Chouchou succeeds Michou… Gad Elmaleh takes over the famous transformist cabaret in Montmartre which was in liquidation since last summer. The comedian bought the business and intends to make it “a place of comedy and humor, while keeping the soul of the place”, according to the actor’s communications department.
Every Wednesday at 4 p.m.
Receive the cultural news of the week not to be missed as well as Surveys, decryptions, portraits, trends…
Merci !
Your registration has been taken into account with the email address:
To discover all our other newsletters, go here: MyAccount
By registering, you accept the general conditions of use and our confidentiality policy.
A decision welcomed by Catherine, Michou’s niece, who did everything to relaunch the cabaret after the death of its founder, four years ago, but in vain: she railed against the Covid, the serial demonstrations and the problems of parking which caused a collapse in reservations… “Gad Elmaleh will continue to bring life to 80 rue des Martyrs, which has fallen into good hands as Michou would have liked. We would have been unfortunate if the place became anything other than a cabaret,” she told Agence France-Presse.
For her part, the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati warmly thanked the comedian for having saved “one of the most emblematic places of Montmartre and Paris”.
In fact, “Chez Michou” marked the legend of Parisian cabarets in the mid-1950s. At the time, Michel, a young Picard who had come to Paris to try his luck, took over the cabaret “Chez Madame Untel”, rue des Martyrs. The gay guy bought the walls and renamed the place “Chez Michou”, a contraction of his little nicknames: “My grandmother called me Mimi and the fiancés Chouchou, I made a mix of the two”, he said.
At Michou, Jean Poiret’s inspiration for “La Cage aux Folles”
He then decides to make it a transformist place, the place is fashionable, the whole of Paris parades: Delon, Joséphine Baker, Deneuve, Sagan, Thierry Le Luron… We come to have fun with those we don’t Don’t call the Drag queens yet and laugh at the imitations of France Gall, Bardot, Mylène Farmer and Dalida – the boss’s great friend.
There we meet Michou and his Michettes with colorful names like Phosphatine, La Grande Eugène or Lady Paic… The cabaret is so famous that it inspired the filmmaker Jean Poiret for his play The Crazy Cagea huge success of the 1970s which will have an equally popular version in the cinema with Michel Serrault in the unforgettable Zaza.
Almost 70 years later, the cabaret is preparing to open a new chapter in its history. Will there still be transvestite shows? After all, Gad Elmaleh did not hesitate to play the game in his famous film Petwho also had a great career in cinema, to the point of winning a nomination as best actor at the César Awards.
Gad’s entourage has already clarified that the name of the cabaret will change. We must therefore expect new programming, more focused on stand-up, like other Comedy clubs, which already exist in Paris and highlight young talents. Michou had already warned: his cabaret would not survive him, he predicted. But laughter remains immortal…
Related News :