Christophe Alévêque sees his shows “Revue de presse” and “Vieux con, la suite” (until July 21 at CineVox) as collective therapy. “People laugh harder than before, it’s like a liberation. I transform the worst into laughter so that we can distance ourselves from the news. Otherwise, it’s emotions that rule and that’s never good ” explains the former columnist of Laurent Ruquier (France Inter, France 2). “It’s the general atmosphere, not just in politics, which is extremely anxiety-provoking. I see it through my shows, I felt great anxiety, it’s frightening.”
According to Alévêque, “humor allows us to burst the boil and distance ourselves from the situation as a whole, the wars, the climate disruption, the economic situation. This is where the show has a role and is unifying, unlike political communication which, for its part, “maintains anxiety to the point of deliberately creating confusion in people’s heads.” And he added: “we are walking on our heads. Today, on the one hand, the extreme right is no longer anti-Semitic, according to them alone, it defends freedom of expression… On the other hand, 30% of airtime in all media is devoted to news items and violence. This is what drives the extreme right, and they are delighted about it. If by some misfortune they ever take power, they will have problems because they want to eradicate the violence that is their stock in trade. We are in absurdity.”
How does Christophe Alévêque view the media coverage inherent in the race for scoops, which generates stress and then disappears and leaves room for another subject that will create the same anxiety? “We are sponges and as we are saturated with anxiety-provoking information, we have no choice but to process this information with emotion.” The result of these elections is the synthesis of all of this. It is the synthesis of anger, frustration, helplessness and a general malaise. That said, the period is not uninteresting. We can observe the end of a cycle. It is up to us to see whether this end of a cycle will be virtuous or not.”
This Sunday, July 7, the evening of the second round of the legislative elections, Christophe Alévêque will announce live during his show, the results of the elections with a screen on the CinéVox stage. “In these moments, from experience, I know that it is better for us to be together than alone.”
Interview by Sarah DEVEAUX
“Old fool, the sequel” on even days and “Revue de Presse” on odd days at 6:20 p.m. at Cinévox. €18.50/26.10
