2023-10-22 17:25:18
“There’s Mondongo for a while,” says Don José Lorenzo Zubiate Zegarra, better known as ‘Mondonguito’, in a mischievous voice, while eating a tasty plate of Italian-style tripe at the La Chiclayanita stall in the Central Market. At almost 70 years old, this remembered comedian walks slowly through the streets of Downtown Lima without stopping greeting and responding with a smile to those who recognize him. His face looks tired and agitated from the journey he has to make almost every day to get from his house, in Comas, to the University Park, where he presents his comedy show.
Artist remembered his time living in Italy. Photos: Britanie Arroyo
Don Lorenzo speaks slowly, like those people who have a lot to tell. He remembers with nostalgia the trip from Bagua to Carabayllo when he was a child, the first time he worked in a circus and the stellar moment when he surprised in the Trampolín a la Fama program with his participation as a traveling comedian. But capricious destiny with his life took him to Europe to settle in Italy for almost 20 years. He toured the entire Old Continent with his art and there was no country that did not know the talent of the great ‘Mondonguito’. But there was also a spicy moment in his life, which almost landed him in jail and he had to lose almost 200 thousand euros, which he had saved as a result of several years of work. He now comments on that drama while still showing a smile. “Life is a hobby, he took it that way,” he says.
Don Lorenzo, where were you born?
I am from the department of Amazonas, Bagua Grande, from a small town called Naranjito.
Was he always this funny?
Art comes from school days. I remember coming to the capital, when I was 6 years old, after my mother died. My father brought me and my brothers to Lima, and we went to live in Comas, Carabayllo, in the coolest part of Carabayllo. There, I studied primary and secondary school.
Who named it ‘Mondonguito’?
The nickname ‘Mondonguito’ comes from school days. I remember that at the school door they sold huancaína potatoes, noodles, stuffed potatoes and the mondonguito dish, which they now call Italian mondonguito. I loved tripe because I stretched it like chewing gum, it was my delirium. Every time I arrived at school he would ask me for my tripe at the entrance, at recess and when I left. Until a lady who sold tripe was the one who put that badge on me. When she saw me arrive, she told me: “Here comes tripe.”
Artist remembered his time living in Italy. Photos: Britanie Arroyo
Tell me about your school
They always brought me out at performances for the school anniversary or Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Teacher’s Day, Flag Day. I remember that I painted myself as a clown during performances and I was the only one of my classmates who passed without taking an exam because all the teachers loved me.
Although he was funny and had a talent for humor, how did he get started in comedy?
I start in comedy in the circuses. My history in the circuses begins in the year 68 or 69. I remember that Tony Perejil’s circus came to my neighborhood in Carabayllo, well known in Peru for being the dean of circuses. I started in that circus when I was 14 or 15 years old and from there I moved on to other circuses. I started as a clown and, little by little, I learned the art of the circus: trapeze, wire, juggling, magic and even fakirism, but I liked comedy more.
How do you migrate from the circus to the streets?
It was due to a series of coincidences. One day, I was walking through the Jirón de la Unión when I saw some street clowns, who had an audience. I stopped for a while to observe them and from there I liked the street art. One day, I go to Plaza San Martin, and I see a little clown who was doing his show. I was liking street theater more and more. So I decided to start in Plaza Guadalupe, next to the Palace of Justice. In that park I met Tripita, Frejolín, Papelito and his brother Walter Ramírez, JB’s ‘Chorri’. Little by little I was learning about popular theater. From there I went to Plaza San Martín and started doing circles, until I went to the University Park and I had more strength.
Mondonguito’s jokes (Video: Marco Gonzales)
How did it go?
I was doing well but after a short time I returned to Plaza San Martín and came back stronger. A nice anecdote that I keep from my time, in Plaza San Martín, is that when I was performing, in the audience, there was Mr. Augusto Ferrando, he gave me the opportunity to present myself at Trampolín a la Fama and he told me: “This “I’ll wait for you at Springboard to Fame this week,” he told me after seeing me doing my show in front of a crowd of people who were laughing at my jokes. He must have thought it was a rally or something. But something funny happened to me with Mr. Augusto.
What happened?
When I asked for collaboration, he himself passed the hat and said: “We have to support him because these are Peruvian values.” He collected some S/300.00 or S/350.00 soles and gave it to me, then he gave me 100 dollars which, in that year (1993), was a lot of money. Seeing Mr. Augusto Ferrando was like being in front of a movie star and the fact that he himself invited me to Springboard to Fame was an unforgettable memory.
Artist remembered his time living in Italy. Photos: Britanie Arroyo
This is how Trampolín was presented to Fame
Exactly, so the following Saturday Mr. Augusto’s driver, ‘Negro’ Marcos, came and took me to the program and that’s where my story began. I smashed Springboard to Fame. Ferrando gave me the opportunity and he had a good time with me on his program, I started taking street comedians and he is the one who changed the name to ‘Ambulantes de la laughter’.
Those duels with ‘Tripita’ were unforgettable
With ‘Tripita’ we were the strongest on the street. There was no comedian who could stop us, he was spontaneous and I was a creator. We mixed humor, jokes and parodies. The work of both of them was very acceptable
Not only you had your space on television, but other comedians
Of course, we were on the program ‘Ambulantisimos’ on Channel 7, which was produced by Mr. Augusto Ferrando’s children: Juan Carlos, Rubén and Chicho. There was ‘Tripa’, ‘Lonchera’, Kike, although he was new on the street, and ‘Cachay’ who had just started. ‘Ambulantisimos’ was a very nice program, then ‘Los Reyes de la Risa’ was born with Mónica Zevallos, which was a very strong program in Peru, after Trampolín a la Fama.
What memories from that time of ‘The Laughter Kings’?
Nice memories and in my best moment I earned $2,500 a month at Panamericana. ‘Tripa’ and I were the most expensive among the cast. Although it was the first and only time, the strong opportunity we had because afterwards everything went down. Panamericana finished and each one opened up on their own personal projects.
It is impossible not to mention the co-animators, Ingeborg Zwinkel (the unforgettable Gringa Inga), Leonidas Carbajal, Felipe Pomiano (Tribilín), Violeta Ferreyros, these characters managed to identify so much with the audience, that they are part of the history of our television and will always be remembered with love. Already in the final years of the program, Ferrando opened a space for street comedians known as “Los Comicos Ambulantes”, among them Tripita, Mondonguito, El Poeta de la Calle and Cholo Cirilo, among others. It was a very successful program, since it had an unattainable audience rating figure.
YOUR LIFE IN EUROPE
After leaving that program, you migrate to Europe, right?
The Peruvian community in France invited me, they called me for their anniversary and I traveled to France. The invitation was only for one month, and since I was in Europe, they found out from Italy that I was there and pulled me in. I got used to it quickly and spent a long time living in Italy. I lived for about 17 years in Milan. I am an Italian resident, but not a citizen.
And in Italy, did you get to work doing shows in the squares?
There, it is prohibited to do theater on the street, the only country that allows working on the street is Spain. In Italy, I worked on weekends in Peruvian restaurants and did shows in Rome, Florence, Turin, Genoa, Naples, Sicily, and everywhere there were Peruvian restaurants I performed. I also traveled to Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Belgium and Greece doing my show.
Did you show up at restaurants every day?
No, I worked on weekends and from Monday to Friday I was dedicated to selling video records. And since here, in Peru, there was Mesa Redonda and piracy exists, I dedicated myself to making pirated albums so as not to be lazy and invest my time in something. As I saw that piracy was giving good results, I said: “Here is my fortune. I began to fully embrace piracy, and now as a stable job.”
And how did you play the records?
From Peru, they sent me the masterizers here, in Italy, they don’t exist and piracy is prohibited. My family sent me first-run movies and I played them. He began to play MP3 music and movies, selling each disc for 5 euros which, at that time, was money. That’s how I started working for 8 or 9 years, selling records until the inspection fell on me.
Comedians like ‘Mondonguito’ promoted ‘Chino Risas’. (Photo: Trome)
Where did you sell?
He sold the records almost everywhere in Italy, he was in Florence, Rome, Turin, Milan, Genoa, everywhere. I carried an average of 1,500 records in my briefcase and placed them on the ground very close to the parks, where Peruvians gathered. To all the Peruvians who approached, he offered new movies, novels, Colombian series, such as: the Cartel de los Sapos, and also music from Grupo 5, Armonía 10, Corazón Serrano and Agua Marina. He pirated those records and people paid a price. The Italians also because they were married to Peruvians.
It was forming a kind of ‘Hollow’ in Milan
I wanted to form a new ‘El Hueco’ in Milan and it didn’t appeal to me. As a result, many began to copy what I did, I even sold the records wholesale so that they could resell the records. It seems to me that a Peruvian, who was envious of me, gave me the finger and hurt me. So I had to come to Peru because one did not walk calmly, and I was always expecting that they were going to stop me as if I were a criminal and I was not a criminal. Sometimes, the liveliness of the Peruvian causes us problems.
How do they stop it?
I had a problem in 2016. They made my bed, because the Police were already following me because piracy is prohibited there. In Europe, being a pirate is worse than being a drug trafficker or being a bank robber. There you cannot evade taxes, taxes are paid because they have to be paid. There, there are no street vendors because the same stores denounce the street vendors because they pay their taxes and the street vendors do not. That is why evading taxes is prohibited there; It’s horrible if you don’t go to jail.
Artist remembered his time living in Italy. Photos: Britanie Arroyo
How does your intervention take place?
I lived in Milan and was going to Rome. They stop me just leaving my house, they grab me with a suitcase of videos, it had like 700 or 800 records. The agents detained me and took me to the Cavegneri police station in the early morning, then I was taken to the Palace of Justice. I was framed, that’s by law. In the jail of the Judiciary, where the worst criminals in all of Europe are; there were gypsies, Moroccans, English, French, Italians, Ecuadorians, Argentines, Colombians and Peruvians; They recognized me at the touch: “Speak, tripe,” they told me.
Didn’t you have a lawyer?
No, the judge began to sentence me and they sentenced me to 6 years in prison and a fine of 360 thousand euros for the piracy. Thank God, when they were taking me to the prison he ran into a man. He greeted me and I recognized him later. It happens that he was a prosecutor, who was married to a Peruvian woman and he met me going to a show of mine in Naples.
You were lucky, Don Lorenzo
Thank God, yes. That friend was an authority, he was a prosecutor at the Supreme Court of Naples, and he went directly to see my case. With his support, they acquitted me of the crime and imposed a 5-year suspended sentence on me, but with surveillance, which is hard because you cannot walk calmly because you are under surveillance and it is chaos.
What else did the Judge order?
The money I had in the bank was completely confiscated. I had 180 thousand euros in the bank. It was coming to me, I was planning to start a business. My intention was to start a circus in Peru and they left me with nothing, the only thing I had left was to ask for my freedom. What were you doing in Italy? I didn’t walk calmly, I was afraid that the police would stop me. I remember they gave me a document that said I had probation, so I said, “I’m going to Peru.”
TROME | The hard story of Mondonguito (Video: Marco Gonzales)
Besides the money, did the Judge order anything else?
They prohibited me from leaving Italy, much less traveling to Peru. “What am I doing here,” he told me. So I called my prosecutor friend, and he told me: “Don’t worry, you’re leaving because you’re leaving.” He had a friend in Morocco, so they picked me up and I was able to leave the country. There were no problems because the car had a Moroccan license plate and I was able to get out without problems. While there, I took a plane to Ecuador and from there I came to Peru.
Don Lorenzo came without his 180 thousand euros
Yes, well. To Peru, I returned with 70 thousand dollars, but I no longer have that money because I had to pay for the treatment of my son who was in serious health condition. They had to reconstruct a lung after suffering an assault and that’s where I lost around 37 thousand dollars, I had to pay debts; It’s all gone and now I’m back on the streets.
That prosecutor from Naples had good contacts
He was a prosecutor and had many contacts in the Supreme Court. It happens that Naples, Milan and Rome hate each other, it’s like saying Lima and Arequipa. Naples and Milan have a fight, between the two of them, there has to be a winner and since Naples is the biggest mafia, it always wins.
Mondonguito went to the second round. (Photo: Diffusion)
Now he will not be able to return to Italy
The penalty that I had already expired, so I can enter Europe again. I haven’t committed any murder, it’s just piracy. I plan to return next year, I want to leave because you can’t work here anymore; everything has changed, it is different.
It is not like before…
Look, in the University Park, the lowest I get is 56 soles. We have four days a week to work, and we must divide the money we get between all the partners. In the end, between tickets and lunches, we didn’t even get to 30 soles a day. For this reason, I want to return to Italy, because for better or worse, you are better in Italy.
Was it going so well for you in Italy?
I walked all over Europe, I know all of Europe. There is no place that I don’t know, and so many anecdotes have happened to me.
Any special one?
I remember when I was going to Berlin, and I arrived at the airport when I see that the officers see me arriving and they approach with their dogs and I make gestures to them, and the dogs leave (laughs). I hear them speaking in their language and laughing, then they themselves came up to me to ask for photos.
Other?
In Paris, there is a very well-known area called La Inmaculada, and that is where the best painters are found. Whenever I arrived, all the painters fought over me to make caricatures of me, people were amused by my gestures and it was quite a novelty. The photos that tourists took were to put as locks on the door of their houses or to throw out their mother-in-law (laughs).
THE LOVE SIDE OF ‘MONDONGUITO’
Let’s say it attracted attention
In Europe, I had my trouble. I didn’t have a girlfriend, because I was too much for them (laughs). I had friends; couples, no. I have lived alone all my life. Now I live alone, as a result of my trip to Europe, I lost my family. I separated from my wife.
Why did the relationship end?
The distance seems to have made love die.
But didn’t he have any friends?
I had a very pretty Uruguayan friend. She also had French and South African friends, very pretty brunettes. If I tell you, aaaasu devil (laughs)
“Mondonguito” advises new comedians and announces that he will return to television
I mean, did you have your jale?
My jale is my beauty. There, there are not these faces because these faces are sought after there. Imagine having a child with me is being a millionaire because museums call you all the time (laughs).
Do you consider yourself ugly?
I don’t consider myself ugly, Felpudini is ugly, I am more beautiful than him. Look, Felpudini dated the actress Analí Cabrera, that’s when you realize that ugly people are lucky. So become ugly yourself (laughs).
All joking aside, how is your health?
I have early osteoporosis and fourth degree hemorrhoids. What else will I have, I try not to think about it because otherwise it will traumatize my life. I take life as just another hobby. There is Mondonguito for a while, there is plenty of tripe left.
Finally, what do you think of the new traveling comedians?
What can we call traveling comedians? Now they put on a dress or are pure TikTok. There are no comedians anymore, there are no comedians. Comedians were few. There is no now. Now there is pure faggot, look at the YouTube shows, they are full of homosexuals, who are not homosexuals, they are men dressed as women, but the public has fun. Street humor is dying. I die and the humor of the street dies. Ends. I think I’m the only one still handling this.
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