The characters honour

Photo Agence QMI, Sebastien St-Jean

Bruno Lapointe

Sunday, 16 July 2017 00:22

UPDATE
Sunday, 16 July 2017 00:22

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Rachid Badouri and Éric Antoine drive this evening the gala Just the Characters in the Just for laughs festival. “Whether we like it or not, we are always playing different characters each day,” says Rachid Badouri. Tonight and tomorrow night, the comedian and his accomplice Eric Antoine will discuss the issue with their gala Just Characters from the Just for laughs festival.

What can we expect from the gala ?

“We don disguises very little. People expect that it arrives disguised as Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un and building a number from it. So we wanted to do the opposite. We wanted to keep it sober, explain it in the most purist, without ado or wigs. After all, we still play characters ; a guy who is dumped by his girlfriend is going to play a character in front of his buddies at poker. It also plays a character in front of our parents-in-law. If they knew what is being done with their child… (laughs). “

Éric Antoine, and you have hosted a gala together for the first time last year. How the experience is different this year ?

“Last year, we didn’t know. There were already a lot of respect between the two of us, but it is very difficult to mimic a closeness that does not exist. We spent a lot of time together in the last year. I spent a few days at his home in the South, our families are met, then we became very good friends, very complicit. And it shows on stage. “

Have you been able to work together physically while you were in France during the last year ?

“Even if I was very often and for a long time, in Europe this year, there has still been a choice other than resorting to the magic of Skype and e-mails. It is a true discipline of work. But everything is played out when even in the days leading up to the gala. I feel as if I managed a Toys ‘R’ Us in the middle of December ! “

What are the characters that will have the most impact in the world of humor ?

“Younger, before falling in love with the stand-up american to Jerry Seinfeld, I was very attracted by the characters. As a child, I watched in the loop the tape of Daniel Lemire. My father had bought tickets to go and see it and it was the wrong date. We arrived at the venue a week late ! I was freaking out. “

Is it easier to make people laugh with the help of a character ?

“With a character, it offers something out of the ordinary, so people are more likely to pay attention. It is, according to me, much more difficult to keep the attention of people during a live show without the use of the characters. But when it succeeds, it is much more powerful. “

► The gala Just Characters hosted by Rachid Badouri and Éric Antoine is presented tonight and tomorrow at 18: 30 and 21: 30.