It was an event not to be missed! Wednesday evening, on TMC, Michel Denisot was in the spotlight in prime time in the very special show Michel Denisot doesn't like birthdays. A program which also celebrated the 40th anniversary of Canal+ and the 20th anniversary of Grand Journalwhich he presented from 2004 to 2013.
Coached by Yann Barthès, his former columnist in The Grand Journal, Michel Denisot had the opportunity to look back on his years spent at the helm of the cult show on the encrypted channel, marked by great TV moments. A return to the past that the 79-year-old journalist shared with his former work colleagues, including Ariane Massenet, Mouloud Achour, Augustin TrapenardFrédéric Beigbeder and even Laurent Weil who had not made a TV appearance for over a year.
For good reason, the one who commented on the rise of the steps of the Cannes Film Festival and the Oscars ceremony for almost twenty years suffered from significant health problems. He suddenly left our small screens in the summer of 2021 and we had since only seen him again for the Cabourg Romantic Film Festival, in July 2023, where the journalist appeared furtively in a video published on the Canal+ X account .
I fought my way back
But for his friend Michel Denisot, Laurent Weil came out of his reserve. His voice somewhat weakened, he still appeared in good shape on the Yann Barthès set. And for the first time, he agreed to talk about the pain he suffered in private. Indeed, while we asked the entire team around the table what their favorite question was already asked by Michel Denisot in The Grand JournalLaurent Weil chose “Is life worth living?“. And for him to answer: “Oui ! For being in a coma for 15 days after my heart attackI fought fought to come back, to be able to express myself in front of you. So yes, you have to fight for life, to be able to take it back“.
In the show, with emotion he also declared: “Canal was very important to me. I have so many good memories and I hope I have more“. “There are 22 steps in Cannes and the 23rd is Laurent“, responded Michel Denisot.
