Up close, no one is normal: Alessandro Cattelan hits the mark, but something is missing

Who knows Alessandro Cattelan he knows well that, when he positions himself at the center of the stage, anything can happen, including that the audience can be personally involved in his gags and moments of show. It was worth it for Cattelan is here tonightfor his theater show He always said hello – is available on Netflix – but also for Up close, no one is normalhis second prime time program on Rai after the experiment of When I grow up on Rai1 and the usual nightly appointment with his flagship late show, created and tailor-made for him. The starting idea of ​​the show, produced in collaboration with Fremantle Italia, was make fun of quirks that we all have a bit by inserting them into an original and entertaining register, providing reflections on the human condition here and there, and, at least at the beginning, it seemed that the basic premise was maintained. The glue of everything, of course, remains him: Alessandro Cattelan, who enjoys playing with the public and with its fetishes – such as football – while a waltz of prominent guests such as Federica PellegriniThe Kolors, Tananai and Valerio Mastandrea buzz around him.

The problem of Up close, no one is normal but it is one: the absence of a sufficiently strong and recognizable red thread that combines the different moments of entertainment proposed during the program. Exactly as in When I grow upthe impression is that what we could define as the heart of the format, understood as the juice of a fruit that can easily be identified and recognized by the public. Together with the social media manager's hilarious sketch with Tananai and Mastandrea's feat of returning to the Franco Parenti Theater in Milan using exclusively his notoriety, the idea is that some moments, such as that of the football match together with Antonio Cassano, Nicola Ventola And Lele Adani, are detached from the rest. It's true that we're talking about a prime time variety show, but it's equally true that, when you choose a title and write down a premise, it can be logical to expect everything to follow a very specific and recognizable direction.

A direction that, if we think about it, Alessandro Cattelan has traced in a coherent and effective manner in another format, A simple question, always available on Netflix, which managed not only to develop a theme, but also to photograph it through a 360-degree journey that allowed the public to appreciate the planning and overall vision. The discussion, however, also applies to He always said helloa show that started from the host's funeral – a brilliant idea, let's admit it – and then extend the reflection to life, to its closest meaning and how we would like to be remembered. Here you are, if something is missing in Up close, no one is normal – among other things a beautiful title inherited from a historical phrase by Franco Basaglia – it's just that, even if Alessandro Cattelan's ideas – think of the funny moment in which Pellegrini tried to improve the swimming of a theater spectator, but also the video clips in which the audience talks about their own craze – are formidable. It would just be necessary to find a solid enough frame within which to contain them.