Bye Bye Pepe

Pepe Rubianes has gone for ever. He was a great and compromised artist who smashed the reactionary right wing with the weapons of his sardonic humour.

Suffering from lung cancer for the last few months, he made us burst with laughter every time he went on stage. Living in Barcelona most of the time, he followed the trail of great comedians before him such as Mighel Gila. His provocative sense of humour went sometimes too far. The critic Marcos Ordoñez (El País) compares him to Andy Kauffman and Leny Bruce.
A scandal broke out when he criticised the Spanish flag in an interview. The right wing threw up their hands in horror. Virulent but ready in his response to injustice, he leaves behind a wide smile and two witty eyes that tell us he will be watching and laughing at our weaknesses from the stars. Bye Bye, Pepe.