A Hidalgo with truffles, a Mélenchon Thermidor, a two-course Macron estouffade, all punctuated by the Zemmour soufflé with Vichy pastilles, the menu of the theater of the Two Donkeys, has everything to activate the zygomatics of lovers of humor.
After almost two years of funny fallow, Covid obliges, the theater of chansonniers, located near the Place Pigalle at the foot of the Butte Montmartre, reopens the doors with a series of sketches perfectly in symbiosis with these turbulent times of the presidential pre-election: "
Elise Us
".
To read also At the Two Donkeys, politics makes a career
An eternal smile at the corner of his lips, his eyes sparkling with mischief, Jacques Mailhot, the host, received
Le Figaro
to present the young and old companions of laughter who accompany him on stage and reaffirm that despite the epidemic and all the piss-cold that could make us lose our good humor, he always carries his motto loud and clear:
“Serious, abstain
”.
LE FIGARO - It is easy to imagine that the presidential election is blessed bread for the comedians of the Two Donkeys ...
JACQUES MAILHOT -
You know since Coluche, the presidential election and humor go hand in hand.
I would even dare to say that it all started with our master of good words, Alphonse Allais.
You see, this is not new.
I also remember a candidate who wanted to extend Paris to Le Havre to relieve congestion in the capital.
He was a bit of a precursor to Madame Hidalgo.
Here at Les Deux Ânes, in a way, we are only perpetuating a tradition which makes the Frenchman like to have fun with the stupidities of his politicians.
The show is called
“Élysez-nous
”
.
If you were elected who would you choose as your minister?
(Smile on her lips) Why not? I will be spoiled for choice because the 2021 vintage is exceptional. If I were elected president, there are some very good things that I would pick right away. At the Ministry of Entertainment and Pure Comedy I would immediately take Sandrine Rousseau. It is priceless. No other country than ours has had such a funny wife, unwittingly of her own accord, of course. I could also see Madame Hidalgo Minister of Transport. We feel that it dominates the subject indisputably. Fabien Roussel our Communist, the last of the Mohicans, I would place him in Culture ... to take care of museums. We feel that he is more turned towards the past than towards the future. As for Zemmour, we could put him to diversity. Monday,he is with a brunette in
Paris Match
, on Friday with a blonde in Austria.
We have talents in France.
Believe me, we haven't finished laughing.
To pay the head of the politicians, it is thus the DNA, the history of the theater of the Two Donkeys ...
The greatest chansonniers and comedians have visited us for almost a century. Les Deux Ânes is the spirit of Paris. The list of witticisms who have stopped by here is impressive: Pierre Dac, Pierre-Jean Vaillard, Jean Poiret, and of course my friends Maurice Horgues and Anne-Marie Carrière. You know, it was Maurice who helped me when I started out at the Jacobean Ladder cabaret. And it was he again and the bosses of the Ten Hours theater who advised me to make fun of politicians. The audience loved it and they still love it. General de Gaulle, whom everyone today praises from Le Pen to Hidalgo, will have been the victim of the pikes of the chansonniers during his time in the presidency. It is a tradition that dates back to Molière who did notdid not hesitate to make fun of the courtiers in front of the king and therefore make fun of the king as well. And then, it's the public who decides. People come for it. It's a bit like the Throne Fair shooting range. Heads are knocked down with plastic or rag balls. It's a game of darts. The French love it because it is undoubtedly their republican side, the 89 side. At the same time, we do not put off having guillotined Louis XVI, we want to be progressive, but we keep a nostalgia for the monarchy. The French are divided between these two poles: with a right thinking left and a right which would like to return to concrete values.Heads are knocked down with plastic or rag balls. It's a game of darts. The French love it because it is undoubtedly their republican side, the 89 side. At the same time, we do not put off having guillotined Louis XVI, we want to be progressive, but we keep a nostalgia for the monarchy. The French are divided between these two poles: with a right thinking left and a right which would like to return to concrete values.Heads are knocked down with plastic or rag balls. It's a game of darts. The French love it because it is undoubtedly their republican side, the 89 side. At the same time, we do not put off having guillotined Louis XVI, we want to be progressive, but we keep a nostalgia for the monarchy. The French are divided between these two poles: with a right thinking left and a right which would like to return to concrete values.with a well-meaning left and a right that would like to return to concrete values.with a well-meaning left and a right that would like to return to concrete values.
Do you prefer the right, rather the left or rather Macron?
Rather, it is the men and women of power.
I always say that as soon as the government changes, it takes 48 hours to be in opposition.
You hardly ever hit on those who lost it.
According to the old adage we do not shoot ambulances, even if we voted Macron, we immediately become his opponent.
Do you practice
“
degenerate
”
humor
at Les Deux Ânes?
Yes, yes ... not yet deconstructed but degenerate.
(Laughter) You know I had the honor of working with an exceptional female comedian, Anne-Marie Carrière.
In this disobedient theater, donkeys and donkeys have the same rights.
In “
Élysez-Nous
”, we have two talented swashbucklers, my old friend Florence Brunold, who I'll give you a scoop, has fun with morphing.
She can change policies into a buffalo or a Komodo monitor without warning.
It is irresistible.
As for Émilie-Anne Charlotte, our youngest, she makes people laugh in songs like the authentic chansonniers of Montmartre and with a little extra, which makes all the difference, a formidable voice.
When Valéry Giscard d'Estaing came to laugh at the
Two Donkeys
in 2014
Théâtre des Deux Ânes, 100 boulevard de Clichy, 75018 Paris. From December 7, 2021 to April 29, 2022. Reserve your seats at
the Figaro ticket office.