His first prototype, tossed together in just six weeks, certainly has some rough edges (literally, the stand is made from roughly cut cardboard boxes).
To make the cut, the comics had to count stand-up as their primary income, a qualification that left funnymen like Jerry Seinfeld, Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno off this year's list.
The Italian economy - the eurozone's third largest - has contracted for the past four quarters as the government has implemented a series of drastic spending cuts designed to cut its debt levels, which currently stand at more than the country's annual economic output.