The 57-year-old Belgian actor and filmmaker – the presenter of Magritte will soon be starring in the play Times Square at the Théâtre royal des Galeries in Brussels – ensures that it will not just be a France-Belgium match. “There will be Quebec, Morocco but the bankers are also there: the Swiss and the Luxembourgers!”
And in all these nations, which one does humor best?
“Quebecers still remain a safe bet. They are the inventors of the discipline or a bit like the Obelix of the improvisation league. A discipline that they even learn at school now. It’s not even an option “We use Flemish as a second language, even when you live in Bastogne, you have to learn Flemish. They have to learn improv.”
An industry?
“Yes but still with a lot of style. It’s not automatic manufacturing. It’s really an industry but they do improv as well as the Americans do cinema. It’s really impressive. With reflexes who elude us. They are a bit like the Cirque du Soleil of improv, so beating them won’t be an easy task.”
“We created a World Cup to finally beat the French!”
A prediction for the final at the Aula Magna?
“Belgium against Quebec and it will be very close. As we have a public that is a little less chauvinistic than the French public, or even than the Quebecois who are also very chauvinistic, if we are less good than them, they will not give us not the title. We have a fairer audience, so it is possible that Quebec will win, even if the World Cup is at home for us. good too but they won’t score a goal! We’re all going to compare them to Mbappé and we’re all going to get angry. get angry and I still remind you that it is the public who votes (smile) ! So I wish them courage to come and face us. These poor actors and actresses are going to pay for the last football matches where they beat us. We will avenge Youri Thielemans’ missed penalty (smile) !”
Except you won’t be a jouster this time. For what ?
“Precisely, already, because the public is likely to vote for us. Given my notoriety, I know that I have a lot of sympathy and that sometimes makes my life a little too easy. I am less diligent. And I’m not saying that It’s unfair but the World Cup of Improvisation, we fight like in a ring It’s punches below the belt and for me, it’s almost something that I like to do less. I’m more inclined to play with the public, be a bit of a mutt, etc. Although I hate this type of player and therefore I don’t want to become one. I’m still over 50 too. (he has just had an inguinal hernia operation, Editor’s note) and it is time to make way for a younger generation.”
“We don’t have to write inclusively in improv. But if you make a sexist joke, there’s an audience that will throw slippers at you!”
What do you think makes a good improv player?
“He is someone who does not find that the theatrical discipline is something sacred. He is someone who has fantasy, spontaneity, wit, spirituality and above all audacity. The good jousters are those who know the framework and who, without going beyond it, will bang their heads against it and manage to widen it. The less good jousters are those who have a narrow framework, who refuse to do so. this or that. Then he must be generous in many ways, that is to say generous with his partners and with the public. Always think that it is for the public that we do this. which cost the price of a concert ticket. We don’t have guitars or big sets. We just have guys dressed as chewing gum.
With Cécile Giroud among French jousters, do you fear that a controversy like that of the last “Grand Cactus” come to spoil the party?
“That would never happen in improv. It’s impossible to make a mistake. Because we have a big advantage in improv. We can make the same joke about the third sex. We can, without intending to, sodomize a goat! It’s not a problem. We can say angry words. We don’t have to do inclusive writing in improv because we have an immediate sentence… which is the audience. If you make a sexist joke at improv, there’s an audience who throws shoes at you. It’s always there. there is a referee who calls a foul and calls you in, even if you were very funny, and who says to you: ‘Look, jouster so-and-so, I don’t work for Gaia, but the way you sodomize goats is not something I like. So try to raise the bar a little.’ We still have referees who keep an eye on things. It’s part of the show. It’s done with humor. It is not ayatollahs who say: ‘It’s very mean what you did in terms of humor.’ We are safe from that. We are still a space of total freedom in improvisation. And we don’t censor ourselves. Never !”
