Un bon spectacle à Paris : A-t-on toujours raison ? Which witch are you ?

A-t-on toujours raison ? Avec Fred Blin, oui, c’est important.
Ça faisait longtemps que je n’avais pas aimé un spectacle d’humour à ce point là.
Un clown, un vrai qui se résume ainsi dans mon esprit : la fille adoptive de Monsieur et Madame Fraize a pris un détour compliqué dans la vie... cette sorcière sdf semble sortir de la rue (drôle ça “sortir de la rue”) et a peu être un peu abusé de quelques substances mais ses failles et sa beauté n’en sont que bien plus grandes.

Forcément, dans l’humour en France, quand c’est absurde on cite souvent Marc Fraize, mais il y a aussi une vraie émotion et de la poésie, cette étrange sensation que l’on retrouve rarement dans les spectacles actuels de standup, une émotion cueillie pour la première fois en tant que spectateur à l’occasion d’un show bien barré du sublime Paul Currie au Fringe en 2019.

Fred Blin est incroyable. Pur talent, entre poésie et bizarrerie parfois violente, j’ai ri comme rarement.
Je ne sais pas pourquoi ce genre de spectacle est un peu à la mode, ce genre absurde 4000, sans punchline, sans effet comique comme peut l’être parfois (souvent) le stand-up parfois un peu vu et convenu pour un aficionado comme moi ayant bouffé de façon un peu trop extrême pas loin de 140 “specials” de comedy et de stand up dont le dernier en date est celui de Louis CK au Madison Square Garden en live stream.
Oui, je peux le dire, ma culture standup est plus grande que la tienne, non ne rougit pas non.

Alors, quand un ovni se pose sur les planches, je suis souvent bon public, mais là je peux le dire, c’était extraordinaire.
Poétique, déluré, absurde, clownesque et parfaitement interprété et maîtrisé dans ses effets tout comme son art…
Un conseil : foncez… Et profitez de la sortie pour vous offrir un doux bisou de cette belle sorcière, et embrassez la pour moi.

La Parisienne, essai.

Pas sûr qu'elle passe Gare du Nord, en haut d'la rue Maubeuge, La Parisienne, l'influenceuse qui poste sur Instagram sa tenue du jour, assise à la terrasse d'un café, mode croissant, un allongé et p'tit livre activé.
Mais si ! Tu sais, couverture blanche éditions Gallimard, ça passe crème.

Elle vient pas ici elle qui circule en Uber de rendez-vous en shooting pour vendre le faux qu'elle crée les doigts sur son smartphone. Y'a des endroits de Paris curieusement qu'on les voient pas influencer le dimanche soir entre deux rayons de soleil qui se couche sur papier peint pastel. Tant mieux remarque, ça laisse encore un peu de vrai à la capitale.

Paris est une carte postale. Quelques endroits, souvent les plus beaux sont les pires.
J'ai réalisé ça avec elle, La Parisienne, entre autres, et aussi quand j'ai vu un ptit train circuler à Montmartre... put**n y'a qu'à Disneyland qu'on vois un truc pareil. Du faux, carton-pâte. Manque plus que des acteurs déguisés en parisiens... ah si, c'est elle, La Parisienne.

Celle qui fait que tout le monde se juge, se regarde se regarder à la terrasse des cafés, parler fort surtout du vide. Scène de l'enfer, jugement capital.

Moi aussi je juge, t'as une paire de StanSmith aux pieds et un sac de courses bio : t'es un en*culé.
À maubeuge on a la plus "belle vraie vue" de Paris, le sacré cœur en haut et en bas les camés et distributeurs de kit à crack.
Alors elle est où La Parisienne ?

Paris est dégueulasse, ça pue, y'a du boucan, Pandémonium, Paris est naturelle et vilaine, mais toi la Parisienne t'es pire, faussaire à vendre du vent, on le connaît ton prix, celui qui te fait vivre là-haut, dernier étage bâtiment Haussmann. La peste, elle a commencé à Paris, sur les tables des cafés où tu t'es mise en scène. Tout un marché qui vaut pleins de sous et qui a aspiré l'âme de la ville sur les réseaux.

Comment on reconstruit ce qui est détruit, par toi et les trottinettes, bah on fout tout à l'eau, on s'en balance.
Et viens pas t'engager pour la planète alors que toute ta vie repose sur le textile, please.
Allez La Parisienne, je te déteste parce que c'est moi aussi Lui, La Parisienne.

Ici j'engage, veux tu m'épouser #parisisforhaters

Louis C.K. - One night in Paris, how the french don't care if you're a pig

…‘cause we’re all made of dirt.

READ THIS ARTICLE WITH THIS IN MIND :
YOU DON’T HAVE TO AGREE,
I DON’T CARE THAT YOU DO OR DON’T,
I ONLY CARE FOR YOU AND ME BEING ABLE TO DISAGREE WITH LOVE AND RESPECT

Last week, an historical event happened in Paris.
Dimanche 21 Avril 2019, I went to see Louis C.K. at L’Européen.

As a stand-up aficionado I was so mad at myself for missing the first time C.K. was in Paris in November last year. I just came back from 2 years in London, where I started comedy, and I was going to open mics, performing in french, thinking I was “IN”. But I wasn’t, as the next day after his “under the radar” show, I saw on social media that C.K. did a gig in MY city, the one I came back to, without telling me… I was raging for having missed that opportunity to see the guy who lit comedy fire to my generation.

Notre-Dame could burn, I didn’t care that much, whereas missing Louis in France felt like a hard one, especially when comedy is your religion and Louis your second name.

So here we are, second chance, I got my ticket, I meet some fellow french comedians and we wait in the queue outside. I sneaked in a can of beer someone gave me, as if to say “here, take care of that”. I hide it in my pocket, show my bag in front of me to the security guy while covering the mischief, and we’re in.

What a night ! This gig was amazing, honest.
I won’t say much about it to keep the mystery but fuck yeah, he still got it and it was superb !
I was moved. Like when I saw Monsieur Fraize at the same place a week before.
Great comedy doesn’t make me laugh anymore, it moves me. I was thrilled he addressed the whole story, what happened last year, what broke him. He did it raw, honest, brutal, in the first 2 minutes. He killed us all, the vibe was mad. Fire in the room is easy when the audience is already so damn hot though, but still : History.

After a great Joe List warm up, C.K. entered the stage. I rarely seen so much enthusiasm and cheers, like he was a hero, coming back from war. And I smiled inside, thinking how us, the french, as great and shitty people, cowards, cocky and not really liked around the globe, were actually giving a standing ovation to a man accused of masturbating naked in front of women in hotel rooms. Ah ah, that’s a good opener !
I smiled at this idea and cheered as well because fuck you America,
he’s not Harvey Weinstein, he’s funnier.

And don’t get me wrong, I’m on Louis’ side, if there is any.
I’m on Blanche’s side as well when she decides to defend the guy.
I hate America for that prude and soft state of mind they are turning the world into. Everything is too much policed, people can’t agree to disagree, you have to reach consensus all the time and that’s hell.
And the best person to summarise the french point of view on this Louis C.K. thing is, the one and only, my mom.

Here is her view on this whole deal when I told her the story :

- “Ok maman, you have this guy, Louis C.K., he’s the N.1 comedian in the USA, hence, the world.
Then, scandal. Some female comedians say he masturbated in front of them, naked, in an hotel room. He admits. He would say to them to go up in his room to talk about comedy and tadaaa ! The truth broke out last year when his movie just got out, big loss, millions, blacklisted in America. The End… And that’s the guy I saw perform tonight Mom!
- I’m proud of you Renaud. (This part I added but thanks Mom)”

Facing this story, my mom first reaction was a sigh (soupir). She thinks these women knew what to expect, they are adult women, they know what’s happening when told to go up in the room.
What I believe my mom is trying to say is this : we are french, sex is life, part of our culture as well. We are less prude and fake about it. And knowing that, we also know that a naked man masturbating in front of you is not the same as a violent, direct, sexual assault. Let’s not put Louis C.K. and Harvey Weinstein in the same dirty basket.
Both are men, both are pigs, but it’s still different cases.

She is quite close to what Dave Chapelle has to say on this (listen), and I’d say it’s a good take on some of what the french think of these times.

And I tell her YES ! Of course these women knew…
But maybe he also used his power, his status as king of comedy, to have this situation happening. Because they were comedians, and he was the king, they were like both like “Ok, let’s go up".

Of course he is responsible, for abusing of his power, of his status. If Louis C.K. was a non famous 50 year old bald fat dude asking these ladies, they would have said “No way !” but maybe… because he was who he is, they agreed. Thinking of their comedy career and dream.

So when the show ended, and the whole room stood up for a standing ovation, I waited a for a bit, and stayed seated. Just because I couldn’t decide whereas I was comfortable to stand up for someone who used his power to take advantage of a situation and a woman. Didn’t know how to act. But I stood up finally, knowing I am not a saint, nor a devil, just a man who’s ok to accept the mistakes of other and is fine admitting he’s probably as dirty as any other man, but that’s alright as long as I’m not American.

I hope when clapping, the rest of the audience kept their critical mind as well, in order to realise he is not a hero, nor a murderer, just a really funny man who made mistakes.

He’s wrong, he’s a pig, we all are somehow, yes you too.
But he’s also a man, a dad, who doesn’t deserve to have his life destroyed for that.

And these women are victims, of course, but they are also adults, who decided to join another man in his hotel room, for selfish reason, hence their careers if we are real honest here. But celebrity and stardom blurred their mind, like it did with the parents of the kids who used to hang out with Michael Jackson…

I hereby engage, will you marry me?