Did you watch Bye Bye yesterday? One thing is certain, as tradition dictates, you will talk about it or hear about it a lot.
Over the next few days, the media and social networks will be full of critiques and comments on what we liked or didn’t like about Bye Bye 2024. We will surely think about criticizing the actors, the choice of subjects, the success or not of certain imitations. There is no doubt that the bankruptcy of our health system, the third link, the setbacks of the Legault and Trudeau governments, the arrival of Trump in power, the setbacks of the Montreal Canadiens, the Northvolt saga, the setbacks of Justin Trudeau as well as references to the turpitudes of the Legault government are likely to occupy a prominent place in this end-of-year review. It’s always fun when we watch a Bye Bye show to compare the reading of the news with our own. Of course, there is also how this will be approached. One thing is certain, criticizing Bye Bye is the New Year’s Day routine. Business as usual. But if we asked ourselves, rather than playing the specialized critic of this year’s Bye Bye, where this tradition of getting together as a family to see the highlights of the year comes from.
Le Bye Bye by -
Some would rightly say that the end-of-year review, Bye Bye, is a well-established tradition, perpetuated by the Société - since 1968.
Here is the history that can be found on Wikipedia:
“The show was shown every year from 1968 to 1998. However, due to the resignation of the 1997 Bye Bye crew members, the special was not shown that year. However, a retrospective of the best Bye Bye had been broadcast. In 1998, Daniel Lemire took charge of the entire structure of Bye Bye. This was the last special until - hired Véronique Cloutier for a new format in 2003. The year 2004 having been difficult for Cloutier, - decided not to repeat the experience.
By popular demand and noting that there was no longer any television domination on New Year’s Eve, - hired the group Rock et Belles Oreilles (RBO) to design a new version of Bye Bye, that of 2006, to mark the group’s 25 years of existence. It was also RBO who designed Bye Bye 2007. However, in 2008, - turned again to Véronique Cloutier to host and produce this end-of-year television review.
Before receiving the name Bye Bye, the concept was presented under another name, Salut ’57!, broadcast on December 31, 1956, December 31, 1957 and then for three other years, from 1959 to 1961, it is the show Au p’tit café which is responsible for reviewing the year which is ending. Others like Zero driving, It’s going to burst! and Les Couche-tard were also used for end-of-year specials presented by television broadcasters.
Actress and comedian Dominique Michel has participated in no less than seventeen Bye Byes throughout her career, including the 1997 special, 30 times Bye Bye. This was his last Bye Bye.
This surely reassures those who responded that Bye Bye is a purely television tradition established by the Société -. But that’s not the whole truth. If it is true that the television Bye Bye formula comes from - and television, the tradition of current affairs reviews is a pure product of the beginnings of theater and the beginning of the stage in Montreal in the 19th century. Let’s take a closer look.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1900
The first current affairs magazines occupied a large place on the Montreal cultural scene at the beginning of the 20th century. The population took a liking to these new cultural products and there were both a working-class audience and a bourgeois audience. It is also from these current affairs magazines that a true theatrical tradition will be created in Quebec.
Current affairs reviews are heterogeneous shows composed of several sketches, songs, sketches and monologues. Generally speaking, these magazines deal with current events in the social life of the time and feature politicians and well-known personalities. There are also unusual characters invented from scratch, such as the character House for rent, Electricity scandal. As a general rule, the narrative is provided by a gossip or accomplice who tells the present audience a story using places and characters.
The best magazine of this era according to the authors is The Devil in Town by Alexandre Sylvio. The press reports this spectacle as follows: “The devil has returned to earth to realize what is happening there, given the large number of mortals he receives in his domain. He tours the city and with his two characters who accompany him, we visit the Mont-Royal Hotel, we meet standard time, the radio enthusiast, a theater, a cinema. The situations are funny and the humor is there. » Here we find the very essence of today’s Bye Bye, even if the cultural product has evolved a lot.
French roots
“These current affairs magazines have distinctly French roots. They were the main cultural attractions in Montreal from 1900 to 1930 and accompanied the arrival of modernity in Quebec. We owe the first local news magazines to French people established in Montreal such as the Delville brothers, Numa Blès and Lucien Boyer. Subsequently, we find an American influence through variety shows and burlesque. Alexandre Sylvio produced Y’en a dans in 1927. This show combines sketches, dialogues, sketches, parodies, solo or duet songs, in addition to a burlesque of modern life entitled progress in the year 50. » ( Lacasse et al., p. 103).
News magazines enjoyed immense success and were supplanted at the end of the 1930s by radio and theater which began to gain importance on the stages of Montreal. It was only towards the end of the 1950s, more precisely in 1957, that these current affairs reviews took shape again on television before becoming the Bye Bye tradition that we know so well today.
Le Bye Bye 2024
As I write this column, I don’t know if Bye Bye 2024 will be a good vintage. I know, however, that it will in all likelihood give ample space to the war in Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East, and the election of Donald Trump. It remains to be seen how we will deal with the problems of refugees and the ineffectiveness of the Parliament of Canada. I also believe that Trudeau’s holiday candy with the GST reduction will be in the spotlight. As François Legault says. We’ll see. One thing is certain, the edition of Bye Bye 2024 will be the subject of many comments from all observers, as are all television shows which still have the privilege of having an audience rating of more than a million viewers. What I do know, however, is that this Bye Bye 2024 comes from an old tradition of news magazine which in its time had to face numerous criticisms and even censorship from the Catholic Church. A Church which did not much like the light theater and the grating humor of plays like The Devil in Town. Other times, other customs, you might say.
What we must remember is that if criticism is sometimes harsh towards our cultural creators, we can at least console ourselves with the fact that we no longer have the censorship of the Church, although we now have that of ‘an irascible new left. As we begin 2025, let us remember how much freedom of expression is a dear value to us all…
HEALTH, Happiness and Prosperity for 2025!
Recommended reading:Germain Lacasse, Johanne Massé and Bethsabée Poirier, The Devil in the City, Alexandre Sylvio and The Emergence of Popular Modernity in Quebec, Montreal, Presses universitaire de Montréal, 2012, 306 p.
N. B. The text of this column has already been published, but this version has been revised.
