Even if she says she does not want to follow in the footsteps of Anthony Kavanagh and Stéphane Rousseau, who had great success in France, Virginie Fortin is beginning to attract the attention of a growing number of humor fans in French-speaking Europe.
The Quebec comedian has just returned from a series of fall dates in France, Belgium and Switzerland, the last of her solo show My feelingswhich she launched with us in 2022.
It was her second stay in Europe in 2024 and her fifth since 2018. From one time to the next, she notes that the interest in her is “exponential”.
“In the spring, I had the chance to be invited to the Daily [populaire émission animée par Yann Barthès sur TMC] and it got a lot of people talking about the tour. This is the reason why I returned there a second time in the same year, notably to play at the European [une salle de 350 places à Paris]», she said, in an interview with The Journal.
Initially, says Virginie Fortin, it was for the pleasure of meeting a new audience, much more than to become a big star, that she tested the French market. “I went there out of curiosity, but every time I go and it goes well, I can’t wait to go back. I’m taking it more and more seriously.”
Keep the focus
Virginie Fortin has an ace up her sleeve. As her texts have few references to Quebec culture, she does not have much adaptation work to do.
“There are a few turns of phrase that I pay attention to,” says the woman who also doesn’t want to start speaking in French.
“I don’t want to put on an accent that doesn’t belong to me, to feel that I’m completely cross-dressing and that I’m no longer Virginie. I go the little way to be understood, nothing more.”
No more stupidity for 3e spectacle
When she goes back, it will be with something new. After Christmas, Virginie Fortin will begin writing a third solo show. She wishes to present it in Quebec and Europe in 2026.
After exploring the themes of space and time in her first two creations, the comedian believes that she will continue her existential questions, but by camouflaging them further.
“I want my third show to be a little more silly in appearance, while still having Virginie’s little voice which has something to say. I often say that I do philosophical humor, but when I did improvisation, I was the idiot on duty. I was the one who shouted: “There’s someone who farted”,” explains Virginie Fortin.
“I want to make these two people coexist more skillfully on stage. I’m happy when people come out of my show and say that they thought about it, but now, I want them to say: ‘Lord, I should have brought other bobettes’,” she concludes.
