The small revolution

Christelle Paré

Friday, 2 march 2018 05:00

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Friday, 2 march 2018 05:00

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Last week, I spoke to you of the evenings of humour and I promised to share with you why they are important. Beyond their impressive offering, as you can read in the record published Thursday, there is a whole little revolution of artistic models and economic that comes with them. But let’s start from the beginning.

• READ ALSO: Explosion of the evenings of humour

It all started in the early 1980’s, when Claude Meunier and Serge Thériault, our Ding and Dong national, visited the legendary Comedy Store in Los Angeles, thus entering in direct contact with the mode of stand-up. On their return, they have acquired what will become the Club Soda and are presented evenings of humor in all the weeks, the famous Lundis des Ha! Ha! It is here that is born, among others, Michel Barrette, Louise Richer, Lise Dion, Sylvain Laroque, etc

Photo archive

Daniel Lemire, Claude Meunier and Yvon Deschamps, in October 1983. This year, Daniel triumphed in the first Just for laughs Festival. Just a year earlier, he had made his debut in the artistic world to the Mondays Ha! Ha! and he was gone on tour across Quebec.

The influence is spreading. In Quebec city, the evening of comedy will be held at bar Le Dagobert. Then, other cities will be added to the list. These scenes will enable the generation of stand-up comedians of the 1980’s and 1990’s to shape their art, while the industry of the humor solidifies. Together with the École nationale de l’humour and the Just for laughs, the feed industry experienced artists and performers.

The 1990s will be lucky in humour in Quebec. This is our first golden age of the ” one-man/one-woman show “. There is competition, but the houses of stewardship, and production agencies are not yet saturated.

The change in the early 2000s. The artists of the 1980s and 1990s are coming back for a second or even a third solo show. They are in full possession of their means. The managers of the industry have less need of the succession and the doors close for the young artists.

Wednesdays Just for laughs, the successors of the Lundis des Ha! Ha!, take some time off, just like the nights at Dagobert. The feeder has virtually no access to the scene and its market opportunities are more restricted.

It is at this time that we are witnessing a strong growth of the evenings of comedy in bars in the montreal area. The artists need to feed themselves and to gain experience, so they put themselves in the mode resourcefulness and become entrepreneurs. And the bars have their nights the most peaceful of the week to fill out a customer that she has to serve. The formula is a winning one for everyone.

And the revolution ? It is now full of excitement !

All of these artists, which have simmered for several years, got to know each other, have met on a regular basis, have created alliances, have brought into the world of original projects, have taken the Web by storm to spread their talent and gain visibility. One can think of Émilie Ouellet, Fred Dubé, Nadine Massie, William Wagner, Adib Alkhalidey, etc

Photo ARCHIVES agence QMI

Adib Alkhalidey

When the doors are open wide for them at the end of the 2000s, they were ready ! Already professional, even with a lower salary than their predecessors, they lived already for a lot of their items This gave them a great freedom of creation, they were certainly not willing to sacrifice.

As some of them had managed to produce on tour without the help of the large producers, they had also gained confidence in their talent and their place in the industry. In fact, they shove now the artistic and economic model that makes faith and law since the early days of the industry.

Examples ?

Take Simon Leblanc, repeatedly appointed at the last gala des Olivier. His first ” one-man show “, for short, launched in 2016, was not his first experience of touring. A few years ago, in the company of François Bellefeuille, he had been criss-crossing the province with their show-Union free. But the most surprising is that Simon Leblanc, less than two years after the short, this already his second solo show. Then that one has been accustomed with Jean-Michel Anctil, Martin Matte, Louis-José Houde and many others to see it shoot the same show for two to three years, Simon Leblanc decided to break the model.

Another example : the artists behind the festival Dr. Mobilo Aquafest, the next edition of which starts on 6 April. This co-operative operated by the artists themselves, such as Virginie Fortin, Guillaume Wagner, and the members of the duo Sèxe Illegal, demonstrates the entrepreneurial nature that is increasingly rooted in the lifestyle of the creators of humor. In addition, the artistic direction, left to the artists, in a tone more eclectic, more ” underground “.

Sébastien St-Jean / QMI Agency

And even the industry, in its own way, encourages movement. The Zoofest, by its business model and artistic, is a festival diffuser : it offers a stage to artists, but they are engaged as producers of their own show. So, unless you are represented by an agency, which is definitely not the case for the majority of artists, they become entrepreneurs, if only for the time of the festival.

In summary, let’s say, the evenings of humour have created a must-see “butterfly effect” : the spirit of survival is born a generation of artistic voices more entrepreneurial, more free of its establishment and the ambitions slightly different. And thus, this generation is influencing the public : it used to, the atmosphere of the show more intimate, with less staging elaborate, more ” real “. William Wagner, Simon Leblanc, Korine Côté, Louis-José Houde : all of the artists who, on stage, are not accompanied that of their micro. It really is a small revolution which is in progress.