Leo Bassi
Leo Bassi
Leo Bassi (New York, 1952) is an actor and Italian comedian.
He is well known for his provocative style and engaging political critics from the right and religious institutions, particularly the Catholic Church. A self-identified buffoon, Bassi has worked in the theater, film, events host and in Spanish television. Bassi also organizes performances and creates dramatic events aimed at using humor to denounce political or social trends and gives talks and teaches about the issues he cares about.
Biography
Bassi comes from a long line of Italian and English circus performers, six generations back, beginning in 1840. This ancestor worked alongside Garibaldi to establish one of the first modern circuses in Tuscany. Bassi's British grandfather, Jimmy Wheeler, was a television comedy pioneer in the early years of the BBC and starred at the London Palladium. Bassi’s father, Leo Bassi senior, was a renowned juggler who worked alongside artists such as Groucho Marx, Louis Armstrong, and Ed Sullivan in the United States, where Bassi was born in 1952.
At age 7, Bassi debuted in the circus in Australia, where his parents performed a road-show called Sorlie's, a kitschy version of “Aladdin and the Magic Lamp.” For the next ten years Bassi toured the world, specializing in juggling, with his father and aunt as part of the Bassi Trio. Around age 23-24 he left to pursue a solo career as a comic actor, first dedicating five years to his eclectic street show “the World’s Smallest Circus”. Then over the years Bassi has worked as an actor, clown, entertainer, cultural agitator and from everywhere like Off Broadway to open-air events, conferences and inaugurations and in theater and television. Creator of several one-person theatrical shows, Bassi sometimes provokes both critical and favorable strong reactions from the public. For instance on December 28, 2012 Bassi founded a place of worship called “El Paticano de Lavapiés”, which is dedicated to the adoration of a yellow rubber duck. As the Archbishop of the church, Bassi, regularly celebrates masses, weddings and baptisms with his own liturgy.
References[edit]
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