A birthday celebrated with great pomp… just in time!
To celebrate its 10th season, the Jamel Comedy Club troupe shot on October 7, a few days before the reconfinement, a gala broadcast this Wednesday evening on Canal + at 9 p.m.
A very first prime time for this program which put in the spotlight a new generation (Blanche Gardin, Thomas Ngijol, Fabrice Eboué, Malik Bentalha, Alban Ivanov, Inès Reg ...) adept at a more direct and more anchored form of humor in its time.
If he does not present the evening, Jamel Debbouze is nevertheless omnipresent to celebrate the longevity of his "baby".
This is the first time that the Jamel Comedy Club is broadcast in prime time…
JAMEL DEBBOUZE.
It is an outcome.
This gala, it happens to establish our history from the beginning.
There are glitter, there are frills: we organized it at the Paradis Latin to get out of the classic framework and offer a marriage between cabaret and stand-up.
It gives sublime images.
In the room, there was a real atmosphere… It is one of the most beautiful TV memories I have.
And I have a lot.
The shooting took place just before the reconfinement.
One of the artists, Doully, even had to forfeit…
She was
covidated
, poor
thing
.
We were all frustrated not to have it.
It's like playing a French team match without your midfielder.
But in this slump, we managed to create this show, to continue to make people laugh.
We are irreducible.
We do not abdicate.
How do you define the new generation of comedians?
They are ten times better than us when we started, they already have reflexes, automatisms, a natural.
The people you will see at this gala, you will see them for another ten years!
What makes me want to continue doing this job is when kids like Az, Bambi or Paul Mirabel tell me that it was the Jamel Comedy Club that made them want to go on stage.
Today, they embody it in a great way and will make other kids want it.
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The Jamel Comedy Club was born 2006, just after the riots.
For many, this is the date of birth of the stand-up in France ...
I come from theatrical improvisation.
At the time, I did lots of sketches with lots of costumes, accessories.
At one point, I even had a satellite dish on stage!
And then one day, I discovered Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy
(Editor's note: American stand-up figures)
, they were just sitting on a stool and made us cry with laughter without leaving the stage for an hour and a quarter.
It changed my vision, I realized that what was important was not the artifices but what is inside us.
After that, the show came at a time when we needed to express things.
All generations need it, but in 2006 it was even stronger.
It's a show that brought a lot of diversity to the small screen ...
I did what the Déclic theater association, the MJC de Trappes and then Radio Nova or Canal Plus did for me: they told me:
Welcome, do what you want
.
This is what opens up the debate and creates.
At the Comedy Club, opened in 2008 in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, what I'm most proud of is the Debjam.
Every Tuesday, it's open stage.
If the comedian is funny, he'll want to come back, if he's not, he'll want to work on his score.
This is where our artistic director, Jean-Michel Joyeau, found almost all the artists, all the Malik Bentalha, Bambi, Fadily Camara, Alban Ivanov ...
What feeling predominates when you see the impressive roster of Jamel Comedy Club alumni?
Frustration makes me angry
(long silence, then bursts of laughter)
.
They start at home and often end elsewhere: I'm a bit like Guy Roux of humor
(laughs)
.
No, the real feeling is pride.
I feel like I have contributed to something strong and lasting.
We did the work of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Culture.
We have done the work of a good number of ministers and yet we do not have a grant euro!
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How the stand-up made France fold (in two)
Have you not been tempted to accompany them longer?
It is unique to each human being to leave the cocoon.
I did what was most complicated: development.
It takes a lot of time, a lot of money… And as soon as an artist is developed, he wants to experience other adventures and that's completely normal.
The new Jamel has often been sought among them.
You found it ?
There's only one Jamel and I hope there won't be others: if we produced ersatz of me, that would mean that I messed up my score.
What is interesting is new artists that we haven't seen before.
Bambi or Az, they are UFOs.
Paul Mirabel, he's the stiffest guy I've met in my life… and he's the one who gets the most standing-ovations!
The stand-up is still predominantly male ...
In the gala, we pay tribute to all the women who have passed through the Comedy Club: Inès Reg, Fadily Camara, Nawell Madani, Blanche Gardin, Amel Chahbi, Claudia Tagbo… They are not numerous enough but they have all made a career unbelievable.
I invite all girls to go because when they do, they are often better than men.
Does the era make you want to go back on stage?
What we are experiencing is so unique, it's a boulevard!
But I did so much scene, that there, I am fallow.
This is not what I want right away.
But I'm optimistic about the shows: we're going to get out of this tunnel and people are going to want to live, to laugh, to culture.
And the cinema?
I have a project with Daniel Auteuil, like everyone else in the world, I would love to work with him.
It is for the remake of “Toy”
(Editor's note: Jacques Veber's film will be adapted by James Huth, the director of “Brice de Nice”).
Filming will take place soon?
As soon as Pfizer sends out vaccines, let's go!
As soon as Sanofi sends us the service sheet, we turn!
Jamel hands over to young talents
As a symbol, it is not Jamel who presents this special gala, broadcast this Wednesday evening on Canal +.
The godfather of the young comedians remains very present on the screen, but has passed on the torch to three members of his troop: Az, Samuel Bambi and Paul Mirabel, three rising values of French humor.
Each in their own style, they bring their two cents to the evening when the sketches of young artists - in particular the excellent Morgane Cadignan, Fanny Ruwet or Pierre Thévenoux - are interspersed with tasty passages filmed "behind the scenes".
The tone is light, the jokes readily raw.
Some members of the troop print more than others.
Special mention to Paul Mirabel.
In the public, many headliners like Alban Ivanov, Franck Gastambide, Sabrina Ouazini, Jonathan Cohen came to blow out the 10 candles of the Jamel Comedy Club.
In the end, a cheerful, very rhythmic evening, which illustrates the plurality and the dynamism of stand-up in France.
EDITOR'S RATING: 4/5
The Jamel Comedy Club gala,
Wednesday December 2 at 9 p.m. on Canal + and MyCanal.