You have a versatile career as a stand-up comedian, writer, and tv host. How do you manage to juggle these different roles and maintain your creativity?
Well, I have a little trick! I sleep for 27 minutes a night. (Laughs)
No, seriously, I have a team of three writers in radio and a fourth has joined us for the show «En bande organisée». And they are very talented, we work hard. That’s the little secret! They are called Clément Charton, who notably writes for Alison Wheeler, (formerly of Quotidien), Grégoire Dey, Arsen, and Jonas Evain, who are the Fantastic Four!
As a columnist on the show «Quelle Époque» on France 2, what are the themes or subjects that you are most passionate about exploring?
There isn’t really one particular subject that fascinates me. It’s really the news! It’s transforming this somewhat gray, somewhat sad material, especially at the moment, into acceptable and smiling news, by shifting, by finding the angle that makes us smile at the drama.
You are also a host on RTL. Can you tell us more about your radio experience and what attracts you to this medium?
I don’t know if my job is called a host.
I don’t think so… I am more at the border of the comedian, observing the journalists and extrapolating a little to tell nonsense about the same news, the same source as my journalist colleagues, whom I admire a lot, by the way. Moreover, I deeply appreciate the intimacy of radio. Radio reaches the heart of people because it is a habitual medium and I receive messages from Casablanca, Quebec, or Sumatra, from people who listen in delayed time at any hour and for whom we are a link with the news. I love the subtlety and finesse of radio writing.
Humor is at the heart of your work. How do you choose the subjects on which you will make your audience laugh, and what is your preferred style of humor?
So, we try not to stick to a particular style, a bit like in my clothing choices! «I have no style,» according to my wife. (Laughs)
More seriously, we constantly try to break the codes, to transform a sketch into a funny moment by doing a bad imitation, by playing an elderly character at one moment, or by speaking in a foreign language for a long sequence. We also make evocations of steps or we put ourselves in the shoes of a flight commander! In short, we always try to break the routine.
We find you on Saturday evenings on France 2 in the new show «En bande organisée». How does it feel to be at the helm of your own talk show?
So, the luck we have with Alex Vizorek is that we co-host this show, which allows us to share the pressure and double the moments of entertainment, an approach never seen before. This show is an S.N.L for two, but in the afternoon, that is to say, a Saturday Night Live in the afternoon, and we were hired to have great freedom, which we plan to exploit as we already do on the radio and on television!
And how do I feel about it? Well, to be honest, I haven’t realized it yet!
Do you have any future projects?
Whether in the field of comedy, column, or hosting?
The projects… I am very indecisive, so I have no ability to project myself.
For now, they come to me and they are quite pleasant, so there will surely be a one-man show and also some cinema.
It’s a bit like being in a schoolyard! It’s recess all the time and I’m very happy to stay in recess and not go back to class! (smiles)
If you had to define yourself in three words?
In three words, it would be Peter Pan Syndrome. I love Brel’s phrase «It took us a lot of courage to be old without being an adult.» That’s a real project. To be old without being an adult, never.
What could you wish for the readers of LiFE magazine ?
To stay united despite everything and above all not to fall into the trap of judgmental disunity. It is a real job to remain open to the other, always! I send you my warm regards.
