“This morning, I had 10 at school: 4 in maths, 5 in French, 2 in history… That makes 10.” This line of the hero will certainly make the spectators laugh at “Toto's Jokes”, but it does not will come as no surprise to those connoisseurs of Thierry Coppée's comic strip which bears the same name. No wonder, since Pascal Bourdiaux's comedy, which comes out this Wednesday August 5 in cinemas, is inspired by the series of albums by the Belgian author and designer. The latter, who worked as a consultant for the feature film, estimates that the film's writers have borrowed "a dozen punchlines " from his comics (including "This morning, I had 10 at school ...") and invented at least as many to punctuate their plot.
Feeding on the valves that already exist and imagining new ones: this is precisely the same work that Thierry Coppée had done when he wrote the first volume of his comic strip in 2004. “When my editor, Delcourt, gave me ordered this book, I first went to the Internet to see the jokes that were circulating on Toto, says the author. I also went to look for books of Toto's jokes in second-hand booksellers or in flea markets. "
A dunce that appeared in 1892
Stories featuring the stupidities of a kid named Toto have been part of popular French culture since a certain Emile Durafour published in 1892 the book “Les Farces de Toto”. Since then, many authors have signed “Toto jokes”. So much so that when Thierry Coppée was working on his comic strip in 2004, a competing publisher (Tourbillon) published his own "Toto" comics, signed by Serge Bloch, the designer of the "Max et Lili" and "SamSam" series. .
In the works of Coppée and Bloch, as in the animated series derived from both, the Toto fan can also recognize some identical jokes. “Serge Bloch's works and mine are two completely different ways of representing Toto's universe, which coexist side by side,” says Thierry Coppée.
For fifteen years, the author-designer, who is currently preparing volume 16 of “Blagues de Toto” at Delcourt, has created dozens of new gags. “Once you understand how Toto works, you can imagine how he will react,” he explains. Toto is blundering, mischievous, quite mature. And he puts all his energy into avoiding work… ”
New gags "stung" to his wife and children
He who was a teacher was inspired by his classes for his characters - those of Yassine, Igor and Carole are "doubles" of former students - and for a few gags. He even "stole" a few anecdotes from his wife, who still teaches at school. "In one of my comics, Toto is at the swimming pool and the teacher asks him to put his friends' clothes in lockers," quotes Thierry Coppée. So Toto puts all the briefs together, all the socks together… and therefore mixes up each other's things! I wrote this joke after my wife told me that her students put their suitcases away like that in the green classroom. "
The author also acknowledges having drawn on the pearls of his three boys, now aged 13 to 21. “One day, we were hiking in the snow and I told my son if it rained, we would turn around,” he recalls. When we got home, it was raining, so my son said to me: Are we going back?…. I noted this little story by telling myself Hey, it will be good in a Toto! And the gag joined volume 9. "