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 with shoemaking to try to create a metaphorical connection with shoemaking and the state of the world. And you’ll see where I’m going because, in reading about you, I realized that you were concerned about the fact that you have the impression, and it’s the impression that I share, that we are losing a little bit of the thread of the meaning of our lives. I think that shoemaking is also a way for you to connect to the world as well. »
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 who played in other people’s feet.
But this guy, just by a pair of shoes, is able to tell who he is 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 go and get their “cards”, if you will, they had to walk from village to village. Then, at a given moment, they would stop in a village where they needed a shoemaker and they would stay there. That meant that these people were much more open people. These were people who had left their motherland to go into exile for a while. They were people who had access to elsewhere. And people came to talk to them because they were often quite open people. In any case, that is what characterized, from what I have 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 as a human being too ” he said.
