Three years after the premiere of Rita Baga, another drag queen invaded Montreal’s Olympia on Tuesday evening. But instead of going for variety, Mona from Grenoble did a pure stand-up show, in wig, makeup and high heels. His daring jokes, which were really not for chaste ears, made a hilarious audience laugh who asked for nothing better.
The atmosphere was excited when Mona from Grenoble arrived on the small platform placed on the stage of L’Olympia. After going down six steps, the “Mona! Mona! Mona!” rang out in the room.
“Ah well, chalice! You’re making me alpha happy right now,” said the drag queen.
Very fit, Alexandre Aussant, his real name, shot at everything that moved, glass of wine in hand (glasses were even hidden everywhere in his decor!). “I’m like a little dog in a bowling game!”
In a show directed by Vincent Léonard [le Denis à palettes des Denis Drolet]Mona from Grenoble put on a very effective stand-up show, reminding several times that her proposal was certainly not “a drag show!”.
And indeed, Mona from Grenoble does not sing or dance like her colleague Rita Baga. She “simply” makes jokes, but well-rehearsed ones.
The revelation with Jesus
Quickly, the comedian wonders why she dresses like one to do stand-up. “If being dressed in drag made you funnier, Guy Nantel would roll in his feathers as a sacrament!”
In her “one-Mona-show” which is aimed at those aged 18 and over, drag is surprised to find a 12-year-old spectator in the audience. “Pardon? Chalice, 12 years old! That’s when you discover that it’s not me, Arthur the Adventurer.”
After talking about the many sexual orientations in society, including some mildly funny comparisons to some kind of potato chips, Mona hits hard by talking about the time she discovered her homosexuality… by seeing images of Jesus on the cross. “He was muscular, but not too much. A lumbersexuallike Jay Du Temple before he discovered cutex.”
Well-placed vulgarity
If your ears ring when you hear certain comedians shouting, don’t go see Mona de Grenoble. Drag uses swear words like it breathes. But she accepts it completely and her vulgar comments, which are not gratuitous, hit the mark all evening.
“I find the Spray-Net dangerous. Right now, L’Olympia, I’m so flammable that I’m literally a big torch!”
In all the range of stand-up shows offered in Quebec these days, that of Mona de Grenoble stands out for its color, its originality, its delivery and its assertive words. Different stand-up that gets the party going.
Mona from Grenoble will present Window dressing almost everywhere in Quebec. For dates: monadegrenoble.com
