Los Payasos de la Tele

Los Payasos de la Tele (English: The TV Clowns) is the name by which a trio of popular Spanish clowns are known, initially formed by Gaby (Gabriel Aragón), Fofó (Alfonso Aragón) and Miliki (Emilio Aragón), and succeeded by Fofito (Alfonso Aragón Jr.), Milikito (Emilio Aragón Jr.) and Rody (Rody Aragón). They were well-known on Spanish language television in Latin America throughout much of the twentieth century before returning to Spain and attaining further success.

History

Heirs of a long family tradition of circus performance, which stretches back to the nineteenth century, they were sons of Emilio Aragón the elder and nephews of José María and Teodoro Aragón - Emig, Pompoff y Teddy. Other members of the family with circus connections included their cousins Nabucodonosorcito and Zampabollos.

Gaby, Fofó y Miliki began their activities in Spain in 1939 at the Circo Price. In 1946, the three brothers emigrated across the Atlantic, where they remained for more than a quarter of a century. They first set up shop in Cuba, where they made their first incursions into the world of television in 1949. In the following years, the diffusion of their shows in other countries in Latin America made them familiar faces in Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and the United States.

In 1970 they arrived in Argentina, and achieved great success through their program El zapato roto (The broken Shoe), which they then renamed El show de Gaby, Fofó y Miliki. Soon a new member of the family, Fofito (the son of Fofó), made appearances.

Two years later, in 1972, they returned to Spain, contracting with Televisión Española to front a new program called El Gran Circo de TVE. It was a great success, remaining on air until 1981, and became an enormous cultural phenomenon in Spain in the 1970s. The group was awarded a TP de Oro, a prestigious Spanish television award, for "most popular personality" in 1974.

After the death of Fofó in 1976, the son of Miliki, Emilio Aragón Jr., joined the group under the name Milikito. He is a mute clown, in the tradition of Harpo Marx, and communicates with a cow bell. Much later, after the show ended in 1981, Rody, the youngest son of Fofó, joined the group in the persona of a black Cuban.

Finally, the program (which in its final form was called El loco mundo de los payasos, or "The Crazy World of the Clowns"), was retired from Spanish television in 1983. After several circus tours during the following two years, under the title El fabuloso mundo del circo (The Fabulous World of the Circus), the group (which by this time Miliki had already left) dissolved definitively.

Songs

Films

See also

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