“Ecology particularly affects me and also guides certain life choices”: actor and humorist Florent Peyre speaks

You are expected on December 7, in Montpellier, at the Corum, with your show, “Nature”, directed by Eric Meteyer and with music by Pascal Obispo, why did you choose this prism of the environment, as a backdrop ?

Because ecology is a subject that particularly touches me, which also guides certain life choices. Above all, the show tells the story of the life of an eco-friendly musical comedy troupe, on a premiere night, with this question: are they going to succeed?

But I wanted to put ecology in the background because I knew that through the tour and the promotion, it gave me a platform, a place to raise awareness if possible.

How does your relationship with the environment translate into everyday life?

By a thousand things. Already no more scooters, no more cars. I live in Paris, I do everything by bike or by public transport. I do the tour exclusively by train, never by plane. I no longer eat meat and we buy everything in bulk, no more packaging, no more plastic.

After all, no one is perfect. Otherwise you have to go and live with two cows, a goat and chickens in the depths of Ardèche. I don't go that far, but I try to do the best I can.

This theme resonates with current events at a time when Trump's victory darkens the prospects for COP29.

Yes and in the middle of two hours of entertainment, with a room full of several generations, children, teenagers, parents, grandparents, seeing everyone laughing at the same time, it also means that this message is diffused and infused and that 'they will leave with a little something, I bring my part to the building, I make my little hummingbird…

You play around twenty characters on stage, a performance that goes against the current trend of stand-up…

Completely ! As a performer but also as a spectator, I have more of an appetite for this type of show. I wanted to treat myself to a performance every evening to perform, sing, dance, play characters.

It's not in the current movement, indeed, but laughter is there at the same frequency as stand-up. And this offers a multitude of forms of laughter: pure valves of text, situation, visual gags, characters who have energy. I gave myself the show I wanted to be happy on stage.

Is the relationship with the public the same?

I don't speak directly to the audience, but I stay very connected with the room and if there is a noise, a phone ringing, I use it to do an improv with one of the characters.

Some spectators may be a little unsettled during the first two or three minutes, then their imagination kicks in and, without props, sets or costumes, they follow me on the journey of this eco-friendly musical comedy.

They see without any problem a polar bear who has picked up a Marseille accent because the ice floe has become the Côte d'Azur, or an Inuit granny who paddles while singing Celine Dion. It's very pleasant to see the audience who goes with you into this well-lit universe… In a show, the journey is made by two people.

Do you set red lines for yourself? Do you sometimes regret having gone too far, or on the contrary, do you restrain yourself to anticipate a possible controversy?

No, neither. The subjects that we wanted to address, we did it with Philippe Caverivière and Matthieu Burnel (co-authors with Florent Peyre), trying not to be clumsy. But my goal has never been to shock.

Philippe Caverivière does it every morning on RTL brilliantly. He can address all subjects, disability, illness, racism, wars and by having the people concerned face him. I am very admiring. I don't know if I would fully embrace all of these topics. Above all, I like to move people, to make them laugh as a family,

You were popularized by the show “On n'demande qu'à en rize”, on France 2. Is television still a springboard for comedians, as it has been from Philippe Bouvard to Laurent Ruquier?

Being regularly on TV or in a widely watched show always puts the spotlight on your work. But today, everyone has their own media. You still have to make it break through, but when an artist's social networks start working, it can become as powerful as TV.

We can clearly see the number of artists, especially stand-up artists, who almost never appear on TV, or not yet, and who, despite everything, fill large venues, simply because they have a lot of subscribers. Today, one feeds the other.

We have seen you in many television programs. Was it a school or an accelerator of notoriety for you?

Both. A school with We just want to laugh about it who taught me to put myself in danger, to work a lot, to write, to dare to show up with a text that may not be quite finished or a character that we have just discovered. Which means that today, I can throw myself on stage in a one-man show with very little fear. Friday, anything goes also made me work a lot on improvisation.

All experiences, like Dancing with the starsenrich you, even promotional shows, you also learn your job, because it is an exercise in its own right that you have to prepare for, to be effective. The goal is not to be recognized in the street, it's a very pleasant collateral damage, it's to be able to share my work with as many people as possible. And for that, TV and social networks are very useful.

You are also very present in Arthur's shows, who was also your producer.

He’s someone I work with regularly. And then I will never forget that with Laurent Ruquier and Catherine Barma, Arthur is one of the people who were the first to highlight my work. We still work together regularly with Arthur on new shows or fiction that he produces and it's always a pleasure.

There is another person who was important in your career, Dany Boon who initiated your first steps in cinema, in 2016, in Raid dingue.

Making your first film with Dany Boon is still huge! I did all the promotion and preview tours with him, I saw what it was like to be popular on that level and still be so accessible, he genuinely loves people, it's not not made, it's not for nothing that these films are so popular.

He then offered me his first game during the whole month he was at the Olympia. I learned a lot from him.

You also become, from November 21, the hero of a new series, in prime time, on TF1, “Commandant Saint-Barth”. How did this project come about?

It was an encounter with the character, I immediately loved this cop who arrives at the crime scene on a paradise island, in a flowered shirt, an old black leather holster, a convertible. He can't look at a corpse, he steals evidence to make totem objects, but he has this solar, positive energy and he's a great cop.

The police comedy has reinvented itself recently, from HPI to Panda, the singularity of this series lies in this new character.

Yes, police comedy is a very developed genre at the moment, but a cop who waterskis, surfs, dives, freedives, parachutes on an island, I haven't seen that in series , he can give the impression of being a bit of an I-don't-care guy, but each time he disobeys, it's to advance the investigation and then what's interesting is that returning to the island, he finds his past, his first love. And his father has been on the run for 17 years, accused of murder, but he is convinced that he is innocent, he comes back for that too.

This character is at first glance very joyful and it shines through, it's a really feel good series, family entertainment, but its little flaws make it more tasty, more complex and endearing.

And then it's a series that comes at the right time in the middle of November because we all have colds, we're cold, we're wet, there's sun, turquoise water, coconut trees, tanned skin and ultra bright smiles, it feels good!

You are currently splitting your presence, because you are also present in “Le Daron”, a series which will have a season 2, Didier Bourdon announced to us.

So much the better ! I won't be in season 2, but I filmed in the continuation of the series “Le Fil d'Ariane”, and I still have other shoots coming up, I'm very happy with this schedule very busy!