“I wanted people to be able to see the man that I am”: Anthony Kavanagh arrives in Nice with “Happy”

Sometimes celebrities are stingy with their time. Out of necessity, in the face of an overflowing schedule. Or out of a desire to show how precious the minutes granted are. None of that at Anthony Kavanagh.

From a hotel room in Canada, where he is rehearsing a version adapted for the North American audience of his show, the comedian, presenter and voice actor for animated films has one hell of a chat.

Generous and full of energy, he will cut off the WhatsApp call after an hour and a quarter.

Substantive appeal

On stage, he also happened to have a (very) well-spoken tongue. “I had written my show before Covid. And during this period of forced rest, with my co-author, Sacha Judaszko, we continued to add things. The first date I did, in Lyon, lasted three and a half hours! In addition, it was super hot in the room… Neither for me nor for the public. Even if my friend Jérémy Ferrari, for example, manages it very well over such a long period. .”

Like Jérémy Ferrari, the one who was born 55 years ago in Greenfield Park, in Longueuil, Quebec, decided to adopt another relationship with humor. A turning point occurred in 2015 with “Showman”, his ninth solo on stage.

“We were between the one-man show and the conference. I wanted to talk about something else, I wanted people to be able to see the man that I am, that there would be something other than laughter left once the lights went out And why not make people remember certain topics mentioned a few weeks later.”

“Keys” to get well

For “Happy”, a date scheduled for October 11 at the Conservatoire national de régional, in Nice, Anthony Kavanagh used his knowledge of neuroscience and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), an alternative discipline in which he has become “master practitioner and coach”.

Should you fear the impromptu personal development session when you book your ticket? “Be careful, this is not a conference at all. When people come out, they feel good, because they had a good laugh. But there are keys. With Sacha, we looked at what the common points were among so-called happy people We have kept a dozen of these points, and I illustrate them in a cartoonish way, based on my observations.

Open floodgates, between two continents

After “more than three hundred dates between France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland”Mister Kavanagh, who returned to live in Canada five years ago, after a quarter of a century spent in Europe, therefore undertook to attack the public of his country.

And casually, this involves real mental gymnastics. “While I had lots of automatisms, I think we changed at least 30 or 40% of the show. This adaptation is essential. From one country to another, from one culture to another, you’re not going to get laughs at the same time, or for the same reasons. Depending on the country, we can be a little more aggressive or caustic than elsewhere. And then, there are all these codes, all these references, which are very important. When I started, in Montreal, I saw very big French comedy stars having monumental failures. They arrived on conquered territory, talking about their politicians or things that we didn’t know here, like the Assedic.”

And how did he manage to absorb French particularities? “I put all my money into coming to France once or twice a month. I slept in a hotel or with Pascal Légitimus, who helped me a lot. I walked around, I went to bars, I asked a thousand questions to the taxi drivers, I observed the way people walked or talked in the parks And I also asked what bad words we used here!”

> Friday October 11 at 8 p.m., at the National Regional Conservatory of Nice. From 36.23 to 41.35 euros. Rens. directoproductions.com