“Did you go to laughter school?”
, we usually say to those who are trying to be funny.
In September 2024, this school will come to life under the leadership of comedian Jérémy Ferrari, who will be its artistic director.
The Higher School of Laughter Arts (ESAR) program was designed by the comedian to allow 52 students who already have one foot on stage to perfect their skills over two years in the arts of laughter.
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Thanks to writing and improvisation workshops, masterclasses, rhetoric and body play courses, Jérémy Ferrari has designed all the lessons so that students can leave school with a diploma from the establishment in your pocket, as well as a one-hour written show to be performed on stage.
“You can’t learn to be funny
,” says Jérémy Ferrari.
When Frédéric Biessy, director of La Scala Paris, asked him to participate in the creation of the ESAR, the comedian said to himself:
“What a bad idea.
One more".
He finally accepted when he understood that the entrepreneur was giving him carte blanche to create
“the school of (his) dreams”
, a place where humor is not considered
“a sub-art”.
“I always hated school,”
he says.
The artist, who left high school after the second year and who abandoned Cours Florent after a year and a half, created the school what he dreamed of doing when he was 17 years old.
“In high school, I took part in the theater option course.
There was no learning dedicated to humor.”
“We do not claim to be the first humor school in France,”
explains Frédéric Biessy
.
On the other hand, we are the only one to offer teaching with so many hours of lessons on the arts of laughter,” assures the comedian.
When he performed his first sketches in Paris, when he was just an adult, he took on odd jobs to pay his rent.
“It’s a difficult job
,” he insists.
In this school,
“students will be placed in comfort.
We will support them and also warn them
about the difficulties they may encounter in their career.
In the age of social networks, artists are also subject to numerous criticisms when their sketches do not make people laugh.
“It’s very hard to be in front of a full room and not make people laugh.
We’re going to teach them how to deal with that.”
A third of the selected candidates
Very invested in the launch of this school, the man who made himself known on Laurent Ruquier's show
We only ask to laugh
will himself make the final selection of candidates.
After a pre-selection on file which begins Thursday March 14, 150 candidates will have to send a video of a five-minute comedy act.
After watching all the videos, he will select, starting April 15, 75 candidates to come and spend a two-day internship with him.
Subsequently, 52 students will be selected and divided into two classes for the start of the school year in September.
“Some will arrive already knowing what they want. And others may be like me at the time. When I was young, I wanted to do humor, write, act in films etc. I wanted to do everything.”
He assures that the school is not intended to only train actors
.
“It will also be a theater school, where we will be able to discover all the professions of performing arts,”
adds the actor.
To compose his teaching team, the comedian called on artists and academics.
Some of his friends and stage companions will also be there during masterclasses, such as comedian Arnaud Tsamère.
Registration opens Thursday March 14
The training, which requires obtaining a baccalaureate, takes place over two years.
The first year, which begins on September 30, 2024, is taught at La Scala Provence in Avignon and the second at La Scala Paris.
Selected students will have 1620 hours of courses throughout their course which will enable them to obtain an establishment diploma.
The general director of the school, Geneviève Meley-Othoniel, ensures that she will do everything possible to ensure that the training is recognized by the State in 2025. For the moment, it will allow students to accumulate 120 university credits (Bac + equivalent). 2 editor’s note).
The cost of the training amounts to 9,200 euros per year.
“I couldn't open a training course that I wouldn't even have been able to pay for when I was young
,” declares Jérémy Ferrari.
The school therefore has a budget of 100,000 euros, of which 40,000 euros were paid by SACEM, to obtain scholarships for students who are in precarious circumstances.
ESAR does not currently receive any aid from the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region and the Île-de-France region.
Frédéric Biessy will meet Valérie Pécresse next week but he assures:
“We do not want to give the feeling that without them this school will not see the light of day.
We want them to come and discover us.”