Massimo Boldi

Massimo Antonio Boldi (born 23 July 1945) is an Italian stand-up comedian and actor.

Biography

Boldi was born in Luino on 23 July 1945. In 1955 his family moved to Milan, where he joined evening classes and began working as a window-dresser and then as a door-to-door salesman for a pastry company. In 1968 he started performing in cabaret. In the 1970s he did not perform, but managed a bar-latteria in Milan. On 29 September 1973 he married Marisa Selo (cousin of Formula One driver Michele Alboreto). Their marriage lasted until Selo's death on 8 April 2004.

Artistic careers

Drummer

Boldi entered show business as a drummer. He played in the group I Mimitoki before joining the better-known La pattuglia azzurra ("The Blue Patrol"), which was headed by a young Claudio Lippi. He went on to be a drummer in Gino Paoli's orchestra and many other bands.

Stand-up comedian

Boldi continued his drumming career at Derby Club, established in 1959 as a jazz venue by Gianni Bongiovanni and his wife Angela. Among the artists he worked with were Enzo Jannacci, Cochi e Renato, Giorgio Gaber, Bruno Lauzi, Umberto Bindi, Gino Paoli, Paolo Villaggio, Walter Waldi and Enrico Intra, joint founder of the club. There, at the suggestion of Bongiovanni, he became a stand-up comedian, creating characters that soon became popular in the club and, after appearances on local television, outside. In those years he and Teo Teocoli performed as a duo, both in the Derby Club and on television.