Review of Separate but Together | Sam Cyr and Marylène Gendron, the super duo

By offering a refreshing comedy show format, Marylène Gendron and Sam Cyr highlight their individual talents while keeping ahead of what is also their strength: the union of their personalities, their hilarious and endearing dynamic.

“We’re not just little podcasters, we’re also comedians! » While they first appear together on stage for the introduction to their show, Marylène Gendron and Sam Cyr set the record straight. We now know them a lot thanks to their very popular podcast Everyone hates each otherwhere public figures come to discuss their complexes. But the duo of best friends met at the School of Humor. Their job is above all to be a comedian, they who have the opportunity to make people laugh elsewhere than on a stage.

To show that they have “more to offer” than some may believe, Marylène and Sam have concocted a show where we find them, as the title indicates, separated, but together. The formula is a winner: we have just enough of them in duet, at the very beginning, between the two solo numbers and at the very end, but also a good part of the show where everyone has the playing field to themselves, where their individuality shines.

If it is true that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, the duo formed by Marylène Gendron and Sam Cyr has the benefit of being composed of two exceptional parts.

When they are alone on stage, each brings their personal style of humor, their own way of making the crowd laugh. When they are together, when they liven up the evening by discussing everything and nothing, they demonstrate that their tandem is a great asset.

Their exchanges, while scripted, are almost as fluid as podcast regulars might expect. Their complicity sparks, their personalities are strong and blend wonderfully.

Marylène the adult

The one who insisted on being the first to present her solo number, because she is “the most welcoming”, began her monologue by addressing her obsession with getting older. Unlike many people her age, Marylène Gendron is extremely eager to be older. For her, getting older means getting better. The beginning leads her to talk about her romantic relationships (from her ex whom she put a finger in the butt to her opinion on dating applications), her friendly relationships, her current singleness, which she affirms I love it at first, but we understand that she doesn’t like it that much.

By being vulnerable, but not too vulnerable, she rehashes moments of life in a delicious way, triggering hilarity in the room. The number is crescendoing, we laugh from start to finish, more and more.

Her imitations, to laugh at the boys, but also at herself, always work with the public.

When her time was up, she described to us the fact that she would be the type to flirt with the ghost who haunts her apartment, that she said she had invented a family to place a large order at McDonald’s, that she she brilliantly imitated (one of our good laughs of the evening) a very unfunny man who is looking for a girl who laughs at his jokes… we are delighted to have gotten to know Marylène Gendron the comedian better.

Sam the modest

And it’s not over, because we are treated to a second show just after laughing with (and at) Marylène. It’s Sam’s turn to present his own humor, very different from his sidekick’s proposal. Because he does what he wants, he tells us, he begins a “maternity chronicle”, which has nothing professional, but everything hilarious.

His entire introduction centers around the fact that he is a modest man. Thus, he has difficulty “managing certain situations, especially between May and September, for example when he has to change into a swimsuit impromptu at a friend’s house.”

If the theme of his modesty colors the entire number, the comedian shows great openness. He is more crude than his colleague, while maintaining a false naivety in his tone that is endearing and always funny.

His vision of what is erotic is comically offbeat (for him, making love naked is much worse than being on stage). The passage he dedicates to recounting the years he worked at Réseau Contact made the crowd laugh. His long narration of his first sexual encounter (amusing digressions as a bonus), towards the end of the time allocated to him, is among the strongest moments of his number and even of the entire show.

The journey of his private life seems inglorious to him, he narrates it with hilarious self-deprecation. But, he concludes, he finds value in the fact that we can all laugh about it together. We completely agree.

When the time comes to meet again to conclude their fabulous show, Sam and Marylène resume their slightly offbeat tone. Marylène is disappointed to feel that her show does not make a difference for Quebec, that it is not committed. Sam finds that the cash flow that comes with it is a difference in itself. We believe that making a whole room laugh so much on a Monday evening, even without a joke, is already a pleasant service to society.

Sam Cyr and Marylène Gendron are on tour in Quebec

Visit the duo’s website