Daniel Lemire is generally rare on red carpets, but the esteemed comedian wouldn’t have missed the show’s premiere for anything Yvon Deschamps talks about the shop (see or review our photos from the event here).
First, because he knows people working on production, in the technical team. Then, because Yvon Deschamps is his great friend, for a long time.
The two men have of course worked together on several occasions during their successful careers, notably at Parliamentary and at the Just for Laughs festival, Daniel Lemire told us. He was also formerly very involved with the Yvon Deschamps Centre-Sud Foundation, which supports activity programs intended for disadvantaged young people in this Montreal neighborhood.
But, it is above all in their private lives that the two sacred monsters of humor maintain a beautiful relationship.
“We eat together occasionally. I consider myself very lucky to have him as a friend!” confided to our journalist Daniel Lemire, who humbly brushes aside the comparison when it is pointed out to him that he is most certainly the first of the heirs of the immense cultural legacy of Yvon Deschamps, one of his first spiritual descendants.
“It’s nice, but we’re not on the same level too much,” laughed the artist who is celebrating his 69th birthday these days (October 10).
“Yvon is someone larger than life. And that’s not my case. I consider myself extremely lucky to have him as a friend. We often have dinners, we laugh, we chat and we remake the world. And… it doesn’t work all the time! (laughs)”
Daniel Lemire resumed his tour a few days ago Daniel Lemire – 40 years of careera show which could be his last and which he has been presenting for almost two years now. This meeting also allowed him to have a wonderful experience a few weeks ago, about which he speaks with great emotion.
“I went to do a show for the Innu community in Schefferville,” he told us, with a look of wonder in his eyes.
“Look, I’m stuck to the ceiling again! It was extraordinary! They are so nice…”
Recalling the title of the work The laughing people: Tribute to my Innu friendsby the late Serge Bouchard and the writer Marie-Christine Lévesque, Daniel Lemire clarified to what extent the spectators met in Schefferville constituted an enthusiastic and generous audience, despite the social problems that can tear certain indigenous communities apart. This visit by Daniel Lemire to the North Shore took place in a festive context, while the population celebrated the inauguration of a Yurt for young people fighting against addictions in Matimekush Lac-John. Commander Robert Piché and actor Denis Bouchard (who directed Lemire’s show) were also there.
“I didn’t think I would be so well known by them. But they are so thin! Silks. It was… Wow!” Daniel Lemire said again.
Finally, on the health side, how is the interpreter of Uncle Georges and Ronnie Dubé doing?
“Not worse! Uncle is getting old…”, he simply replied, his sentence culminating in a chuckle of his unique laugh.
You can read or reread here the review by Yvon Deschamps recounts the shop, a large fresco celebrating the work of Deschamps through various disciplines, such as song, dance and the circus.
