Qwhen she showed up in the press room for the ritual conference, Teresa Mannino warned that on the Ariston stage she would be a «loose cannon». Amadeus has invested her with the role of co-host of the third evening – broadcast on Thursday 8 February on Rai 1 –, and so it was.
Sanremo 2024, the entrance of Teresa Mannino
The «co-co» who agreed to live this crazy musical journey is a fun woman», says Amadeus. At 9.34pm Teresa Mannino reveals herself in feathers dressed “from Sicily with fury”. And it’s immediately a wonderful loose cannon. He messes up the Ariston and takes all the show.
He is about to go down the stairs and stops. «Sanremo is loved, Ama is loved, but I’m not going down», he shouts from the staircase. «These stairs are useless. There are eight other entrances, he puts them to make you anxious. Back here there are people praying, amulets, and what does he tell you? It’s the most beautiful moment when 10 million Italians look at you. You should have been a psychologist!”, she jokes.
Sanremo 2024, Teresa Mannino and Amadeus. (Getty Images)
Then he turns to the audience and ventures: «You must say: Te-re-sa, Te-re-sa». The audience obeys and… «Okay, you’ve convinced me. Master, are you there? Let’s try guys. Music!”. And the show begins. He reaches the stage, enters the stage jumping and starts a self-celebratory dance. No one has ever dared so much, but she can. And she reminds the public that Sanremo 2024 is broadcast worldwide and everyone will look at her profile and that of Amadeus. «More noses than flowers», she comments.
He combines one after another. Experience Sanremo as if it were a party, because after all «Sanremo is a beautiful Carnival». He launches himself on the boys of Il Volo, she comes back on stage surprised when Gianni Morandi arrives. She is a wild fan, she asks him to sing There was a boy who, like me, loved the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. He entertains Russell Crowe and does “everything I’ve never done in my life.”
The monologue on Protagoras and the ants
Then the irony leaves room for reflection and brings his monologue to the stage. The only moment of the evening – and perhaps of the entire Festival – without hunchback. «We are in 2024 but we think like 2524 years ago. In the 5th century to. C. in Greece there was the philosopher Protagoras. Yes, they were all philosophers. If you were looking for an electrician you could die. Protagoras didn’t have the success he deserved, a bit like Zarrillo.”
Get serious again. «Protagoras said that man is the measure of all things. And for us the rich, white, Western man is the measure of all things, only he has lost it”, he continues. «He thinks that the rest of the world is at his disposal and what is not needed is eliminated».
He continues: «Let’s talk about the human animal. 60% of our genetic heritage is the same as that of bananas. That’s what they say I scraped my knees. We share 98% of our genetic heritage with monkeys, chimpanzees and other primates. The chimpanzees are keen not to let it be known.”
Sanremo 2024, Teresa Mannino. (Getty Images)
«I also like power, but to make people laugh»
Still: “We feel superior because we talk, but in reality animals and plants communicate in another way. Baboons, for example, greet each other by squeezing their penises.” The climax comes with the dissertation on leafcutter ants, who have created a perfect agricultural system in which the males only serve to procreate. The only task is to supply the sperm, which are in the queen’s spermatheca. I have to get the spermatheca too.”
Explains: “Their task is the nuptial flight. They mate and then die because they are no longer useful. But how far ahead I am! They have no problems managing exes and men are happy because their life is one big fuck!’ Finally, the closing. «Human animals, on the other hand, prefer power onon other men, on women, on children, on nature.”
«I also like power, but the power ofwhich has a completely different energy. To laugh and make you laugh, to dress in feathersto sing even if I’m out of tune, to dance in the street even if my daughter tells me mom stop, you make me ashamed. I’m not willing to ignore the stories that haven’t happened yet. If it hasn’t passed, it’s not yet time to move on».
Teresa Mannino and Gianni Morandi sing at Sanremo 2024. (Getty Images)
Sanremo 2024, Teresa Mannino’s dresses
During the evening the co-host made several changes of clothes. It is dressed by Fausto Puglisi, creative director of Cavalli. Loose sweater with feathers and flared trousers. During the live broadcast he doesn’t mention him, but remarks several times that he is “good”. And he remembers that he is the stylist of «Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lopez, Michelle Obama and… Teresa Mannino».
He remembers that he began his career with Whitney Houston “and ended with me.” Note, then, that the first dress, the white one, «Jennifer Lopez has the same one, but she goes shopping in it!». At the end, however, she shows up wearing a long green mermaid dress.
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