Three well-off young men—former students at Rome’s prestigious all-boys Catholic high school San Leone Magno—brutally tortured, raped, and murdered two young women in 1975. The event, which came to be known as the Circeo massacre, shocked and captivated the country, exposing the violence and dark underbelly of the upper middle class at a moment when the traditional structures of family and religion were seen as under threat.

Six amateur and desperate comedians are called by their agent, just as amateur and desperate as them, for an event. To get the money back from a gambling loss, the agent invents a story that convinces the comedians to pay for acting. The idea is irresistible: among the public of the lousy nightclub where the show will take place, there will be a person in charge of Drive In, the most famous cabaret television show of the moment, looking for new talents to bring to the TV show business.