Meeting with the next generation of female French-speaking humor

All three come from different worlds, but nevertheless share many points in common: a passion for the stage, when a joke begins to exist on the microphone, this electric happiness of seeing laughter spread in a room, and a boundless admiration for Genevan Marina Rollman, a great figure in French-speaking female humor.

Nina Cachelin, Julie Conti and Vanessa Lépine are among these comic women (always too rare) who are taking off in French-speaking Switzerland. Still little known to the general public, they will celebrate the end of 2022 at the Théâtre du Léman in Geneva, during a stand-up evening which brings together short sketches from around fifteen local artists. The opportunity for a big stage for these young comedians.

“We all know each other a little bit in the world of French-speaking humor,” slips Julie Conti, 36 years old. Gathered together for an interview, the three young women exchange knowing smiles. They met on 100% female sets. If Julie would prefer the disappearance of these gendered events, she admits that they are still necessary to highlight female comedians.

“In regular sets, I am always the only woman,” reacts Nina Cachelin, 28 years old. These stages allow more female artists to perform.”

Women are funny too

However, there is room for women in the small world of French-speaking laughter, according to Vanessa Lépine. After taking stand-up classes, this 35-year-old Quebecer, who arrived in Switzerland 9 years ago, founded the Comedy Club 13 in Lausanne, one of the first regular Open Mics in Romandie which welcomes all those who want to try their luck on stage. “Everyone has the right to make their voice heard,” she enthuses.

However, still few women dare to get started, note the three comedians. “It’s a question of representation,” says Julie. Trained in classical theater and theatrical improvisation, alongside her part-time job in administration, the Geneva native was pregnant with her second child when she embarked on a comedy course at the Caustic Comedy Club in Carouge. “The girls from Caustic pushed me to do open stages,” confides the woman who stood out this fall during the 2022 edition of the Montreux Comedy Festival. Today I push the women I meet. And thanks to positive discrimination, which voluntarily puts them forward on stage, there are currently great opportunities to play in French-speaking Switzerland.”

For Nina Cachelin, trainer in theatrical improvisation, women’s confidence should be strengthened: “A social construction means that we question ourselves more. Myself, who has been doing improv for years, I wouldn’t have gotten into stand-up if my friends hadn’t pushed me. They opened the door to the sets for me, remembers this Geneva native, who also holds a Master’s degree in law. But I notice that women encourage each other and that more and more of them are getting started.”

The culture of stand-up is different in Quebec, as Vanessa Lépine explains to us. “The field of humor is much more developed there than in Switzerland. If many Canadian comedians inspire me, there are few big names here, because the Swiss scene is still young,” adds Vanessa. “In Switzerland, apart from Marina Rollman, I really like Brigitte Rosset, but she tends to do solo work. Or Marie-Thérèse Porchet: I love her,” reacts Julie.

Do jokes have a genre?

When Nina, Julie and Vanessa entrust us with their inspirations and exchange their favorite themes, certain common points emerge, between street harassment, relationships, dating, sex, motherhood, therapies, gender stereotypes. But when asked if there is such a thing as feminine humor, the three artists unanimously answer in the negative.

“My themes do not form a feminine axis – I even take the opposite of what one could call a feminine angle – but are simply a reflection of my personal experience,” explains Julie Conti. Afterwards, if what I say bothers, so much the better: I like criticism and my goal is to get people to react. As I work a lot with irony, she continues, I have to work on my writing so that the second degree is well understood.

For her part, Nina says that gender stereotypes persist in the world of stand-up. “When I am introduced, just before my performance, it still happens that my physique is described rather than my performance. While a boy will be “funny” or “talented”, I get the qualifiers “magnificent” or “wonderful”, regrets the artist. “At one of my first big sets, I was presented as “the charming asset of the evening,” Julie bounces back. And behind that, I released something super trashy,” she laughs. For Vanessa, sexist humor finds less and less of an audience, even if it still exists. “These kinds of remarks or misogynistic jokes are an outdated type of humor, which has not evolved. Or maybe it’s someone who’s just starting out on stage. But today the public is no longer following too much, observes the founder of Comedy Club 13. And natural selection will do its work,” she adds.

Their next news:

Nina Cachelin Currently working on a show. While waiting to find out, we will be able to admire the actress on January 21, 2023 in the theatrical improvisation show TOI&MOI in duo with Eric Lecoultre, at Les 4 Coins in Geneva, but also in the Red Apple improvisation show, inspired by the films of Quentin Tarantino, from January 11 to 15, 2023 at the Théâtre des Grottes in Geneva, and finally, she will perform at the l’Audio club in Geneva, on January 20 2023, during a stand-up evening.

Julie Conti is currently refining her first eponymous show which she will present on February 2, as well as June 21, 2023, at the Caustic Comedy Club in Carouge. She will also be at the Théâtre Saint-Gervais in Geneva, on January 12, 2023, on a Gouaille stage alongside other artists such as Julien Santini and Yoann Provenzano.

Vanessa Lépine is in the process of writing her first show, the run-in of which should begin in autumn 2023. In the meantime, she can be found on Wednesdays at the Open Mic evenings of Comedy Club 13 in Lausanne.

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Laurène Ischi is a journalist within the digital team at Tamedia. After a bachelor’s degree in literature in Lausanne, she obtained her master’s degree at the Academy of Journalism and Media of the University of Neuchâtel in 2021. She is passionate about social issues and worked for “Femina” for 4 years.More info

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