A Bye bye 2024 less good than its ads

Was it the Bye bye too much for Simon-Olivier Fecteau's gang, at the helm of -'s ultra-popular end-of-year review for nine years?

It seems so. Known imitations that repeat themselves, no in-house actor that stands out, mildly corrosive texts and political sketches that crumble like a Boeing in mid-flight, this Bye bye 2024 will really not be included in the honor roll of the most successful editions, far from it. This hour of TV was quickly consumed and even more quickly forgotten.

The vignettes with political connotations were the most disappointing of the major Canadian radio television event. Justin Trudeau's Survivor Ottawa (again played by Simon-Olivier Fecteau) was hyperpredictable, the end of the riddles with Pierre Poilievre (Guylaine Tremblay) stretched unnecessarily and the casino-roulette game, where Pierre Fitzgibbon (Sylvain Marcel) and François Legault (Claude Legault) bet everything on Northvolt, was not brimming with originality either.

The parody of the show The bosses! was meaner with the ugly laundry and nanny questions from host Élyse Marquis (Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse) than with the Quebec politicians, who were spared, but who could – and should – have endured more retorts. scathing. Special mention to the formidable Appendices who played the judges of -'s culinary reality show, in addition to Anne-Élisabeth Bossé who donned the clothes of Éric “my char, my choice” Duhaime.

And Geneviève Guilbault alias Beetlegen on the third link in Quebec? Ugh. Not super transcendent. The rigodon-type opening song of “Canadian evening” by Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais was his least interesting, but still contained some nice flashes, like that of the Australian breaker Raygun.

Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais shone in the segment where he portrayed the ghosts of Gilles Latulippe and Suzanne Lapointe, who haunted the neighbor of the La Tulipe cabaret, the “twit” who won the war against the noise of shows in Montreal .

The authors of the December 31 show know their popular culture and their television well, we'll give them that. The parody of the soap opera The weapons of TVA, weighed down by budget cuts (like Marco Lachance's choir in Noovo), hit the nail on the head, in addition to exploiting the confusion of viewers in the face of the military jargon used by the corporal, the commander, the colonel, Cannelle and Cottonelle.

Also had a good laugh with TVA Sports journalist Elizabeth Rancourt (Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse) forced to eat “Solvatoré” pizza – he’s our secret sponsor! – during the show of Dave Morissette (Claude Legault) about to suffer a stroke live.

The parody of the Bell Pure Fiber ads as well as the digs at the Desjardins movement, completely mixed up in its geopolitics, were funny and effective, as we like them in a Bye bye. On the other hand, Boom Desjardins' performance in a false advertisement for the aircraft manufacturer Boeing took a nosedive. Mayday!

The best imitation of the evening goes to Christine Beaulieu, who played a larger-than-life Julie Bertrand alongside a completely catatonic Réjean Tremblay (Claude Legault). A little gem. And bravo for the self-deprecation of columnist Richard Martineau, who appeared in the fake news bulletin where his prostate celebrated its liberation from his own body.

Guylaine Tremblay excels as Marthe Laverdière, but the fake show Se planter with Marthe (and Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge) had the air of déjà vu. Too bad the sketch of the two young women and the bear ended on a pee-poo-poo note. A different punch would have been more impactful.

Another great missed opportunity: Watabedford, the remake of Watatatowwhich could have gone much further in social criticism.

The eclipse song by Arnaud Soly, Julien Corriveau and Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais was fun and full of nice winks, including that of comedian Katherine Levac who texted during the big moment, as during of Justin Timberlake's show at the Bell Centre.

To talk about alpha males, the resurrection of the show Guys contract by Alexandre Champagne and Jonathan Roberge, a fairly niche reference, was a good idea on paper, less successful on screen. And we will remember What Talent? the imitation of Anne Dorval by Guylaine Tremblay and the laughter of Marie-Mai reproduced by Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse. And Jean-Sébastien Girard was good in the role of the evil judge Serge Denoncourt.

It's boring to write, but several ads from Bye bye were more surprising and pleasant than the content of the show, including those of the dog Babine from Mondou, the aunt Lisette from Toyota, The war of the sand tuques from Air Canada, the “pipigate” from Tim Hortons, the resolutions from the Metro grocer, Pacini's bread haven, Coca-Cola's homage to the Little King or the Quebec pow/pork.

The foresight of this somewhat bland evening goes to actress Rose Adam, who plays Nadia Trogi, the cinematic sister of filmmaker Ricardo Trogi. In the wrong Bye bye entrusted to Ricardo, she complains that the Bye byeit's boring, they make unfunny sketches for boomers. Then Nadia adds: “we don’t care about Bye byebecause Hugo Dumas will like it better Live from the universeanyway ».

It's difficult to contradict a young woman who is so bright, acidic and lucid.