Theatre, social, dubbing, stand-up: Gerry Cassano, he’s got them all. The first online step with the dubbings in Bari dialect, then exploded with the Instagram profile “Novabbelozar”, today is one of the highest representatives of social comedy – and not only – Apulian. She writes, improvises, studies, recitals. Over the years he has built a rich and deliberately irregular path, iridescent, but with a firm point: using laughter as a tool for breaking, story and freedom. Among masked characters, social messages, and teased, we made him tell everything, from the beginning to the next landings.
Let’s start from the beginning: who is Gerry Cassano before social?
Before social media there is a passion for theatre and a very simple desire to act. I enrolled in an academy in Rome that I could not attend. Back in Bari, quite angry about this, I enrolled in a theater course but it didn’t last long. Meanwhile, I approached writing, especially monologues. At that moment, I didn’t think it would be a job. The social media came after, out of curiosity: I wanted to understand them well because intuitive they could be a key to future projects. I did not study to “do social”, I studied, and I continue to study, to tell.
At one point, take part in a project of dubbing in Bari dialect and together with your colleagues approdes online obtaining great local success. What did that experience teach you?
The dubbings were a huge creative vent. They were born almost by chance, with a group of boys who had opened a dedicated channel. I already made video on Facebook, contact me and leave. From the first dubbing I realized that we had “beccato il macchia d’olio”: the project expanded immediately, with numbers that at the time were huge. The bare dialect, combined with invented terms that then people used to reuse on the street, made the difference. The project was a real gym, especially on the technical side. The production of dubbing was complex and long: from the choice of scenes, to the writing of dialogues, assembly and dubbing, post-production. He taught me how much the audience loves to recognize, feel called into question, especially when speaking his language.
Then there was a break. What happened and how important it was to stop before leaving?
The pause was mainly because the dubbing project has exhausted itself, the group, at some point, for needs first of all personal, has thwarted. From that period they mention a mistake, do not know the commercial structure of social media and accept any collaboration. Besides, working only with the voice, I wasn’t ready to put my face to promote. Stop me was necessary: needed to figure out who I wanted to be, start over that project.
In fact, after a short time comes “Novabbelozar”, the page you have stated on social media. Do you understand his potential now?
I soon realized that the audience was different, it was no longer limited to the local one, Bari and its surroundings but was much wider. The genesis was almost random, the name for example, “Novabbelozar”, was born from a goliardic evening with friends. At that time we said a lot “no vabbè uncle” as intercalare, we joked, crippled, and here we are. I always wanted to give a comic cut to my content, I wanted to be recognizable but without being recognized. From here the choice to point everything on the voice, already known for dubbing, masking the face with a filter. When I realized that the videos were working I implemented a counterintuitive “strategy”: I only published one day a week, three stories. And it worked. People knew when a content came out, they connected on purpose, they recorded the screen and then they shared it. There I realized it was no longer a niche, but a continuous flow of public. After a year of total growth the covid bursts and the page becomes a guarantee of entertainment at a very delicate time, in which people were closed at home, afraid and bored. At that time I gave vent to creativity, the challenges, new characters and new stories were born.
One of your strongest characters was that “outside”: a woman with a beard. How come that choice?
She was instinctive, but not casual. A few years earlier, my sister who was sick, had been in an oncological department and I sent her videos to make her laugh in which I played characters. Creating an external, masked, allowed me to break patterns in a context, the Italian and initially “local” that at the time was more closed. A woman with a beard talking about toxic relationships, freedom, feelings. I didn’t want to do direct politics, but use comedy as a tool to deal with toast issues without weighing them down. The character worked and activated a virtuous circle, taking me out of the sketch, participating in awareness events, such as Pride or HIV prevention. I’m very proud of it.
You often used comedy as a Trojan horse to talk about spiny themes. Do you think laughter is still an effective tool to open minds?
Absolutely. Comicity is a windy but powerful medium. It allows you to pass messages while keeping a light profile. If you preach, people run. If you laugh, listen.
But now you no longer use the mask..
No, I freed my face, and so they unlocked opportunities, for example advertising that also opened a perspective of commercial growth but not only. Since the stand up in Puglia, I’ve dedicated myself and I haven’t stopped. I contributed to the creation of a collective and together with a friend and colleague we set up a show that we brought around Puglia. Since March 2025 I have been devoting myself to a solo project.
Do you feel more free on social media or on stage?
On stage. I know who I’m talking to. Social media are very powerful, but you never know who is on the other side and this, sometimes, limits you. Some jokes need context, time. The stage gives me, the social doesn’t.
What fascinates you with stand-up and what makes you more difficult?
Total freedom but also the right anxiety: You have to write, dig, find new worlds. It is more difficult to accept certain jokes, especially at the beginning, and at the local level there was distrust. But it’s an amazing gym.
What relationship do you have with negative comments and how much does pressure of social views weigh today?
I’m permalous, so they’re hitting me a little bit. But I realized they should not be considered. Bullets bully when they know they can hurt you. Ignore them often stops them. The real problem is for younger children: Some comments are very heavy. My advice is not to give him weight, or answer without meaning. At some point they’ll be amazed. The pressure linked to the views of content on social media is and weighs, useless to deny it. But I’m trying not to make me condition too much. If you do, you lose the sense of what you’re telling.
Between social, stand-up and advertising, what do you love most today?
Right now the stand-up. But I’m so enjoying advertising too. It’s a creative challenge: there’s a script, but then I turn it, I give it my own. My style is very ironic, sharp, recognizable and is not by everyone but that’s why it likes.
What is your creative process when you work on an advertisement?
I try to improvise as much as possible, although clearly I can’t do it entirely. It stimulates me to have stakes: They force you to be more neat and creative together.
If I had to define your path today with one word, what would it be and why?
Pirate. Because it is a pirate choice not knowing what will happen in the immediate and distant future. It’s a risky choice but for me it’s the most beautiful.
L’articolo Gerry Cassano, the pirate of comedy proviene da IlNewyorkese.
