We met comedian Julien Doquin de Saint Preux

The French-speaking comedian took to the stage for the first time during a one-off performance at the Théâtre Boulimie in Lausanne. Interview with a melancholic who makes jokes.

Arriving in Lausanne in 2012, Julien Doquin de Saint Preux, a literary baccalaureate in his pocket, a radio school, experiences on several French radio stations later, it was a job offer that convinced the comedian to pick up his backpack and leave Paris. Heading for Switzerland, with its share of apprehensions, swept aside after a month of discovering the Vaudois city.

Before becoming one of the faces and one of the voices of Couleur3, he first got his start with columns on football, where he said “a bit of shit”, according to him. But the Parisian didn’t just have radio on his mind, he felt a desire to tell stories. He exercised his pen on the airwaves of NRJ, writing sketches.

These numerous experiences between NRJ, France Bleu and Couleur3 resulted in a show, a one-off on stage which mixes melancholy and humor. Entitled “The procrastination of a man on an empty stomach”, Julien Doquin de Saint Preux passed the exam with very good honors.

Were these 10 years writing radio columns a fruitful period?
Julien Doquin de Saint Preux: Even though we did a lot of shit when I was 18-19, we had real freedom in writing. We wrote two sketches per day on the radio, with 3-4 authors. Between us, we were super creative. Well, I listened to it again and it wasn’t great. But it’s rare that a comedian finds funny what he produced 20 years ago.

Did you go a bit in the opposite direction from the Swiss comedian who wants to conquer Paris?
Before arriving in Switzerland, I did not have the ambition
to be a comedian. I was doing radio. When I listened to Couleur3, I felt a mood, a tone, poetry, a freedom. I had been unemployed for 2 years. I was ready to go anywhere. So when I come to Switzerland, I feel like a radio host. It was gradually that I felt the desire to make jokes and professionalize myself.

Is it a goal to return to Paris to perform there?
If I can play there, that’s great. But I no longer have the grinta of the 25-year-old who absolutely wants to go to Paris. It is no longer a total objective. But when you come from Panama, you still want to perform in your city.

Let’s get back to your show. I asked someone to come with me to get another look. She called it bittersweet to me.
Bittersweet, that’s a good thing. I don’t use the same terms, but they are very similar. I like the alternation of heavy and light. The show begins with a light question: he does not know what he is going to eat and digressing, the character realizes that he is on the cusp of an existential question.

Then comes the question of parenting, you have to take stock. When you are 35-40 years old, you have taken the tour of social life.

Isn’t this introspection difficult, especially since it’s your first time alone on stage?
The subject is intimate, but not exclusively personal. I’m putting myself out there assuming that many others are asking the same question. I didn’t want this show to lack modesty. And I didn’t want to dwell on aspects that are not accessible to others.

Humor should be sincere, in your opinion?
It is all the more impactful when it is sincere.

From the audience, I heard several times: “Oh, it’s very dark humor.” Is this dark humor a trait of your personality?
I don’t think so. Having seen certain comedians who specialize in black humor, I don’t like that. I would even talk about ease. It’s like opening the drawers of what should not be said. On the other hand, when it’s done in small steps, it bothers me less. That’s why I can’t define my style; I mix all genres.

Are you afraid of shocking?
I’m not afraid to shock. I never have the impression that I am going to shock, because I pay attention to certain subjects and the treatment of certain valves.

Isn’t your show a bit like a mid-life crisis?
I don’t think it’s a midlife crisis. It is rather a refusal to move on to adulthood. It’s a perception, but when we see our parents, we say to ourselves: “They’re adults.” Here I am 40 years old (red: he is 38 years old), but I feel like I’m 18 in my head.

Does it make you dizzy to be responsible?
Taking responsibility terrifies me. It’s so much easier to wallow in immaturity and shy away from commitment and responsibility. This is the spectacle of an immature person.

We feel the autobiographical dimension of the show, so we ask ourselves this question: have you grown up today?
I grew up out of obligation. But I refuse to grow up too quickly. And I see that I am growing: I am losing my hair. Losing my hair terrifies me. I can do surgery for that. Finally, by force of circumstances, we mature more than we grow.

After this first one-on-one, is it the first stage of Saint du Preux’s Julien Doquin rocket?
The first floor is being able to live from it. I make my living writing jokes. There, it was successful. I feel lucky. The second is to be able to have access to slightly more ambitious projects – film, show. Today there is the show. We made a series Okay, there you go with friends (ed: Yann Marguet, Valérie Paccaud, Yacine Nemra, Blaise Bersinger). Then, the fourth floor is to settle permanently in the landscape and to unlock projects.

You often write for others (red: 52 minutes, Color3). Do you prefer to write for others than for yourself?
For a very long time, writing for others was a disguised way of hiding my illegitimacy. To do this, I have often set up collective projects, because with several people, you take less attention and therefore you are less exposed to criticism.

But to take the next step, I had to take on a solo project. There’s nothing better than a show for that.

People say you are a perfectionist. Doesn’t the indecision that embodies you stem from perfectionism?
Yes. Afterwards, it is also the lot of a person who does not move forward. In the profession, we have constraints: I have work to submit on time. Sometimes I spend too long on texts, but we have to part with them. Once there, I told myself that it wasn’t good enough.

Does this still happen often?
I’m never happy.

It’s a good disease to always question yourself.
It has the merit of helping you progress. But on many other things, you are not making progress. It’s a job where you have to sell yourself.

Will this scene from Théâtre Boulimie boost your confidence?
Doped, no. But I’m moving forward. I feel like this is a step forward.

Your last performance ends on November 16. At the end of this experience, will you emerge from it grown?
Yes. But it’s not a show that will change my life. By doing so, I grant myself this legitimacy and a little shot of confidence when I see the room filling up.

In your show, where is the border between true and false?
There is 98% truth and 2% fiction. Why this 2%? When you tell a story in a bar, you will push certain sliders to make your interlocutor laugh, to make it accessible and to create instant images. We therefore need strong images on stage.

How does this translate during the show?
As I talk about the bachelor party, I’m going to mix my 4 experiences into one story.

Are we talking about a distortion of temporality?
Yes, that’s it.

We feel a real melancholy that emerges from your alone-on-stage, in the middle of this humor. Do you participate in the cliché of the comedian who happens to be a sad clown?
It’s a cliché that we use too often for a comedian. But for me, it is confirmed (laughter).

As I am a deeply melancholy person and my job is to make jokes, I cannot go against this stubborn cliché of the sad clown.

Why is the performance taking place exclusively in the kitchen?
My happiest memories always took place in my grandparents’ kitchen. There was life, food, smells, the radio constantly, it talked about politics; These are drawings that come to mind. When I was at school, when I went to eat every lunchtime at my grandparents’ house, I never left the room, I never went to the living room. For me, cooking embodies generosity.

In the future, is there a greater desire to persevere in humor to the detriment of comedy or is it the other way around?
I love acting. That’s why I write a lot, because if I want to be able to play, I have to have text. I write so I can perform. But if I flashforwarded 20 years, it wouldn’t just be humorous.

It’s more fun. Life is made of laughter and tears. Frédéric Recrosio, my director, even made me change things, even if they were good, to go through other emotions.

Finally, what is the inspiration for this one-on-one?
We are in an era where stand-up is being highlighted. When I saw the show by Yann Marguet or Fred Recrosio, I realized that it was still possible to do something else, with varied performances. Ricky Gervais is also an inspiration with his different projects (After Life, Derek).

Julien Doquin de Saint Preux performs on the stage of the Théâtre Boulimie until Saturday November 16.

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