After flying to the United States, in order to “get off heroin“, Thierry Ardisson comes back stronger and sets up his own agency, Business where, with his partner, he creates the 8-second advertising spot. This allows advertisers who have little means to be present on TV. owes several slogans which have left their mark such as “When it’s too much, it’s Tropico!”, “Lapeyre, there aren’t two of them!”, “Chaussée aux vins, bring it on!” is dynamic!”
At first, the stars were rather reluctant about the idea of publicity. For what ?
“They all thought the publicity was bad for them. But, it depends on how it is made. I take the example of the Barilla advertising spot made by Ridley Scott with Gérard Depardieu. It didn’t harm its image at all compared to other things… We had to wait for actors from Splendid or even Valérie Lemercier to advertise, because they needed notoriety and money, to decide others.“
What’s the best ad you’ve seen so far?
“An ad for the physically disabled. The government wanted businesses to hire them. In the spot, we see a guy on a wheelchair unscrewing the cover of a television. It was written: “What you see in this picture is a television repairing a man.”. I found it grandiose. There is another one where we see red roses on a wall in the streets of New York. Over time, they begin to wither and fall off. When there is no more, we discover: ““Diamonds are forever” written on the wall.”
Before, we loved advertising. Today, we hate her. Why do you think?
“Advertising has stopped being interested in people. So people stopped being interested in advertising. Today, there is clearly a lack of creativity on the part of agencies, and a lack of freedom too. Advertisers are more timid. It’s a shame. There was also a change when advertising started cutting programs. Putting advertising between two shows is no big deal. Cutting a film to put advertising in it didn’t help. The publiphiles have become publiphobes.”
Why did you decide to stop advertising?
“By selling cottage cheese so much, we have yogurt in our heads. This is what happens when we spend our days explaining that our water is better than another when it’s the same thing. The ambition of the profession is quite limited. On TV, I interviewed people I idolized. Today, I no longer seek to advertise. I do it for fun. I recently did a spot for the Imagine Institute whose objective is to diagnose and cure genetic diseases.”
What has your career in advertising brought to that of a TV presenter?
“Advertising was my great school. It helped me on a creative level to find ideas and on a graphic level for lighting, typography or design. It also helped me to create to order, to format my interviews I started on TV by adapting. Police raidsfrom Rock&Folk magazine, on TV for TF1. I did the interviews there in interrogation mode. On paper, we interviewed gently and we rewrote violently. On TV, you had to be directly violent. J’interrogeais Karen Cheryl by threatening her with a broken glass bottle and trying to push me away, she cut her hand. The singer Yves Simon suffered a broken rib when his head was plunged into the water of a bathtub to ask him questions… We were finally arrested by the High Authority.”
You specify it in your book: you are a designer. You are constantly creating. Don’t you ever worry about missing out?
“I didn’t just have successes. I missed it too. Every time I wanted to do prime time, it didn’t work out. Quite simply because I’m not popular enough. I don’t have that sense of the great prime-time hosts who manage to make viewers believe that they are friends and that he loves them. I’m having trouble. I am more real. I stayed in the narrower domain for the second part of the evening. It was my world. Then, I switched to access.“
Despite its exceptional concept, Hotel of time will no longer be broadcast. For what ?
“Yes, it’s over. In terms of audiences, it was not a success but not a disaster either. We were still expecting double that so, we have to tell the truth, it was a disappointment. The channel bought the program with great enthusiasm, but the administration did not know in which category to put this UFO. I struggled with the CNC and Arcom. We can say that the French system did not help me. Emmanuel Macron always talks about the Start Up Nation and French Tech but I, the first to use AI, have seen nothing. Then I sold it to the United States but found myself in the middle of an actors’ strike against AI. No luck then… But, I remain very proud of this show, it is the best I have been able to do in my opinion. It got me nominated for the Emmy Awards.“
We have the impression that today, novelty no longer appeals to viewers and that they are more interested in large formats.
“There is a lack of curiosity on the part of viewers and channels. The proof is that they hardly ever hold press conferences to present their programs at the start of the season. They are no longer proud of what they do. France Télé is convinced that its mission is to beat TF1 in terms of audience, while at its core, it is to transmit knowledge and understanding.“
For you, is TV animation over?
“Yes, finished. When I was fired by Bolloré in 2019, I was offered other talk shows but I didn’t accept. Unfortunately, I’m much less interested in the people I might interview today. I’m not interested in asking questions to Slimane, Vitaa, Amel Bent or even Amir. I don’t find these people interesting. I spend time preparing for an interview and I will find myself working on people who have no interest and who, on top of that, will criticize me for my detailed work. These people don’t take responsibility for anything. They’re going to scream because I found information they didn’t want to talk about. The press officers will ask me not to talk about this or that. I will start with the subject in question. I don’t care about the consequences. If I arrived today, I wonder what I would do. My shows are based on great freedom. Today, the channels don’t want waves.“
Are you the type to make amends with flowers?
“I did it only once to Marie Gillain. She came to my set and I started my interview by talking to her about the fact that she was sleeping with her drummer. She told me she didn’t come to talk about that. And so, I told her she could leave. Which she did. The next day, I still sent him flowers. I had still gone a little far. But, as for the rest, I’m not the type to apologize.“
Soon filming in Belgium
After promoting his book, a new project will bring Thierry Ardisson, a monarchist passionate about history and pop culture, to Belgium. Called Sepultura – not to be confused with the metal group of the same name – this new program will focus on the tombs of famous people, from Napoleon III to Jim Morrison via Johnny Hallyday and even Léopold II.
However, we will have to wait until 2025 to see this program land on France Télévisions.
