With a series like The Four Seasons, the comedy created by Tina Fey, Lang Fisher, and Tracey Wigfield that tells the story of a group of longtime friends navigating relationships in their 40s and 50s, the recipe for success is in the ensemble cast. Each of the actors brings the vitality, humor, and emotional resonance that make it a pinnacle comfort show. “Tina really wanted this show to be like a warm soup you eat on a winter night,” says cast member Marco Calvani. “The ultimate goal was to reach people's hearts in a very simple, but also deep, way.” 

The Italian actor, who is also an accomplished playwright, theater director, and filmmaker, shines in the ensemble, a remarkable feat considering his castmates include Fey, Will Forte, Colman Domingo, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Erika Henningsen, and Steve Carell. Claude, Calvani’s character, is the expressive and often reflective husband of Danny (Domingo), whose marriage faces new tests and questions in the series’ second season. “Sometimes in a long-term relationship, we tend to lose the borders of our own self,” says Calvani. “The storyline of Claude is a great reminder that if you keep nourishing your individuality, then the relationship and the couple will benefit from it.”

Coming back to Season 2 gave Calvani new appreciation for Claude. “It's incredible when you’re surprised by your own character,” he says. “There’s nothing more exciting than finding ways to play something that you’re not familiar with, and then ultimately to discover that it’s already within you. [Claude] taught me so much.” 

Here, Calvani dreams up his ideal dinner party, where his personal hopes reflect the sense of togetherness, love, and comfort that The Four Seasons is known to serve up. 

First of all, I’m Italian. So everything happens around the table. Good things, bad things. I grew up in a household full of people, where at the table, the lunch and the dinner was sacred, even if the television was always on. It was an opportunity to all be together, to reunite, and just get to know one another more. Also, it’s an opportunity to show love, to give love, to receive it. I always say I’d rather have a small dinner party at home than a huge party at Madonna’s house. I feel like I’m more comfortable, more confident. And also I like to cook. I like to cook and show off a little bit with my American friends, [make them] the Italian recipes that I learned growing up. 

There’s plenty of people that I would love to sit down and get to know more that are out there doing beautiful work in the world, but I would like to use this opportunity to invite some of the children, some of the mothers, some of the brothers, some of the fathers, some of the sisters who’ve been left alone, unseen, unheard, unsafe, who’ve been separated by law enforcement, by wars, some of the people who are our neighbors who are now afraid to leave their house to go to work or to go to a medical appointment because they don’t know if they’ll ever make it back home to their families. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, the current state of the world and of this country in particular. 

As a writer and director, I often talk about what it means to be away from the place you were born, what it means to belong to a different country, a different person, a different community. And nowadays, I feel even more encouraged to think about this as an actor who has a public platform. How can I help? How can I make a difference? And I know everything starts in the smaller circles. I cannot speak to a whole country, but I can speak to Maria, who comes here once a week and she’s concerned about her friends and the people in her community. And I can tell her, “Invite your cousin here and then we will invite someone else.” Maybe a good dinner with good people and making them feel at home in a place that’s not their own is a gift that we can give. 

I want this dinner to be glamorous for them. I would like to start the evening with some appetizers and delicatessen, maybe with some Italian and French cheese, most importantly with some delicious burrata, served with fresh tomatoes and basil. Champagne or Negroni will be served with the appetizers. And then I will make Spaghetti alla bolognese, with the bolognese sauce that my grandma taught me. That’s my comfort food, and I would use it to comfort them. What Americans don’t realize is that the bolognese sauce is really a meat sauce. I respect the tradition very well. That’s how my grandma taught me. Sometimes I see my American guests’ faces … people are a little scared because they don’t see much sauce, but there is. 

White wine is the secret ingredient for the sauce (although it is best to accompany this meal with red wine!). It is a long, slow cook, six and a half hours. The hardest part is the chopping. The first part is to create the soffritto. Soffritto is this combination of olive oil, onion, carrots, and celery. So that is the base. Another secret is that you don't put much salt in the pasta and in the bolognese sauce. I was raised with this sauce being paired with a lot of Parmesan cheese, and Parmesan cheese has a lot of salt in it. I don’t have a sweet tooth, but everybody else does. I do love tiramisu, and that’s something that my mom used to make a lot. It’s not that complicated. And there are multiple versions that you can do — there’s also strawberry tiramisu, which is quite interesting. It’s very refreshing.

For the guests, I’ll make everything. If you're vegetarian, I'll also make a tomato sauce that’s delicious. I can make cheese tortelli. I can make a lot of things, but I would ask my guests to bring a song from their country of origin, something that speaks to the place they come from. And so we will create a playlist and over the course of the dinner party, we will hear music from all over the world, and if they want, they can share a story about why they brought that song — or we just listen to them. I think that would make quite a wonderful soundtrack. There’s a song that’s been in my life since before I can even recall. It’s a song by one of our most beloved singers, Mina. It’s called “Il cielo in una stanza.” And it’s very nostalgic, a love song. It has this melancholic vibe, which I believe really is what I am. I can be the life of the party, but also deep down, I’m very contemplative and introverted. It speaks to my soul.