They are called Aïssatou, Nezir, Apolline and Bling.
They come from all walks of life but have the same love for the stage and try to make a living from their art: stand-up.
These four young comedians will be the heroes of "Funny", an original creation whose filming, which began on April 12, continues until July 7 for Netflix.
With the maneuver, Fanny Herrero, who had imagined the series on the agents of stars "Ten percent", success of France 2 before conquering the world on the American platform.
She is the one who created and directed the writing of these 6 episodes of 45 minutes which will plunge into the world of stand-up. “I knew a little, without being used to comedy clubs. I had seen shows by American stand-up artists, but it was when I went to the Paname Art Café that I had a revelation, slips the showrunneuse. In an hour you see five or six young people trying to make you laugh on various subjects, a kind of representation of today's youth. They have different origins and might never have met if they didn't have this passion for humor. They give an impression of the zeitgeist: this made it possible to grasp a theme for a series. And then, the stand-up artists work on the writing, the words, the rhythm… We're a bit of a cousin and I wanted to show that. "
"To discover talents"
His series will follow four trajectories.
“Some are friends, rivals or fall in love.
We will see them in life and at work, rehearsing, struggling to be noticed.
We will also discover how humor makes it possible to resolve intimate problems, to ward off the harshness of existence, ”explains Fanny Herrero.
In "Ten percent", we followed agents of stars.
There, we will dive into an environment, this more secret stand-up territory, with its codes, practices, imperatives, hopes and dreams.
"
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Among these characters, Bling has experienced success, then a loss of speed and runs a Parisian comedy club. Apolline begins, while Aïssatou has to manage a brutal ascent. Finally, Nazir lives for the love of art and doesn't want to compromise himself. None of them are stars yet. "That's why we chose actors little known to the general public," says the writing director and co-producer with Les films du kiosque, proud to showcase talent. Among them, Mariama Gueye (Aïssatou), revealed in the series "La smala s'mingles", on France 2, has made appearances in cinema and on television. Younès Boucif (Nezir) distinguished himself in the theater as Elsa Guedj (Apolline), who also starred in the next film directed by Sandrine Kiberlain. Finally, Jean Siuen (Bling) starred in fictions,including "Do not do this, do not do that" or "a man of honor".
A team of shock at writing the valves
These actors have all undergone special stand-up training since January.
But to give credibility to their performances, the creator of “Drôle” relied on four sure values responsible for writing the valves of the characters on stage.
Two of them are already known to Netflix subscribers: Shirley Souagnon and Jason Brokerss represented France in “Humoristes du monde”, an XXL program which brought together the cream of the world stand-up.
The first, spotted at Ruquier and Jamel in the early 2010s, is also the patron of the Barbès comedy club, in the north of Paris.
The second is also the co-author of Fary, one of the most popular young comedians of the moment who had filled Bercy in 2019 and whose two shows are also available on the American platform. The Swiss Thomas Wiesel, known to French viewers since his chronicles in "Quotidien" on TMC, and the Belgian Fanny Ruwet, selected in the last promotion of the Stars hope humor of the Parisian, complete the shock team. The quartet should also make appearances in the image, just like their colleagues Panayotis Pascot and Hakim Jemili, special guests.
Behind the cameras, two young directors share the six episodes: Farid Bentoumi ("Good Luck Algeria") and Bryan Marciano ("25"). “I chose them because I felt a sensitivity, a proximity,” insists Fanny Herrero, without hiding the additional “little pressure” linked to an upcoming broadcast on Netflix. “But, that didn't change anything in the writing. We said to ourselves that we were doing a series that talks about France and that can reach people all over the world. We try to do our job as sincerely as possible. The subject has already been dealt with in fictions in the United States where stand-up is a tradition, she recalls. Our way of experiencing it and confronting it with French themes will give another result. »His ambition:make people laugh and arouse emotions around “empathetic” heroes to which they become attached.