In addition to co-hosting the 25e Les Olivier gala with Cathy Gauthier, Eve Côté accumulates three citations, including one shared with her big brother Jean-Michel, a social worker by trade. Both talk about how comic writing was like a balm for them, following a serious accident from which they each had to recover, in their own way.
In 2014, when she left the National School of Humor, Eve Côté did not know at all which way to take the bull of her burgeoning career, how to assemble into a coherent whole the different bits of acts that she presented in the bars. His big brother Jean-Michel, always protective, then suggests that he go to their father’s hunting camp.
And this is where they will develop, in a very efficient weekend, the skeleton of what will become Eve side, the first one-woman show of La Grande Crue, nominated for an Olivier in the categories of Comedy Show of the Year and Author of the Year/Humor Show. A selection that she shares with the established authors Danis Durocher and Jean-Christian Thibodeau, but also with her brother, whose art of jokes is not at all his profession, even if he knows how to push one. one better than the majority.
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, ARCHIVES SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Eve Côté during her media premiere in February 2023
“I remember this weekend at camp as if it were yesterday,” says Eve from her side of the video screen, during a three-way conversation, Jean-Michel living in Gaspésie and her, in Montreal.
We laughed until our faces split. Sometimes, I just had a sentence in my notebook, Jean-Michel had a piece of something in his, we put it together and we went crazy.
Eve Cote
“I never thought I would one day write humor,” confides the brother, from a primary school in the municipality of Tourelle, where he works as a social worker. “But at that moment, the stars aligned. I had time to spend with my sister and I kind of needed it. »
Lose pieces
Jean-Michel had time to devote to his sister, because he was still, in 2014, rehabilitating from a serious snowmobile accident suffered in 2010 where “he lost a couple of pieces,” he said, a a gigantic understatement given the paraplegia with which he has been dealing ever since. A pipeworker in Alberta oil refineries, he will have to reorient himself professionally, but above all relearn how to live.
How long did it take before he was able to view his situation with humor?
It’s a fairly long process, because there are several bereavements to go through and because the outlook of others changes. Everything in your daily life is called into question, both on the autonomy level and on the sexual level.
Jean-Michel Côté
And what about the little sister? “I felt guilty for living my dream, for being at the School of Humor, while my brother had everything taken away from him. » Eve interrupts, wipes her eyes, laughs nervously. “I didn’t think I would be so emotional on Zoom in the morning! »
She takes back. “When I left school, including Jean-Michel in what I did was the way I found so that we could share our dreams. And it was also a balm for me. »
In the field
For Eve Côté, collaborating with her brother allowed her to stay in touch with the fabulous language of her native Gaspésie, which permeates all her media presences. Jean-Michel is in a way his Gaspé emissary, he who, thanks to his work, is called upon to visit 17 preschool and primary schools throughout the region.
“My brother is still on the field,” she exclaims.
Not only is he my personal social worker, but since he’s a guy who chats with everyone, he gets told all kinds of stories that don’t make any sense. He hears different expressions, which we seek directly from the mouths of the world.
Eve Cote
A great improv player, Jean-Michel Côté has already presented stand-up numbers (so to speak) as well as columns on Radio-Gaspésie, but does not at all envisage a career similar to that of his younger sister, well aware of all the sacrifices made by those who, like his sister, “do the workhorse for the greatness of the province”.
“But even if you wanted to get started, not all the venues would be able to accommodate you,” laments Eve.
Although the majority of venues where she plays are able to adequately accommodate spectators with disabilities, the backstage areas of these same venues, with their gloomy corridors and cramped staircases, often unfold like impassable labyrinths. “We had to carefully choose the run-ins that Jean-Michel attended, otherwise there was no way he could come and work with me in my dressing room. »
Sunday evening, if Eve and Jean-Michel win a statuette, it will be the whole of Gaspésie that will applaud, not just their native Gaspé. “Everyone here makes Eve their own,” confirms her brother, proudly. “Whether you come from Chandler or Bonaventure, Eve, she’s a [il surjoue l’accent] little space. »
The 25the Les Olivier gala is broadcast live from the Pierre-Mercure room of the Pierre-Péladeau Center this Sunday at 8 p.m. on ICI Télé, ICI Tou.tv and on Radio-Canada.ca/Olivier