With the “Jamel Comedy Club”, theicon of French humor highlighted new talents while making stand-up accessible to all. “I am very proud and very happy,” confided Jamel Debbouze in Sunday Focus on RTL.
At the start, “it wasn’t my vocation, I hadn’t planned that at all”. And to continue: “Me, I come from the troop, I come from a large family, I come from solidarity. These are the associations that allowed me to do this job.“
To “go on stage alone”, the latter has had to “force” his nature. “I had a blast.” Over time, he had the “desire to be accompanied by a gang”. From this desire was born “the Jamel Comedy Club”. “At first it was really for personal enjoyment. Then I thought it would be great to have a place where you can come up at any time to play anything.”
We can have fun with everything if it's subtle, if it's well done and if it's not a burden.”
Jamel Debbouze
On stage, Jamel Debbouze has retained his energy intact, despite the weight of his years. “I don't know how to do otherwise. I've never played half-measure, otherwise I don't play.” For him, “you have to viscerally want to make people laugh to confront an audience”. To not get tired, “you have to have a fierce desire”.
Not to mention that the “energy” with which the new generations take the stage “transcends us”, he stressed. According to him, “they have this ability to not give a damn. That's what I love the most. At the start, we arrived completely free and disorderly. We didn't care what anyone thought of us.“
With the arrival of social networks, the comedian had “the feeling that there was less freedom of speech. For some time now, things have really opened up again.” Today, “certain things are no longer said.” Speaking of “ease” more than “self-censorship”. And to conclude: “There are easy things that we no longer need to do: the jokes on the big ones, on the small ones, on the physical ones. You can have fun with anything if it's subtle, if it's well done and if it's not a burden.”
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