(CNN) -- Italian voters may finally be losing their appetite for Silvio Berlusconi's off-color "jokes," but if the rise of Beppe Grillo is any indication, there's still more than enough room in Italian politics for another showman. Known as the "clown prince" of Italian politics, Beppe Grillo is a 64-year-old comedian turned politician whose Five Star Movement (M5S) is winning the hearts, minds and votes of Italians fed up with mainstream parties. "My vision was just to make jokes about politicians," the comedian, whose real name is Giuseppe Piero Grillo, told CNN before the elections. "Then I made this joke about how this politician was stealing -- and he actually was."
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Comedian turned politician Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement (M5S) is popular with Italians
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Grillo is commonly known as the clown prince of Italian politics
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His joke about a politician stealing turned out to be true and got him banned from television
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Grillo found new audience at rallies ahead of election, dubbed on web as "Beppe boom"
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