This is your first show and your first tour. How did you prepare? You made a few short trips to Brittany, didn’t you?
Paul de Saint-Sernin : “I couldn’t wait. I get messages on social media, but I want to see these people who follow me, know what they’re all about. I had written a first show and I threw it away because something happened to me last year that I really wanted to tell. During the year and a half it took to write, we went several times to Cloître-Saint-Thégonnec (29), near Morlaix, with my co-author, Grégoire Dey. I have the impression that there is something very human in Brittany. People are happy to welcome us, it’s warm. I tried all the different crepes. Now, everywhere I go, I take a wholemeal and a butter sugar to compare.
You grew up in Hauts-de-Seine, with a broker father and a bank employee mother. You were an altar boy and a scout. How did humor come into your life? And why did you decide to make it your career?
Before I was a journalist but I felt the need to say something, to show my personality. A good journalist does not give in, he must be objective. I have to have my point of view, particularly on current affairs. So I went to bars, restaurants and comedy clubs to practice stand-up. I realized the difficulty of giving in. But in this show, I manage to do it. I get naked, despite the fact that I was not raised that way. It makes it more powerful. Basically, I do therapy in front of people and they pay, not me.
We could see you on Canal+, RFI and even Téléfoot, a short-lived football channel. Today, you are “the sniper” of Léa Salamé’s show “Quelle Epoch”, on France 2. How do you approach this role?
I’ve been doing improvisation since I was little. I observe, I listen and I throw out a slightly offbeat sentence. It allows me to integrate. Today, logical links are made in my brain, it’s more pleasant. I improvise valves. I come from the stage, that’s also what the producer of the show was looking for when he contacted me. The day we shoot the “test” episode, there is no audience, no guests and I have a series of flops. I told myself I was going to stop, but the producer managed to convince me and he did well! This show changed my life.
-Your show has the feel of introspection: first romantic disillusionments, harassment situations… What do you want to make people laugh about through 1 hour 15 minutes of one man show?
The most important thing is that I want to laugh and so do people. In this show, I understand the problem of finding one’s place, the social difference and the functioning or reaction of certain people to certain contexts. There is no topic I don’t want to discuss. I use self-deprecation a lot for the audience to identify with. The people who come to see me come from all walks of life. There is Rayan, dressed in a Chelsea tracksuit, and Colette, faithful to “Quelle époque”. That represents me quite a bit. The goal is to make them both laugh. I have trouble remembering my childhood anecdotes but no difficulty recounting them. Everything I say, I experienced it. If we can laugh at a funeral, the quality of the laughter will be all the more important.
*January 30, 2025, in Pontivy (56), April 19, 2025, in Inzinzac-Lochrist (56). Reservations: https://snipfeed.co/pauldesaintsernin
