“Humor is the brother of poetry, humor is what denounces, I have no possibility of fixing anything, but I have the obligation to denounce everything, humor is everything, even funny.” – Chico Anysio
Francisco “Chico” Anysio de Oliveira Paula Filho was a Brazilian comedian, actor, radio actor, producer, announcer, screenwriter, writer, voice actor, presenter, composer, and painter, renowned for his countless comedic sketches and programs on Rede Globo, the network where he worked for more than forty years. Having created more than two hundred comic characters over 65 years of career, he is considered one of Brazil’s greatest comedians.
He directed and acted alongside major figures in Brazilian humor on radio and television, such as Paulo Gracindo, Grande Otelo, Costinha, Walter D’Ávila, Jô Soares, Renato Corte Real, Agildo Ribeiro, Ivon Curi, José Vasconcellos, and many others. In 2009, he received Brazil’s highest cultural honor, the Ordem do Mérito Cultural.
Biography
Francisco Anysio de Oliveira Paula Filho was born in the Ceará city of Maranguape on April 12, 1931. At seven years old, he moved with his mother and three siblings—including actress Lupe Gigliotti and filmmaker Zelito Viana—to Rio de Janeiro, living in a boarding house in the Carioca neighborhood of Catete. His father had stayed in Ceará. A fire had destroyed his entire bus company fleet, and he did not travel, trying to rebuild his life building roads. He aimed to become a lawyer, but his natural talent for humor and the need to work made him change course. At seventeen, he took a test for announcer and radio actor at Rádio Guanabara, performing exceptionally well in the announcer test, coming in second place. First place went to another beginner, Silvio Santos. At the radio station where he worked, he performed various roles as a radio actor and football commentator. He participated in Renato Murce’s program “Papel Carbono.” In the 1950s, he worked at Rádios Mayrink Veiga, Clube de Pernambuco, and Clube do Brasil. In the chanchadas of the 1950s, Chico began writing dialogues and occasionally acted as an actor in films from Atlântida Cinematográfica. He even enrolled in a law course but did not finish college.
At TV Rio, he debuted “Noite de Gala” in 1957. In 1959, he premiered the program “Só Tem Tantã,” launched by 
Joaquim Silvério de Castro Barbosa, later called “Chico Total.” In addition to writing and performing his own texts on radio, television, and cinema, always with fine and intelligent humor, Chico ventured with relative success into sports journalism, theater, literature, and painting, as well as composing and recording some songs.
Chico Anysio was one of those responsible for mediating Caetano Veloso’s exile in London. When he had completed two years in exile, Chico sent a letter to Veloso urging him to return to Brazil. Caetano and Gilberto Gil had been arrested in São Paulo two weeks after the decree of AI-5, the act that gave absolute powers to the Military Regime. Brought to Rio by car, the two passed through three barracks before traveling to Salvador, where they spent six months under house arrest. Then, in mid-
1969, they were authorized to leave Brazil for London, from where they would only return in 1972.
Since 1968, he had been linked to Rede Globo, where he achieved star status in a cast featuring Brazil’s most famous artists, thanks also to the mutual admiration and respect he established with executive Boni. After Boni left Globo in November 1997, Chico gradually lost space on the network’s programming, a situation worsened that same year by an accident in which he fractured his jaw. Years earlier, in a 1989 interview for Visão magazine, he had already expressed his dissatisfaction with the network, which, according to Chico, preferred to give opportunities to younger talents, sidelining him. In 2009, at 77 years old, he gave an interview to Folha de S.Paulo newspaper, in which he said he was resigned to being “on ice” (the condition where the artist is contracted by the network but left without work), admitting that his situation was irreversible and that he no longer missed hosting comedic programs.
In 2005, he made a guest appearance on “Sítio do Pica-pau Amarelo,” playing Dr. Saraiva, and later participated in the novela “Sinhá Moça” on Rede Globo. In 2009, he voiced the Brazilian dub of “Up – Altas Aventuras” as the protagonist Carl Fredericksen. His son Nizo Neto was also in the cast.
A Creator of Characters
Many characters created by Chico Anysio became popular, and their catchphrases were repeated by the public. Who doesn’t remember the famous “It’s a lie, Terta?” from Coronel Pantaleão, the eternal liar? Or the emphatic “Idiot!” uttered by old Popó? Or “My revenge will be wicked” from Bento Carneiro, the Brazilian vampire? Not to mention “É vaptvupt” from Professor Raimundo himself, which was repeated ad nauseam.
Like the catchphrases, the numerous characters created by Chico that remain in the popular imagination are emblematic for bringing to life characteristic types of our culture. It’s hard to forget Salomé, the lady from Passo Fundo and her supposed intimacies with João Baptista Figueiredo, the president during the dictatorship era, with whom she always chatted on the phone. Or Coalhada, the wooden-legged soccer player who was always bragging. Or Bozó, the Globo TV employee who tried to take advantage of his position, just like the exaggerated radio announcer Roberval Taylor and the hammy actor Alberto Roberto.
There were so many characters and they were so successful that it wasn’t uncommon for a character interacting with Chico to also gain notoriety. Pedro Bó was one of them. Naive by nature and believing everything Coronel Pantaleão told him, he soon became synonymous with someone easily fooled and turned into a national catchphrase.
Chico Anysio was not just a comedian, despite his success in that field. His creative ability extended to literature as well, having published more than 20 books, several of which were successful like “O batizado da vaca,” “O enterro do anão,” and “Como segurar seu casamento.” He ventured into the plastic arts, even holding exhibitions in some Brazilian cities. He painted landscapes from photographs of different places he visited and stated in interviews that he wished he had more time to dedicate to painting.
He was a screenwriter for television and cinema, worked as an actor in novelas like “Pé na Jaca” and “Sinhá Moça,” and in films like “Tieta,” as well as “Se eu fosse você 2,” projects where he always tested his talent as an actor and his inventiveness in character creation.
Personal Life
Son of Francisco Anysio de Oliveira Paula, who owned a bus company, and Haydeé Vianna de Oliveira Paula, who suffered from a heart condition that led to several hospitalizations until her death at 89 years old.
Married six times: to actresses Nancy Wanderley, Rose Rondel-i, Alcione Mazzeo, and Regina Chaves, and later to former minister Zélia Cardoso de Mello and artist Malda Di Paula, the comedian had eight children, one adopted. He is the father of actor Lug de Paula (famous for playing Seu Boneco on “Escolinha 
do Professor Raimundo”), from his marriage to actress and comedian Nancy Wanderley; actor, comedian, and voice actor Nizo Neto (Seu Ptolomeu from “Escolinha,” son of actress Rose Rondelli); and image director Rico Rondelli, also son of actress and vedette Rose Rondelli; DJ Cícero Chaves, from his union with ex-Frenética Regina Chaves; and actor/writer Bruno Mazzeo, from his marriage to former model and actress Alcione Mazzeo; and Rodrigo and Vitória with former minister Zélia Cardoso de Mello, and adopted son André Lucas.
He is the brother of the late actress Lupe Gigliotti, with whom he co-starred in several television projects; filmmaker Zelito Viana; and industrialist, composer, and former radio producer Elano de Paula. He is also the uncle of actor Marcos Palmeira, actress and director Cininha de Paula, and great-uncle of actress Maria Maya, daughter of Cininha and actor/director Wolf Maya. He was married to businesswoman Malga Di Paula.
Health
Chico recorded a video for the Brazilian Congress of Psychiatry stating that he was depressive and that, if he hadn’t sought treatment, he wouldn’t have accomplished 20% of what he did in his life. After 24 years of treatment, he said that prejudice against mental illness and psychiatry was “stupidity.” His son, Nizo Neto, confessed that his father suffered from depression and was a hypochondriac, though he never admitted the latter. He admitted that his father paid a pharmacist a salary to visit his home once a week to give him injections.
Death
The comedian was admitted to the hospital on December 2, 2010, when he arrived due to shortness of breath. A blockage in the coronary artery was detected, and he underwent angioplasty. Chico spent 109 days hospitalized, 
being discharged on March 21, 2011. During that period, he spent most of the time in the ICU.
On April 23, 2011, Chico Anysio returned to the “Zorra Total” program playing the character Salomé. In the sketch, Salomé chatted “woman to woman” with President Dilma Rousseff.
The comedian was also preparing to record his participation in several films, including “A Hora e a Vez” de Augusto Matraga, directed by Vicente Coimbra, “Desde o Princípio,” directed by Cesar Nero, “Os sonhos de um Sonhador – A História de Frank Aguiar,” directed by Caco Milano, among others. However, on November 30, 2011, he was hospitalized again due to a urinary tract infection. He was discharged 22 days later, on December 21, but the next day he was readmitted with gastrointestinal bleeding. In February 2012, he was diagnosed with a pulmonary infection. He showed worsening in respiratory and kidney functions on March 21 of that year.
Chico Anysio died on March 23, 2012, at the age of eighty, at Hospital Samaritano in Rio de Janeiro, from multiple organ failure. The wake was held at Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, which was open to the public, where thousands of fans, friends, and colleagues gathered, such as Maurício Sherman, Glória Pires, André Lucas, Orlando Drummond, and José Santa Cruz. His last wish was to be cremated; part of his ashes was sent to Maranguape, his hometown, and the rest to Globo’s studios.
Relationship with Football
In 1950, Chico Anysio commented on World Cup matches for Rádio Guanabara. In 1990, after the great popularity of his character Coalhada, Anysio was invited by Globo to be one of the commentators for the Italy World Cup.
In 2006, he was a guest columnist for the sports newspaper Lance. In one of his articles, titled “Cabelos em 
pé, galera!,” Chico criticized some players like Cafu and Ronaldo. In the same article, he made racist remarks about Dida, saying “I have no confidence in black goalkeepers. The last one was Barbosa, of sad memory on the National Team.” At the time, Anysio downplayed the article, saying “My thoughts on black goalkeepers have nothing to do with discrimination, because I love black forwards, black defenders, black stars, and midfielders; I don’t see how a white, yellow, or red person can be better than a black one in the 100 meters, long jump, triple jump, and long-distance events. In basketball, blacks are true gods and dominate American football. I just don’t like them in goal.”
On February 27, 2009, Anysio criticized Ronaldo again in an article titled “Multa covarde,” after he was fined by Corinthians for arriving late to a team concentration at a hotel in Presidente Prudente. On March 10, Chico wrote in a post called “Falta de Ídolos” that there was exaggerated enthusiasm for the Phenomenon. A Vasco fan, he was honored by the club with his name on the press room at São Januário stadium.
Source: Wikipedia
