Nowadays, when you are a comedian, at any time you have to be able to answer questions at the philosophy baccalaureate level… This is perhaps due to the fact that nowadays, the philosophers invited on the news channels do the work of comedians… But it is above all an indication that the climate has become tense. Because before, the question I was asked at festivals was: “Is Léa Salamé nice?” Now they ask me: “Can we laugh in times of war?”
In these cases, you shouldn’t give up, so I answer: “Well yes! Fortunately ! I hope so! Because if we wait for a ceasefire to make jokes, we will all die of boredom.” And you know me, on this subject, I can get carried away very quickly: “We must be able to face the news when it is dark, we must not ignore the difficulties, that would be giving up.” On this someone said to me: “For example, tomorrow is October 7, are you going to talk about it?”…
So… I think that there are enough experts to comment on what happened on October 7 so as not to have to inflict on you a humorist column on the issue… I say this for Cnews, that they Don’t bother preparing a TV banner for nothing.
But faced with the person who challenged me, how do I get out of this question? I hadn’t asked myself yet: “Can we laugh on a day of commemoration?”… “Can we laugh on October 7?”… While the question also arises for September 11, November 13, January 7, and so on… And besides, in a few years, there will perhaps not be many dates left of the calendar to make jokes.
Already there, every two weeks, we are reminded of the extent to which men are barbarians… Whereas before, they did this with a ladle: 1914-1918… 39-45… But today, “We can laugh at anything, but not with… any date on the calendar”… That is to say that not everyone is necessarily in a good mood for that… For example, if I tell you “Can we laugh on August 24?”… August 24 was St. Barthélémy’s Day. Now, when young people ask me what they need to do to become a comedian, I advise them to do a history degree.
Plus my sequence is called “Charline explodes the facts”… So I checked, April 26 will fall on a Saturday… that suits me, it’s the date of Chernobyl, that day, I don’t I’m not going to explode at all!
However, the role of humor is to bring a little lightness to drama. If that’s not clear, think about the reactions of the international community to the massacres of civilians, that will give you an idea of what lightness in the face of drama.
The Israelis have October 7, and since that day, the inhabitants of Gaza have had everything else on the calendar… But as Dove Alfon writes in her editorial in “Libé” this morning, “The massacres of October 7, 2023 were immediately designated by their date as they seemed unspeakable”… and since all its consequences too, it is the most traumatic date of the year, therefore the one which casts a damper on a discussion. Or in a radio column. Those who celebrate their birthday on October 7, now say that they were born between the 6 and 8…
There you go, I hope I did my best to face the subject and not step over it…
To conclude, I would say that clowns have always a flower in the buttonhole, and there are days when the flower is a chrysanthemum. But we will laugh tomorrow, because the day has not yet arrived when we will have to commemorate the date on which we laughed for the last time. And besides, tomorrow, we will be the “yes”!
