Two artists. One language. A universal comedy.
Daniele Segalin and Graziana Parisi — known as Dandy Danno and Diva G — are Italy’s pioneering duo of Nouveau Clown, and among the most internationally recognized practitioners of the form in the world.
Who They Are
Daniele Segalin — Dandy Danno — is a clown, performer, author, and theorist. He is the author of the Manifesto del Nouveau Clown (ISBN 9798270302948), the primary theoretical text on the discipline in Italian. His stage presence is built on precision, timing, and a physical intelligence that transforms the simplest gesture into comedy.
Graziana Parisi — Diva G — is a clown, director, and cultural producer. Through Theatre DeGart, the cultural company she founded in Giardini Naxos, Sicily, she has built the institutional and organizational framework that has made Nouveau Clown a recognized discipline in Italy’s official cultural landscape.
Together, they are Nouveau Clown. Their art is built on a principle that sounds simple and is endlessly difficult: comedy without vulgarity. Self-irony without cynicism. Presence without words.
Their Story
Daniele and Graziana have been performing Nouveau Clown since the 1990s, at a time when the form was virtually unknown in Italy. They discovered the language of the movement through direct contact with European masters — the same oral transmission that has always defined how Nouveau Clown is passed on.
They spent years building their craft on stages across Europe, Latin America, and Asia — developing a duo act that is immediately recognizable: precise, poetic, often hilarious, never predictable. Their performances require no translation. They have made audiences laugh in languages they do not speak, in countries they had never visited, with the same material — because Nouveau Clown is not a joke, it is a frequency.
In 2015, they were recognized among the 100 funniest comedians in the world — a recognition that confirmed what their audiences had known for years.
What They Have Built
Theatre DeGart
Graziana’s cultural company, based in Giardini Naxos, Sicily. Theatre DeGart is the organizational home of everything they do — festival production, institutional collaborations, artist training, and cultural projects. It is through Theatre DeGart that the work with the Italian Ministry of Culture and the French Scène Nationale is conducted.
FINC Festival
Founded in 2022, the Festival Internazionale Nouveau Clown in Sicily is the first international festival in Italy dedicated entirely to the form. Recognized by the Italian Ministry of Culture and in collaboration with the French Scène Nationale, it brings world-class Nouveau Clown artists to Sicily every year.
Clownpedia
Launched in 2026, Clownpedia.com is the world’s first encyclopedia dedicated to the art of the clown. It is also the vehicle for the UNESCO candidacy — the effort to recognize Nouveau Clown as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
The Manifesto
Daniele Segalin’s Manifesto del Nouveau Clown is the foundational theoretical text on the discipline in Italian. It defines the rules, the values, and the philosophy of the form with clarity and precision — grounding the Nouveau Clown in a rigorous framework that goes far beyond the stage.
The Manifesto covers the 30 comic formulas, the prohibition of the red nose, the absence of political messages, the role of music, the archetype of the loser, and the philosophy of self-exposure that distinguishes Nouveau Clown from all other forms of comedy.
ISBN: 9798270302948
YouTube — 15,000 Subscribers
Their YouTube channel has grown to 15,000 subscribers — a community built around Nouveau Clown content, performance videos, and the broader world of clown culture. The channel serves as both an artistic archive and a living platform for the movement.
“We don’t make people laugh. We remind them that they already know how to.”
Dandy Danno & Diva G
Work With Us
For bookings, institutional collaborations, festival partnerships, or training enquiries: