The Sicilian comedian returns to TV with the ‘GialappaShow’: “I used to play in the street with Super Santos and I loved number 10s. I would like Yuri Chechi on stage with me, he brought me luck.”

It wasn’t enough… magic to make him a famous soccer player, but on the other hand, Mago Forest, aka Michele Foresta, remained passionate about soccer. And in the new season of GialappaShow, which starts Monday on TV8, he will have the opportunity to confirm this.

Mago Forest, were you athletic when you were young?

“Yes, I played a lot on the street with the legendary Super Santos, and we invented playing fields in the strangest places. In Nicosia, however, the pitches were all uphill or downhill, and often whoever chose the pitch won. We sometimes played on the one near the house of Uncle Filippo, a local farmer, and when the ball ended up in his vegetable garden, he didn’t complain: he would cut it in half with his knife and give us the two halves to use as hats. Another field had a goal near a ravine where the ball would inevitably fall. The goalkeeper would pick it up if it was a goal, or the player who kicked it if it wasn’t. How many times did I go up and down that ravine…“.

Did you dream of becoming a soccer player?

”Yes, but I wasn’t very good as a goalkeeper or center forward. My idols were Zoff and Anastasi.“ Do you remember the first soccer games you watched on TV? ”The ones from Mexico ’70 at the bar. And then the ones that Rai broadcast on Sundays: they aired one of the two halves, the most entertaining one or the one with the most goals.”

And at the stadium?

“We didn’t go into the legendary stadium in Nicosia so we wouldn’t have to pay for tickets, and we climbed Rocca Palta, which was a kind of… third tier of San Siro. From up there, we could only see one goal, and we understood what was happening on the other side based on the players’ reactions. As with the games on Rai, it was my destiny to see only part of what was happening.“

If you had pursued a career as a soccer player, would you have become famous as…?

”I would have become the reserve of the reserve of the reserve, even in the weekly games. But if we’re talking about dreams, it would have been nice to be like Magic Box Gianfranco Zola. And then I would also be Baronetto… I liked him as a footballer and I respect him as a person.”

Do you feel like a number 10?

“I loved that type of player: Zola, Platini, Del Piero, Antognoni, Beccalossi, Baggio.”

A footballer who could have been a comedian?

“When I worked in the villages, I met a young Antonio Conte who was there on vacation with Rampulla, Napoli, and Alessio. Conte is very nice. For work, I often spent time with Demetrio Albertini, and he’s great too.”

Totti, Balotelli, or Vieri: who has the most screen presence?

“They are all champions. I like Balotelli, who could have made us dream even more with the national team. I read that he got into a lot of trouble as a boy. I would have liked to do a show with him called ‘A Night with Balotelli.’”

Is there a sports personality you’d like to have on stage with you?

“Yuri Chechi. In the early years of Zelig, in 1997 to be precise, when he had just won the Olympic gold medal, I was looking for a magic word like ‘Sim Sala Bin’ or ‘Abracadabra’ and I coined ‘Yurichechi, Chechiyuri’. It brought me a lot of luck.”

As a coach, what formation would you use?

“5-5-5. Like Oronzo Canà.”

Would the Gialappi be on your staff?

“Nooooo. Hearing their criticism and jokes even when I’m coaching, no way. But I would take them on as ball boys.”

As a Juventus fan, are there “sparks” with Inter fan Marco Santin?

“No sparks because I avoid being around him when Inter plays and, to be safe, the day before and after as well. The truth is that he cares more; I’m a lukewarm fan.”

In one of the promos for the new season of GialappaShow, premiering on TV8 every Monday at 9:30 p.m., you repeat the stadium chant “There is only one captain.” Who was ‘your’ captain, on the field and in life?

“In my professional life, I had a captain for a long time… three heads, those of Marco, Carlo, and Giorgio from Gialappa’s, but now that Carlo is gone, there are two heads. In life, my captain is Homer Simpson.“

If you could bring a player from the past into the current Juve squad, who would you choose?

”José Altafini because we’re struggling to win and we could use someone who can come in and decide games.”

What was it like to have CR7 in black and white?

“Ronaldo is an alien who also landed at Juve. I’m glad I got to enjoy him. He scored a hundred goals with us, although the best one, the overhead kick, was in Turin, but against Juve.”

What was it like working with a Napoli fan like Arbore?

“An honor. He was the other television, the other music, the other radio… I hope I absorbed some of his playfulness, his never taking himself too seriously. On ‘Indietro tutta’ I was a youngster just starting out and I was lucky enough to be with two old hands like him and Frassica. If I’m on the right track, and I still don’t know if I am, it’s also thanks to them.”

By the way, how are you as a singer?

“Terrible, and I say terrible only because I can’t think of a more negative adverb. At the top of the list of things I can’t do is singing.”

Would you like to return to the Sanremo stage?

“I’ve been there twice with Baglioni as artistic director, and that’s enough for me: it was one of my most adrenaline-fueled experiences. I wouldn’t say no if I got a call, but I’m not expecting one.”

To see Italy in the World Cup, you need… magic?

“It’s too much to jump three in a row. I’m not even thinking about it.”

Do you like Gattuso as coach?

“I like my colleague Gattuso. In Italy, there are 60 million national team coaches, and I’m one of them. That’s why we’re colleagues. You can see that he wants to win and that, just like when he was playing, he puts his heart into overcoming obstacles. Let’s hope the playoff obstacle isn’t too high.”