François Bellefeuille had a difficult time hosting the Les Olivier Gala, in 2022, which received rather mixed reviews. And he doesn’t want to relive the experience again. “I think I did it the hard way. I leave that to others,” he told What’s Up Podcast.
When the pandemic broke out, François Bellefeuille lost his bearings. “I started not feeling, I was losing my hair, I had no idea how long I was going to be without shows,” he told Jerr Allain in an episode of the podcast published Thursday on YouTube.
When the Les Olivier Gala team approached him to host the 2021 gala, the comedian did not hesitate for long. “I wasn’t doing well and I said yes because I wanted to see the positive in my life. I found that we all had to come together, comedians, to get through this. [la pandémie].»
“I found it hard”
While the first gala went rather well under the circumstances – even if there were several health restrictions to respect – François Bellefeuille agreed to come back for a second year, hoping that this time he would be able to do so. have an audience in the room. That wasn’t the case.
“Until a few days before the gala, we thought we would have an audience. When we found out that it would still be just the named comedians who could be there, it really pissed me off a lot. In addition, we were in a phase where we were tired of being in crappy conditions of shows without an audience.”
The day after the gala, the bad reviews hurt him. “I found it hard,” he admits. Even if the world said that [le problème] wasn’t my job. […] I’m not bitter about it. This whole period made me grow as a comedian. It was the first real failure I had in my career, since things were going well.”
François Bellefeuille and Jerr Allain
YouTube screenshot
Compromise
François Bellefeuille recently met Korine Côté, who will host the next Les Olivier Gala. And he’s confident she’ll do a great job. “Korine had written about the two galas that I hosted. I know how talented she is and that she has great ideas. It’s her first time and she has a knife between her teeth. She’s going to do her best to make it work.”
“I have enormous respect now for anyone who decides to host Les Olivier. It’s tough. All producers and agencies need to feel like they are well represented. - also calls for diversity. We are always making compromises. And there are also all those who are not available. It’s like you’re trying to play cards and you don’t have any deck.”
