One of the most popular faces on Colombian television was that of Alfonso Lizarazo. This man from Bucaramanga, 85 years old, hosted the iconic comedy show Sábados Felices for 26 years; his fame was such that it transcended the screen, politics, and other social causes. Yesterday, his heart, which had endured several surgeries, stopped beating, leaving a deep mark on Colombians.
His death was confirmed by comedian Don Jediondo, who is part of the television program. He passed away around 6 p.m. at his residence in the El Golf neighborhood, in the north of Barranquilla, where he had settled decades ago due to his heart problems.
Alfonso Lizarazo Sánchez arrived in Bogotá at 18, with the desire to become an engineer, lawyer, or salesman. However, his fellow countryman Julio Nieto Bernal, manager of Caracol, hired him to work shifts at the controls. He then became a substitute announcer, eventually becoming the director of Radio 15, where artists like Lyda Zamora, Óscar Golden, or Ana and Jaime were launched. Later, he ventured into television to direct the musical Estudio 15.
In January 1972, he presented the program Campeones de la risa, which was the initial seed of Sábados Felices. At that time, no one dared to be unserious on television. But he proposed creating a school for comedians. Thus, new actors and scriptwriters emerged.
“I started doing what I did with the Nueva Ola music programs: creating a seedbed of new people. In other words, I came up with the idea of doing a reality show, before they even existed,” he said in an interview with EL TIEMPO.
Figures like Flaco Agudelo, Mocho Sánchez, Topolino Zuluaga, Hugo Patiño, or Humberto Martínez Salcedo shone there, to name a few. With his cast, he created the campaign ‘Carry a little school in your heart,’ with which he helped improve the equipment of thousands of schools across the country, thanks to the charity football matches he organized as shows for the inhabitants of different Colombian regions.
Once, when asked what he asked the Christ Child for, without hesitation and with the sensitivity that characterized him, Lizarazo replied: “A happy country not only on Saturdays.”
Over the years, he founded his production office, where he made commercials, show productions, and special events. Together with Magda Egas, he hosted the program Café Concierto, which mixed interviews and music, and was on air for eight years with high ratings.
Another of Alfonso Lizarazo’s successful inventions was the International Humor Festival, which began airing in 1984, featuring comedians such as Chilean Lucho Navarro, imitators Julio Sabala and Moreno Michael, Spaniards Gila and Juan Tamariz, Cuban Virulo, Uruguayan Juán Verdaguer, Venezuelan ventriloquist Carlos Donoso, Argentine Miky McPhantom, and the group Midachi, as well as the programs Disco and Baila de Rumba. Alfonso Lizarazo loved theater and music, especially merengue. He was married twice and had five children.
In November 1994, Lizarazo was traveling with the Comptroller of Florida (Valle del Cauca), the secretary of the Lions Club of that town, and two other people when they were kidnapped by FARC guerrillas on the Florida-Palmira road. On that occasion, the Sábados Felices cast was heading to the airport after performing in the municipality. The host remained in the hands of the insurgents for five days before being released.
Four years later, Lizarazo decided to step away from television cameras to dedicate himself to public service. It was 1998, and thanks to his enormous popularity, he obtained a seat in Congress as a senator for the 1998-2002 term. He was one of the first entertainment figures to reach this position. After completing his term and having suffered two heart attacks, he followed his doctors’ advice and settled in the capital of Atlántico.
In 2004, he was honored by then Minister of Education Carlos Holmes Trujillo at the National Theater, along with the cast of the television program Sábados Felices, where they received the Simón Bolívar medal for their campaign ‘Carry a little school in your heart’.
“Don Alfonso had many facets, but above all an impressive social sense, always at the service of communities,” said comedian Heriberto Sandoval.
Together with El minuto de Dios, the program Sábados Felices is considered the longest-running on-air show in the history of Colombian television, and it was Alfonso Lizarazo who conceived it.
“If it has lasted this many years, it is because people liked it, because people ask for it and watch it. It has become a brand,” he said when the production turned 40 years old.
With his passing, a fundamental chapter in the history of humor on Colombian TV and also in musical promotion closes.
CULTURE EDITORIAL