Pasquale Petrolo (Lillo) and Claudio Gregori (Greg), are one of the most versatile couples on the Italian comedy, acting and writing scene.
Having met in 1986 at the ACME publishing house in Rome, where they worked as comic book authors, they found themselves without work in 1991 after the company went bankrupt. They then decided to continue their creative work in a whole new dimension, giving life to the crazy rock band Latte & i Suoi Derivati. Their career began in the theater in 1994 with 5740170 – 06 per chi chiama da fuori Roma written with Michael Dudley; in 1996 it was the turn of Gli squallidi, born from the idea of paying homage to Dino Risi’s I mostri. In the meantime, their adventure began at Le Iene, of which they were among the founders and in whose cast they remained until 1999, when they returned to the theater with Lillo & Greg Show. Since 2000, their participation in TV programs has multiplied, not only in front of the cameras: they are among the protagonists of L’Ottavo Nano and appear as authors of Stracult and Cocktail d’amore, by Marco Giusti. We find them alongside Serena Dandini in Parla con me (Rai 3) with the satirical mini-sitcom Greg Anatomy, a parody of cosmetic surgery, and with the historic band Latte & i suoi derivati, and a few years later in The show must go off, on LA7, which had already seen them in the cast of Victor Victoria, with Victoria Cabello. Among the most successful TV partnerships is the one with Neri Marcoré, alongside them in 2002 for Mmmh! and again in 2013 on Rai 3 with NeriPoppins.
Their unmistakable style can be found in the commentary of the Japanese show Takeshi’s Castle for the satellite channel GXT and in the many programs that see them as protagonists on the radio – since 2004 they have been authors and hosts of 610, on Radio2 – and on the big screen, where they debuted together in 2001 with Blek Giek, by Enrico Caria, before returning with Colpi di fuoco and Colpi di fortuna, both by Neri Parenti and with Un Natale nascosto, directed by Volfango De Biasi. However, there are different cinematographic and fictional experiences that see them separated: in 2011, for example, Lillo is among the protagonists of the film Nessuno mi può giudice, directed by Massimiliano Bruno, and in 2012 he is in the cast of La grande bellezza by Paolo Sorrentino, winner of the Oscar© Award for Best Foreign Film in 2014. For his part, Greg is the protagonist of the short film by Maurizio Costanzo Il fascino sconto della parola. Together, however, they find themselves playing a pair of surreal brothers in the popular series Un Medico In Famiglia 5 before tackling the difficult role of presenters of the 2013 David di Donatello awards ceremony. Music, however, remains one of the glues of their artistic collaboration: to return to their theatrical experiences, in 2005 Lillo and Greg wrote and staged the musical comedy The Blues Brothers – Il plagio, directed by Monica Zullo, with original music by Greg and Attilio Di Giovanni played live by the Blues Willies group. In 2011 they participated as guests at the Sanremo Festival to accompany Max Pezzali in an original crooner version of the competing song Il mio secondo tempo. In 2015 they returned to tour with La fantastico avventura di Mr. Starr and Il Mistero dell’Assassino Misterioso, one of the couple’s biggest hits, written in 2000 and on stage without interruption for years.
