Before sitting down to an interview with TIME, Beppe Grillo, the comedian who has upended Italian politics, stops to give his wife a goodbye kiss. “Ciao,” she tells him. “For goodness sake. Don’t create too much chaos.” When Italy’s elections resulted in a hung Parliament, with no party pulling in enough support to form a government, Grillo came out as the biggest winner. His Five Star Movement fielded a group of political novices on a platform of political renovation and took 8.7 million votes, more than any other party. But while his opponents have scrambled to try to build governing coalitions, Grillo, who didn’t stand for office himself, has refused to bargain with the old guard he considers the root of Italy’s problems. From his house on the Tuscan seashore, Grillo rails against his country’s political parties, marvels about the Internet and jokes about the papacy. To what do you credit your success? It’s the Internet. The Internet creates transparency, creates a change of mentality, brings people together. The Pope resigned, partly because of his health, but also because he started tweeting … The sheep wanted to talk with the shepherd. Centuries of tradition crumbled there. He understood it was no longer possible to continue. You say you want to tear down Italy’s political parties. With what do you want to replace them? With citizens, informed, honest, transparent citizens, who do their job with passion. Two terms and then they go home. There’s no money and no careers in this movement. (MORE: Viewpoint: Why Italy’s Election Is a Joke) What do you like less, the political parties or the media? The worst is the media. Maybe the regional papers are O.K. But those that shape public opinion, seven television stations and three newspapers, they’re inside the system. Why don’t you cooperate with the political parties? They do this display of being against each other, but underneath, they’re the same thing. Left and right in Italy, they’ve always pretended to fight. Now, the agreements they’ve been doing in the shadows for 20 … Continue reading Italy’s Beppe Grillo: Meet the Rogue Comedian Turned Kingmaker