The Iglesia Patolica, Leo Bassi’s temple of humor in Madrid, turns 9

The Iglesia Patolica, the humor temple of comedian and circus performer Leo Bassi, turns 9. The Iglesia Patolica (which literally means the church of the duck) is located in the Lavapies district of Madrid (the sign at the entrance reads ‘Paticano’) and was born on December 28, 2012 as “a real religion devoted to laughter, conceived as the highest expression of mankind “. The birthday was announced by Bassi himself (born in New York in 1952 from a circus family with some Italian ancestors and living in Madrid for a few years), with a post on the Instagram profile of his ‘church’, where a photo of him portrays in front of his chapel-theater dressed as Pope of Pato (complete with a miter with the icon of the duck) together with a huge inflatable cake studded with ducks. For 9 years in fact, in addition to his shows between juggling and commitment all over the world, Bassi holds his ‘patolic mass’ every Sunday, during which it is not uncommon for him to celebrate ‘weddings’ in the name of irony: it happened marrying a man to himself and a woman to her dog, for example. All in the name of laughter, because the Iglesia Patolica “defends optimism and a playful spirit”.