Funny business

Members of the popular Quebec comedy troupe Rock et Belles Oreilles. From left: Yves Pelletier, Guy A. Lepage, Chantal Francke, André Ducharme and Bruno Landry. (Yves Renaud and Yves Archambault/Les Productions JKP)

Montreal has long billed itself as the comedy capital of the world. While no comparative studies exist to verify this claim, standup comics — known as les humoristes — do seem to be everywhere in this province. Their dominant role in Quebec popular culture is glaringly apparent in the lead-up to the Just for Laughs festival, which starts July 8. Founded 25 years ago as a low-budget street festival, Just for Laughs is now a multimillion-dollar entertainment empire. The three-week event, which drew two million people last year, has spawned satellite festivals in Nantes, France (which ran March 30 to April 6) and this year, for the first time, in Toronto (July 26-28). But Just for Laughs is merely the tip of the iceberg.

Comedians are the hottest commodity in the Quebec entertainment industry: they host awards galas, write and star in movies and sitcoms and peddle cars, cellphones and groceries on every form of electronic and print media. Two screeching comics, Mario Tessier and José Gaudet, are at the helm of Quebec’s number 1 radio show, Les Grandes Gueules (The Loud Mouths). Guy A. Lepage and André Ducharme, the brains behind the hit TV talk-fest Tout le monde en parle, are co-founders of one of Quebec’s most popular comedy troupes, Rock et Belles Oreilles. In May, more than 1.5 million Quebecers tuned in to watch Les Olivier, the televised annual awards gala honouring comedians. Montreal is also home to one of North America’s only comedy schools, the École nationale de l’humour (national comedy school).

According to a 2004 study by l’Association des professionnels de l’industrie de l’humour (APIH) (association of comedy industry professionals), standup comedy is growing faster than any other performing art in Quebec. While the province’s thriving stage-show industry — which includes dance, theatre and singing acts — grew by 40 per cent between 1997 and 2001, the comedy sector ballooned by nearly 260 per cent, meaning that the number of people buying tickets for standup comedy more than tripled.

The ubiquitous presence of comedians, most of whom are white males with the same maniacal grin and women-are-from-Mars-men-are-from-Venus world view, has led to a public discussion as to whether there are too many comics in Quebec. Critics maintain that many humoristes have more to sell than to say: an article in Montreal’s French-language daily La Presse revealed that Quebec comedians can earn up to $500,000 to endorse a big-name brand.

The material most Quebec comics draw on is the “little things in life”: relationships with girlfriends and mothers-in-law or trips to the mall. With the exception of the marginal comedy troupe Les Zapartistes and the hit TV comedy Les Bougon, c’est aussi ça la vie (2004-2006), good political satire is virtually non-existent in Quebec. Comedy, particularly the self-referential type, is on the rise because we’re living in an age of emptiness, says Robert Aird, who teaches at the École nationale de l’humour and is the author of a book on the subject, Histoire de l’humour au Québec de 1945 à nos jours (A history of humour in Quebec from 1945 to the present). Like the U.S. and France, where standup is also big, Quebec is part of what European philosopher Gilles Lipovetsky refers to as the “société humoristique,” says Aird.

Comedian Louis José Houde. (Radio-Canada)

“Laughing is a way to forget our daily anxieties, but it’s also about loss of meaning. We don’t believe in science, we don’t believe in religion. We don’t know where we are going, but as we go, we are laughing,” says Aird. He believes we live in an age that doesn’t value seriousness. As a result, he says that people whom we rely on to be responsible and thoughtful, like politicians, tend to act like comedians, and comics, rather than being keen-eyed satirists, are simply banal.

Appearing on the talk show Tout le monde en parle is now a must stop for any politician in Quebec, even though meaningful debate is usually staved off by a joke from Lepage, the sharp-tongued host. Aird believes that former Parti Québécois leader André Boisclair’s decision late last year to participate in a comedy sketch about Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President George W. Bush that parodied the gay cowboy flick Brokeback Mountain is another sign of the times. “It’s like politicians think they have to prove they are entertainers,” says Aird.

He believes that the Quebec comedy scene might appear to be in overdrive because there is such a sophisticated machine in place to promote popular culture. “It’s not just comedy that’s big here. Popular music is as well, and look at the television industry. We are a minority, we need to express ourselves, for better or for worse.”

Indeed. Standup comics are simply another shiny constellation in the thriving Quebec star system. Although there are only a few hundred comedians in the province, they take up a great deal of space because there are so many outlets for them. Take the much-sought-after Louis José Houde. Last year alone, he released a DVD, hosted Quebec’s music awards show (the Gala ADISQ), had a cameo in the blockbuster Bon Cop Bad Cop, did TV spots for the Loblaws grocery chain and starred in Ici Louis José Houde, a weekly TV show. Comic Martin Matte is similarly omnipresent: he stars in a sitcom, has a role in the upcoming action flick Nitro and is the official Quebec spokesman for Honda.

Houde and Matte, like most big-name comics in Quebec, are graduates of L’École nationale de l’humour. Quebec’s film, TV and advertising industries are voracious consumers of comic talent, and every year, L’École offers up a fresh supply of new blood. Founded in 1988, L’École has produced some of the most successful comic performers and writers in the province. Unlike in the United States and English Canada, budding Quebec humoristes don’t have to duke it out for years in seedy clubs before getting a break; the school’s year-end show does a provincewide tour, including a stop at Just for Laughs. Gilbert Rozon, the founder of the festival and one of the most powerful men in Quebec entertainment, is on L’École’s board of directors.

Why do Quebecers have such a strong appetite for comedy in the first place? I put that question to comedian Guy Nantel after watching his popular one-man show, Les Vraies affaires, which bills itself as a politically incorrect look at modern life — everything from relationships to politics. Most of the act was completely lost on me; I just didn’t get the Quebec cultural references or the joual (dialect). Nantel believes Quebecers are drawn to local comedy because it speaks about their unique experience as French-speaking North Americans surrounded by a sea of English.

"I’m not sure if we’re depressed, but there’s a sense of inferiority here in Quebec. We have an internal conflict. We feel we belong to the world as a culture, but we also feel that we’re small. And we are. We are just a few million people surrounded by three hundred million [English-speaking] people.”

Montreal’s Just for Laughs festival runs July 8 to 29. Just for Laughs Toronto runs July 26 to 28.

Patricia Bailey is a Montreal-based writer and broadcaster.

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