Two tones sound. A voice is heard on the other end of the phone. “Yes?” In just that brief adverb is concentrated a good part of the humorous imagination of an entire generation that has (we) laughed until we cried with their surreal interpretations in La 'Hora Chanante' or 'Muchachada Nui' and, later, in many other programs, series and movies.
The voice on the other end of the phone is that of the comedian, actor, screenwriter, presenter and director Ernesto Sevilla (Albacete, 1978), who answers me this February afternoon, despite being concentrated in the middle of filming his new film, 'Cuerpo escombro ', along with Dani Rovira, which will be released next summer. With that title and that company, things are promising. But today we are not going to talk about Ernesto.
“Tell me about Elvis Sevilla,” I joke, and he laughs. “He is five years old and he is a dog that lives very well, he is never alone,” he answers me. Elvis is an Italian greyhound, popularly known as “dwarf greyhound”, a breed that would have accompanied the Egyptian pharaohs more than 6,000 years ago, according to remains found in their tombs. The million people who follow Ernesto on his Instagram account attended Elvis' official presentation in 2019 as “my new roommate” and will have seen him taking selfies to celebrate Greyhound Day, sleeping peacefully, with a wig of time they gave him in kindergarten or congratulating 2024 in a somewhat irreverent way.
And above all, you will have seen him sitting on Ernesto's lap: “he goes with me everywhere and if I sit down, he sits on top of me as if to protect me,” explains the comedian. He confesses that when his sister brought him the little greyhound, he did not know if an apartment was the most appropriate place to have a greyhound, but he informed himself and discovered that dogs of that breed, in any size, are very calm, ideal to live in apartments, as long as they get the amount of activity they need: “and then, they can perfectly sleep 18 hours a day.”
Elvis and Ernesto's daily life begins around nine in the morning with the morning walk so the dog can do his business. “Afterwards, we went up and had breakfast. If I have to go out, for example, go to write, they come to pick it up from daycare. There he has a great time because he socializes with other dogs, walks, learns... I am very happy with that daycare, it is called Wag Wag; I want to say his name.” When I come back from work, I pick him up, we go for a walk and then he gets home and he goes to sleep like a bastard,” he says (laughs). And he continues: “At night he sleeps with me, I have made it impossible for him not to climb into my bed when I go to bed.”
Ernesto explains to me that Elvis also takes care of his diet, that he does not eat dry food, but rather special food for dogs, known as “natural food.” This is based on fresh ingredients that are steamed and is offered in the form of balanced menus, adapted to each case. There is no doubt that this helps Elvis maintain his slim and muscular figure.
This dog with cream-colored hair and barely five kilos, on the other hand, enjoys socializing with people. “I imagine that being a comedian's dog, he must be quite entertained,” I tell him: “I don't know to what extent he will pick up on the jokes and laughter between friends, but you can tell that he has a good time when I take him with mine, because he He goes up their skirts at the first opportunity, and when he has seen someone once and he meets that person again, he recognizes them and is very happy with the reunion,” he answers me.
Of course, whoever invites Elvis and Ernesto to their house should be careful. And if he does, let him make sure to close the door to his bedroom. “Elvis has a weakness for freshly made beds. One day when we were at Arturo Valls' house, I got lost for a moment, and when we realized, he had wet his bed; the shame I went through…” You also have to hide your wallets out of Elvis's reach, especially if they contain papers, because he feels a special attraction for both of you, since he steals at the slightest mistake from his owner.
“It's very funny, perhaps because of that sad face that greyhounds seem to have, because of how sensitive they are, but then it's not really sad, because he's having a great time and gets along with everyone; People laugh a lot with him.” However, the endearing Elvis does not get along with any of his kind: “he has a special character; He depends on how he likes the dog that passes by, he starts barking at it, he is selective.
Sevilla tells me that his dog named after the King of Rock is not left alone when he is filming either, like the afternoon he attends to me from Bilbao in this interview. “If I have to go away for a few days, I leave him at my parents' house. My nieces are there, they take wonderful care of him and he is happy, because they get along very well.” In the not-too-distant future, whoever played the legendary country man Marcial Ruiz Escribano in 'Muchachada Nui' (pronounced, or rather shouted, “Marciaaaaaal!”), tells me that, soon, he plans to go live outside the city: “I'm building a house in the country and when Elvis and I move, with all the space there will be, the idea is to adopt another dog, so that he will have a friend.”
“How has Elvis changed your life?” I ask him, before saying goodbye. “He has changed me a lot. Apart from the affection I have gained for him, the fact of having schedules to take him out and keeping an eye on him has helped me a lot to organize myself. “Elvis has put order in my life.”
