The humorist Manolo Vieira has died on Wednesday night at the age of 73, the same day he had been declared Favorite Son of Gran Canaria by the Island Council, as confirmed by his representative.
A reference for several generations in the Canary Islands, Vieira had announced the closure of his legendary comedy club in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, El Chistera, and was immersed in his farewell tour of the stages, "The last one and we're leaving", which he had to suspend last week due to health problems.
"It is very painful for us to announce that our Canarian artist and comedian, Manolo Vieira, has passed away tonight, Wednesday. We will give details in the next few hours. Thank you all very much for the affection shown," says a message released by his representative.
As he used to say himself, Manuel Domingo Vieira Montesdeoca entered the world of entertainment in 1985, when he abandoned the work he was doing in the mornings to dedicate himself to working as a comedian at night, although at that time in the same bar where he attended the public as a waiter.
The following year, he opened his own venue and his career took a leap after arriving at Florida Park in Madrid, where he was on the bill for 18 consecutive months.
In 1988 he founded his legendary venue "Chistera", which was now closing, after 35 years of activity, and began to live between Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Madrid.
Ten years later, he triumphed in several venues in Miami (USA) and in 1999 Luis del Olmo incorporated him into the program "Protagonistas", which accelerated his projection in Spain, prompted him to collaborate with several televisions and, little by little, he turned his Christmas shows into an essential reference in his native Canary Islands.
Awarded the gold medal of the Canary Islands in 2002, Manolo Vieira had been named this Wednesday as Favorite Son of Gran Canaria, along with the writer Alexis Ravelo and the artist Jane Millares, both recently deceased, and the professor Rafael Robaina.
Until he was forced to suspend some performances in Lanzarote a few weeks ago, Vieira had scheduled four performances of his farewell show at the Cuyás Theater in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, one of his "fetish" venues, from April 13 to 16.
Comedian Profile
It didn't matter on which island he performed, he always sold out, because his audience felt identified with those small stories he told and that he managed to turn into true comedy episodes.
It was said that his humor "only we can understand it, the canaries" and although there is some truth to this statement, Manolo Vieira also managed to adapt that script to his audience and to the times and that's how his most famous characters grew.
His anecdotes of that bus to the top going up Escaleritas Avenue, the supermarket cart that squeaks or the car that gets lost in a parking lot of a large surface were common stories but totally identifiable by the public that did not stop laughing in all his shows.
Carmelito and Maruquita, Cuco, Fela and Chanín were some of his characters and although some of them were always with him, he was adapting them. Still, they maintained their essence.
Vieira always defended that knowing the past was the best way to know the future.