On Friday evening, comedian Patrick Hivon discussed his love of shoemaking with Christian Bégin at Y’a du monde à messe.
He explains that he learned the trade with a certain Jean-Claude, who agreed to share his knowledge with him.
The host asked the following question: “ We start from shoemaking to try to create a metaphorical link with shoemaking and the state of the world. And you’re going to see me coming because, reading about you, I realized that you were concerned by the fact that you have the impression, and this is the impression that I share, that we are in the process of to lose the thread of the meaning of our lives a little. I think shoemaking is also a way for you to connect with the world too. »
The actor was hit hard by the question. It even took him several seconds to regain his senses.
« I asked Jean-Claude, I said: “How was it seen to be a shoemaker at the time, when you started?” because he started at the age of 12. Then he told me that it was seen as ordinary because it was people playing at other people’s feet.
But this guy, just by a pair of shoes, is able to tell who he’s dealing with. He has a much deeper knowledge than just repairing shoes. And I had also read – I always need to do a little research – that in the past, to get their “cards”, so to speak, they had to walk from village to village. Then, at one point, they stopped in a village where they needed a shoemaker and they stayed there. It made these people much more open people. These are people who had left their motherland to go into exile for a little while. They were people who had access to elsewhere. And people came to talk with them because they were often quite open people. In any case, this is what characterized, from what I read, the shoemaker’s profession. »
He adds : ” I find that Jean-Claude, […] he has knowledge and intelligence… He hasn’t fallen into anything extreme. He doesn’t have fixed ideas. However, he is 85 years old and I talk to him as if he were my age. And sometimes, he surpasses me in openness. And he is still a child. Make that that’s what is beautiful. »
At the end of the interview, Christian Bégin thanks the guest for his generosity. What you are as an actor, you are also as a human being. “, he said.
