Teo Teocoli says he is recovering after three and a half months at home in Ibiza

A first appearance after a hard summer

Teo Teocoli, 81, returned to television as a guest of Fabio Fazio on Che tempo che fa, broadcast on Nove on Sunday, 25 October. It was his first public account of what happened to him over the summer, after a long stretch away from the cameras. He described a period marked by illness, treatment and a long convalescence spent at home. Those who saw the broadcast described him as tired, walking slowly and looking thinner than before.

Asked about his health, he summed it up in one line.

“I am on the road to recovery.”

Three and a half months in Ibiza

Teocoli said he had spent three and a half months at his home on Ibiza, the Balearic island where he keeps a house. Fazio asked him what had happened that summer, and his answer was that he had stayed indoors for the entire period. He said he had not even been able to enjoy the sea. The comedian chose his words carefully on this point.

“I was there for three and a half months, but without seeing the sea. I never left the house.”

Teocoli did not go into the details of his illness and did not explain what the procedure he underwent involved. He kept the focus on the time he had spent at home and on his recovery. The studio conversation stayed on his personal experience rather than on medical specifics.

The doctor's visit and the fear behind the joke

Teocoli recounted a visit to a doctor during his time on the island. He had asked the doctor whether he was ill, and according to his account the doctor replied that he was very ill and then left. At that point, he said, he concluded that he was dead. He told the story with irony, and the studio audience laughed, but the fear he felt in those months was still visible behind the joke.

Career tribute and the 1999 Sanremo night

Fazio used the interview to revisit Teocoli's career, from the Milan cabaret scene to the Gialappa's Band and the programme Mai dire gol. The conversation also covered Quelli che il calcio and the imitations of Cesare Maldini, Gabriele Albertini and Adriano Celentano, whom Teocoli described as a friend of many years. Fazio, closing that part of the segment, said:

“With Teo I had the most beautiful laughs of my life.”

Teocoli also recalled the 1999 Sanremo festival, when he appeared in his underpants imitating the former mayor of Milan and referring to Valentino's famous parade. Ornella Vanoni, competing among the Big acts with Alberi alongside Enzo Gragnaniello, was left speechless when she saw him, according to Teocoli. Luciano Pavarotti, with whom he said he spent a lot of time backstage, told him to go away when he saw him in his underwear. At the end of the broadcast the studio audience gave him a long ovation, and Fazio walked him slowly to the exit before embracing him.