211
- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
A love affair with comic strips
Spaniards have enjoyed grown up comics for decades.
The satirical magazineLa Codornizdid its best to raise a
laugh at Franco’s expense, lampooning censorship in
particular: one issue was filled simply with blank pages,
sandwiched between a front and back cover that showed
a train entering and leaving a tunnel. Film-maker Neville
Edgar also worked forLa Codornizin the Franco years.
Spain retains its love of print satire today. Satirical
publications abound, but the most infamous isEl Jueves,
on news-stands each week since 1977 with a diet of
current affairs, comic strips and such features as ‘bloody
fool of the week’.
Modern comedy
Today Spanish comedy hits you head on. Often slapstick,
frequently surreal and usually featuring character-based
routines, it relies on large doses of satire and innuendo.
Double acts have been particularly popular since the
Transiciónyears. Martes yTrece were a pair who
lampooned anyone in the public eye, wore silly costumes
and generally larked about onTV.They ended up making
films. More recently Faemino y Cansado have found
success with observational, sometimes surreal sketches.
Chiquito de la Calzada was one of the big solo stars in
the years after Franco’s demise. He’s a gagman who
mixes his own humorous slang with one-liners and a
bit offlamenco(he started out as a singer). He too has
branched out into movies, making the likes ofBrácula
(1997), an unspectacular spoof on a certain Prince Vlad.
Carlos Latre is a more recent stand-up success, a popular
young comedian who got his break doing impressions.
He too has headed into cinema, taking a part in the
Torrenteseries of police films.The success of these films
about a sleazy private dick who loves Franco, gambling
and drinking, hints at the Spanish taste for
both parody and smut.
Sitcom successes
Television, rather than
theatre, provides the
main platform for
contemporary Spanish
comedy. The Spanish
love their sitcoms, talent
contests and sketch
shows. Every now
and again a sketch
show captures the
imagination.Splunge, an
effort from the 2005 TV
listings was one of the
more recent successes.
In the 1990s,Farmacia
de Guardiawas the big
sitcom hit, its humour
based on life in a local
chemist. But the biggest
sitcom success of recent
years was7 Vidas.
Apparently inspired by
American sitcomFriends,
the show centred on a
group of Madrileños,
initially led by a guy
who’d just woken from
an 18-year coma.
Unlucky seven
The title of successful
Spanish sitcom7 Vidas,
which ended in 2006
after a seven-year run,
refers to the notion
that cats have ‘7 Lives’.
For some reason
Spanish moggies get
two fewer lives than
their anglicised cousins.
Perhaps it’s got
something to do with
Spanish driving.
