Cult comedienne and filmmaker Sabina Guzzanti is to star as Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi in one of Britain's best-known satire shows this weekend.
Guzzanti will perform a sketch alongside top comedian Rory Bremner, impersonating British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in which they poke fun at the pair's current political difficulties. "In the skit, Berlusconi speaks his 'personal version' of English, while Blair secretly visits him to ask his advice on dealing with Scotland Yard, which is on his back over the loans scandal," explained Guzzanti. She was referring to claims that Blair's Labour party provided parliamentary seats in exchange for cut-rate loans.
"The funny part is that Blair is this classically rigid Englishman, while Berlusconi is extremely physical, jumping into his arms, kissing him, stroking his back," said Guzzanti.
The show also touches on recent corruption allegations in an Italian case involving both Berlusconi and British corporate lawyer David Mills, husband of Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell.
"Berlusconi, recalling his recent testimony in favour of Mills, offers to testify for Blair in parliament. He says he will guarantee the honesty of his old friend but Blair replies: 'No! Please don't!'".
The sketch is not the first time Guzzanti and Bremner have teamed up to mock Berlusconi and Blair. Bremner also appeared in Guzzanti's sleeper hit documentary, Viva Zapatero, in which she chronicled her unsuccessful battle to get her satirical TV show back on the air.
Only one episode of RAIot, which lampooned Berlusconi and his private TV network, Mediaset, was ever screened. It sparked an immediate furore and state-broadcaster RAI suspended and later cancelled subsequent episodes when Mediaset tried to sue.
Although a court dismissed Mediaset's claims, Guzzanti's show was never reinstated. Critics accused the government of censorship and said RAI had bowed to political pressure from Berlusconi, pointing out that three other popular TV personalities had also been removed from the airwaves after attacking the premier.
But RAI and Berlusconi's allies defended the decision, saying Guzzanti's show had been in poor taste and represented a one-sided attack on Berlusconi. The centrist, Catholic UDC, a party in the governing coalition, said: "Guzzanti proposed theories and positions on political and economic issues that should out of fairness have left room for a response".
Mediaset said the show had "contained serious lies and insinuations that do not correspond to the facts". Viewers also reportedly phoned in to complain about the language and the decision to air the show while the country was in mourning over Italians killed in a bomb attack in Iraq.
Italy's Jewish community also protested, objecting to Guzzanti's use of the phrase "Jewish race", while centre-right MPs complained the show was biased and "in bad taste". Although Guzzanti's efforts to get RAIot back on the air proved unsuccessful, she became something of a cult figure in the process.
Speaking at the British premiere of Viva Zapatero in London earlier this month, Guzzanti said making the film had changed her life. "I met so many people and learned so much. I also discovered how powerful documentary filmmaking can be, as you can say what you want and are free of other people's agendas," she explained.
The overwhelming response that greeted her decision to tour Italy with a live version of RAIot left her "stunned", she added, as had the public response to Viva Zapatero. Although only screened at a few Italian cinemas, it was seen by 200,000 people in the first week and received a 15-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival.
Guzzanti, in the UK ahead of an April 11 screening of her documentary on the BBC, said the sketch with Bremner had come about by chance. "I sent him a message telling him about the BBC broadcast and he suggested we do a piece together, in view of
the elections in Italy, the Mills affair, and Blair's problems with Labour funds," she explained.
She said the opportunity was particularly valuable, given she was unable to express her views on Italian television during the run-up to the April 9-10 elections. "It's normal everywhere in the world to limit the space available to parties during electoral campaigns but members of the public aren't prevented from discussing politics, from commenting on the news and policies," she said.
"Preventing all satire during campaigning is an outright violation of freedom of expression - only it isn't just during elections in Italy". Guzzanti and Bremner's sketch will be screened on Channel 4 this Saturday, in Bremner, Bird and Fortune.
