Gianfranco Funari died yesterday in Italy, he was 76. While I’m certain almost nobody in the USA has ever even heard of him, everyone in Italy knew who he was. I decided to enter a short piece here on him because he was one of my favorite Italian characters from my days of living in Italy. They called him the “cattivo presentatore” (The mad presenter). He had a certain rhythm and style that was all his own, very Roman, very intense, stylish, and vulgar. Part of me was always entertained by him and part of me always thought somehow that he was a bit lonely and melancholic. Nonetheless, he was an Italian icon.
