“Coluche Inoubliable”, a Paris Match special edition

There are figures that grow over time, as if distance reveals their true stature. Coluche is one of them. Nearly forty years after his death, his name remains engraved in the collective memory. The Restos du Cœur, which he created a few months before his death, (still) feed millions of people. The “Coluche law” allows French people to tax-free their donations to charitable associations. Dozens of schools, streets and squares bear his name. Even an asteroid, named “Coluche”, perpetuates his memory in space. Current singers (Orelsan, Sofiane, Soprano, etc.) refer to him in their writings. But, apart from “Tchao pantin”, who still watches his films, who listens to his sketches, so funny in the past and irremediably dated today?

However, Coluche revolutionized humor in France. Before him, laughter was still largely restricted within the conventions of traditional music hall. With his overalls, his crude language and his provocations, he brought a wind of freedom to the profession. His influence can still be seen on many contemporary comedians and on French society, more generally.

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The actor was much more than just an entertainer. He embodied, better than anyone, the universal figure of the king’s jester. The one who, under the guise of making people laugh, has the privilege of telling the powerful their four truths. A unique position, which allowed him to castigate the left as well as the right, the bosses as well as the unions, the cops as well as the thugs. “I am neither for nor against, quite the contrary,” he summed up in a formula that has become cult. This posture was not just a pose. The son of an Italian immigrant and a florist, raised in the Paris suburbs, he was intimately familiar with the reality of the working classes. But his intelligence and talent also opened the doors to intellectual elites for him. This double recognition, by the people and by the establishment, gave him rare moral authority.

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His uncompromising view of society left a lasting impression. Beyond the laughter, his sketches denounced stupidity, ordinary racism or the hypocrisy of the elites. His presidential candidacy, launched as a joke, revealed the deep democratic malaise of his time. When, in 1985, on Europe 1, he launched an appeal to offer food to the poorest, he did not want to create yet another charitable association. With the Restos du Cœur, he invents a new form of solidarity, direct, effective and without ideological fuss. To the wise…

His social conscience and his freedom of tone make Coluche a figure without equivalent in the current media landscape. While public speech is increasingly smooth and formatted, comedians are required to choose their side, his independence of mind appears as an unattainable model. And the tributes paid to him, when he would have been 80 years old this year, undoubtedly betray a certain nostalgia for this era when we could still laugh at everything, with everyone.

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“It’s the story of a guy…” who achieved the feat of being more popular dead than alive. A guy whose absence, paradoxically, no longer makes anyone laugh.

“Unforgettable Coluche”

Discover our special issue “Coluche Inoubliable”, 92 pages of exclusive photos and reports dedicated to the actor, available at your newsagent and on our online store.