Nomination of the Les Olivier Gala | The old guard and the next generation share the cake

Newcomer Mégan Brouillard and veteran Laurent Paquin lead, with 4 citations, in terms of nominations for the next Gala Les Olivier. On March 23, we will see as many well-established comedians as young discoveries (and a few in between) competing for one of the 22 statuettes, while Korine Côté will take charge of the evening’s entertainment .

Laurent Paquin and his fifth career production, Distracted Crocodilestand out in most of the categories rewarding the comedy shows that punctuated the last year. Thus, the 53-year-old comedian could receive the Olivier for comedy show of the year, best comedy show text, best seller, as well as director of the year.

Mégan Brouillard, who is currently presenting her first solo show Quackgrassis making its mark this year on the digital side. Its four nominations: capsule text or web sketch, capsule or web sketch, podcast humorous with script (with Josiane Aubuchon, Gabrielle Caron and Marie-Line Pitre for Fast Forward) and discovery of the year. In this last category, which has rewarded comedians over the years whose careers have subsequently flourished, four other artists are named, namely David Beaucage, Liliane Blanco-Binette, Rachelle Hélie and Sam Vigneault.

The prestigious Olivier of the year will be awarded to Mona de Grenoble, Katherine Levac, Arnaud Soly, Rosalie Vaillancourt or Mike Ward.

For the prize for humor act of the year, PO Forget, Pierre Hébert, Christine Morency, Véronique Isabel Filion and Sam Vigneault are in the running. As for the best show texts, the authors of Distracted Crocodile by Laurent Paquin,Waiting for the village party by Matthieu Pepper, by The man of my life the Katherine Levac, the MILF of Rosalie Vaillancourt and Vulnerable by Guillaume Pineault, could all earn a bronze statuette.

Besides the Distracted Crocodile by Laurent Paquin, will compete in the best show category: Marthe Laverdière, Rosalie Vaillancourt, Neev and Guillaume Pineault. For Neev and Marthe Laverdière, this is their very first career solo show. Many other emerging comedians and those at the start of their careers stand out, notably PO Forget (nominated for the humor number and the podcast without script of the year), Véronique Isabel Filion (humor act) and Liliane Blanco-Binette (discovery).

The veterans are not giving up their place either. Mike Ward, Pierre Hébert, Dominic Paquet, Mario Jean, Fabien Cloutier and Mario Jean, among others, are cited in various categories of the Main Gala as well as the Industry Gala. This first ceremony will be held at the Studio-Cabaret of Espace St-Denis. A new category, that of the Comedy Festival of the year, will be introduced. Mike Beaudoin will host the ceremony where 11 trophies will be awarded on March 23.

In the evening, the same day, during the main gala, 11 other statuettes will be presented for a 26^e edition, on the stage of the Salle Pierre-Mercure. After having contributed to the texts of the animation in 2021 and 2022, the comedian Korine Côté will take the helm of the ceremony, succeeding the duo Cathy Gauthier and Ève Côté, who hosted the 25^e Gala last year.