Italy's Nobel prize-winning playwright Dario Fo on Thursday urged Spanish King Juan Carlos to rejoice in the fact he is the target of satire.
Referring to a cartoon that appeared in the latest edition of Spain's satirical weekly El Jueves, Fo said the king should "be happy people laugh at him - it's a sign he's a real presence".
"You can only satirize someone if they have a marked personality and it's a fact that the king here has a strong presence," the 81-year-old actor and playwright continued.
"If they ignored him, it would be a sign he was no longer of any importance".
Fo made his remarks at the presentation of one of his works at a festival in the northeast city of Girona, near the French border.
The leftwing Italian comic is set to perform his most famous show, the solo tour de force Mistero Buffo (Comic Mystery).
First performed in 1969, the show is a series of monologues based on medieval mystery plays, but shaped by topical issues and changing with each performance.
At the presentation, Fo revealed he would use this edition of Mistero Buffo to denounce the recent violence in Burma and to criticize the "indifference" of many countries over the future of the Asian nation.
