Los Payasos de la Tele is the name by which a trio of popular Spanishclowns are known, initially formed by Gaby, Fofó and Miliki, and succeeded by Fofito, Milikito and Rody. They were well-known on Spanish language television in Latin America throughout much of the twentieth century before returning to Spain and attaining further success.
History
Heirs of a long family tradition of circus performance, which stretches back to the nineteenth century, they were sons of Emilio Aragón the elder and nephews of José María and Teodoro Aragón - Emig, Pompoff y Teddy. Other members of the family with circus connections included their cousins Nabucodonosorcito and Zampabollos. Gaby, Fofó y Miliki began their activities in Spain in 1939 at the Circo Price. In 1946, the three brothers emigrated across the Atlantic, where they remained for more than a quarter of a century. They first set up shop in Cuba, where they made their first incursions into the world of television in 1949. In the following years, the diffusion of their shows in other countries in Latin America made them familiar faces in Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and the United States. Between 1965 and 1971 they moved to Puerto Rico, where they transmitted a daily program called El Show de las 5, one of the most popular and remembered shows in the history of TV in that country. In 1970 they arrived in Argentina, and achieved great success through their program El zapato roto, which they then renamed El show de Gaby, Fofó y Miliki. Soon a new member of the family, Fofito, made appearances. Two years later, in 1972, they returned to Spain, contracting with Televisión Española to front a new program called El Gran Circo de TVE. It was a great success, remaining on air until 1981, and became an enormous cultural phenomenon in Spain in the 1970s. The group was awarded a TP de Oro, a prestigious Spanish television award, for "most popular personality" in 1974. After the death of Fofó in 1976, the son of Miliki, Emilio Aragón Jr., joined the group under the name Milikito. He is a mute clown, in the tradition of Harpo Marx, and communicates with a cow bell. Much later, after the show ended in 1981, Rody, the youngest son of Fofó, joined the group in the persona of a black Cuban. Finally, the program, was retired from Spanish television in 1983. After several circus tours during the following two years, under the title El fabuloso mundo del circo, the group dissolved definitively.
