“I have this bad tendency to think that Belgium is a French department with friends and cousins…”
This time you are performing at the Liège International Laughter Festival, alongside comedians.
“There, I admit a little apprehension because, in the field of humor, you are really knowledgeable. Humbly, I propose on stage the theme of change of identity. Today, it is within the reach of everyone, we do what we want! So I’m playing rejuvenated men. A hell of a program, you’ll admit.”
In “Stand Alone”, you share your childhood memories, your romantic emotions and your neuroses.
“I talk about the youth I experienced. About the love of my parents. And about something that is close to my heart.”
That’s to say?
“The end of slow songs. Yes, I’m campaigning for their return! I have a hard time understanding why it’s nicer, now, to meet via social networks, with filtered images. Before, we did the effort to invite a young woman to go dancing The distance between people was reduced because there was no screen in between. I don’t want to be the old fart who complains about all the technology, because there is. has made tremendous progress, but today, we forget the essentials. And I go even further: the closure of nightclubs is due to the absence of slow songs.
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And all this for what?
“To tell you that those who grew up in the 1980s now have the impression of living in a world without romance. At the time, we were creating hits with songs like “On va s’aimer”. there was no need to show that we were intelligent. It was relaxing. The song, in principle, is made to take you somewhere else. Nowadays, we have the impression that everything is serious all the time. This ambient gravity, people are suffocating. Help, we need air!”
For you, are today’s young people missing out on something compared to those of yesterday?
“They don’t know anything about it, poor people! They don’t have the references. Strangely, I thought I was doing a show for old people and I realize that lots of young people come and have a laugh. So, of course, everything isn’t is not to be thrown into modernity: the ban on smoking in clubs, for starters, or wearing a seat belt in the car because it can save lives… But admit, it’s not Byzantium.”
Fortunately, people laugh at your neuroses.
“I explain that when your father smoked in the car with the windows closed, he didn’t do it to kill you, he just didn’t know that it was bad for your health. At the time, everyone smoked. Even on television. Nobody knew. Everyone used the ashtrays in the car. Now they are used to put shopping cart tokens or coins! “
Comparing eras can be dangerous, right?
“Looking at the society of the past through the prism of today is a monumental error. A dismaying human blunder. But we can laugh about it. And there, people laugh, because at the time, there was a gentle unconscious madness.”
Speaking of yesterday, what do you regret?
“Kindness. It seems that kindness has become a default. The fact that there is less and less listening. Today, people are anchored in certainties, because or thanks to social networks, which only confront people who think like you. So, you no longer make the intellectual effort to listen to your opponent, to be curious about the other. This is no longer the case. case these days: people are locked into their certainties, and that creates clans.”
Are there any notable events from your youth that helped shape your personality?
“Yes, my relationship with my father. I have tears in my eyes every day. And the shows I watched on TV. At the time, the Césars or the Molières made me want to do this job. Today Today, it’s unwatchable. It no longer makes anyone dream. We prefer to follow influencers who claim that they earn a lot of money and who live outside of France without paying taxes. !”
