The Italian comedian and activist became famous by his political satire. Inside his television shows he would attack directly corrupted politicians and blow financial scandals open. He became so uncomfortable to politicians and business men alike that in the late 80s he was banished from television in Italy

The television ban did not silence Grillo, though. He continued to perform in theaters all over the country, and in 2003 he started the blog BeppeGrillo.it. The success was immediate, and today his blog is among the 10 most popular in the world according to Technorati. What does that mean in numbers? Well, his posts receive over 1,000 comments on average.

Among other brilliant stunts, in 2005 he bought a full page of advertising on a national newspaper, and used it to ask for the regisnation of the governor of Bank of Italy (who was involved in several scandals).