 2013. ISBN 8861904580
• Bloom Porno-Teo-Kolossal, Roma, Il Fatto Quotidiano, 2015.

Translations and prefaces

• Translation of Daniel Clowes, L'antologia ufficiale di Lloyd LLewellyn, Bologna, Telemaco, 1992.
• Introduction to Francesca Ghermandi, Hiawata Pete, Bologna, Granata Press, 1993. Nuova edizione: Coconino Press, 2008. ISBN 978-88-7618-112-2
• Preface to Daniele Brolli e Roberto Baldazzini, Trans/Est, Bologna, Phoenix, 1994.
• Preface to Lenny Bruce, Come parlare sporco e influenzare la gente, Milano, Bompiani, 1995. ISBN 88-452-2445-7
• Preface to Massimo Giacon, Sexorcismo 2000, Roma, Mare Nero, 2000. EAN: 9788887495072
• Translation and introduction to Woody Allen, Effetti collaterali, Milano, Tascabili Bompiani, 2004. ISBN 88-452-3304-9
• Translation and introduction to Woody Allen, Senza piume, Milano, Tascabili Bompiani, 2004. ISBN 88-452-3305-7
• Translation and introduction to Woody Allen Rivincite, Milano, Tascabili Bompiani, 2004. ISBN 88-452-3306-5
• Introduction to Stan Lee e John Romita Sr., The complete Spider-Man, vol. II, 29/1/1979-11/1/1981, Modena, Panini comics, 2007. ISBN 978-88-8343-717-5

Music

• 2005 - Money for Dope (EMI)
• 2007 - School Is Boring (EDEL)

Tv programs

• Fate il vostro gioco, 1989 - Rai 2
• Banane, 1990 - TMC
• Magazine 3, 1994-95 - Rai 3
• Mai dire gol, 1995-98 - Italia 1
• Barracuda, 1998-99 - Italia 1
• Satyricon, 2001 - Rai 2
• Decameron, 2007 - La7

Theatrical monologues

• Non qui, Barbara, nessuno ci sta guardando (1989)
• Chi ha paura di Daniele Luttazzi? (1991)
• Sesso con Luttazzi (1993, 1999, 2003, 2008)
• Va' dove ti porta il clito (1995, 2009)
• Adenoidi (1996)
• Tabloid (1997)
• Barracuda LIVE (1998)
• Satyricon (2001)
• Adenoidi 2003 (2003)
• Dialoghi platonici (2003) (recitati da attori dello Stabile di Genova e dell'Archivolto, per la regia di Giorgio Gallione)
• Bollito misto con mostarda (2004)
• Come uccidere causando inutili sofferenze (2005)
• Barracuda 2007 (2007)
• Decameron (2008)

Music concerts

• Songbook (2009)