Even before leaving the stage in 1997, after experiencing an unusual success, Michel Courtemanche dreamed of a show inspired by his world, imagining that performers to whom he would share his know-how in physical comedy could travel the world without him. “I was thinking of a formula similar to that of Tricicle in Catalonia, the Colombaioni in Italy, the Blue Man Group in the United States or Slava Polounine in Russia.” ComediHa! is in the process of making this wish come true by producing Michael!a creation by Daniel Brière which will tour the province before, we hope, conquering the planet.
While he has noticed a revival of visual humour in France and North Africa, Courtemanche laments the fact that very few people are doing it in Quebec. “We seriously wondered if there were still people who practiced this type of humour here. Finding artists who had already done visual sketches alone on stage, who had already told stories without speaking, it must be said that it was not easy.” But the creator and director succeeded. To select Clément Chaboche, Ugo Dario, Gabriela Jovian-Mazon, Vanessa Kneale, Annick Prémont, Philippe Thibaudeau and Alex Trahan, they drew from theatre and mime, as well as dance and circus, in Quebec and Europe.
“I passed on my technique to them,” explains the 59-year-old comedian, now an author, director and producer. “It’s a patchworkmy business. There is mime, breakdancing, cinema effects, cartoons, a lot of grimaces, a lot of emotions. All the muscles of the face are used. By teaching them my method, the codes that I have developed over the years, I understood my job better, I saw all this more clearly than ever before. I made them work a lot, got them to push their limits. Let me tell you that we are dealing with artists full of talent.
Controlled skids
Drawing in particular on Face to facethe biography of the man with a thousand and one grimaces by Jean-Yves Girard (KO éditions, 2018), Daniel Brière has constructed a narrative framework freely inspired by the incredible destiny of Michel Courtemanche, a common thread that allows him to connect together scenes that are as many reinterpretations of the comedian’s most famous numbers. “I have of course listened to all the shows, all the galas and all the television programs,” explains the director, “but it was when I read the biography that I understood that we had to start from Michel’s childhood, hence the title of the show. We had to structure everything around this way of using comedy to find one’s place in the world, to overcome life’s obstacles.”
“It took someone with perspective to do something like that,” adds Courtemanche. “I wouldn’t have managed it, I’m too involved in all of this. I hope people will identify with this part of the show, recognize themselves in the story that Daniel has created.” Having also used humor as a gateway, Brière confides that he naturally associated himself with his subject’s journey. “I’ve experienced that, too. It’s by making people laugh that I was accepted. It’s by making people laugh that I gained access to my profession. My first theater mentors made me understand that if I played the young leading man, I would be screwed after ten years. Whereas, if I was a comedian, I would work my whole life.”
There will be no question of bipolarity, drug addiction or alcoholism, problems that Courtemanche had to deal with, but the loss of control would be a key concept of the show. “We control very little,” Brière admits. “We often lose control of what we are creating, we are often even controlled by what we create. To varying degrees, it happens to all of us, to lose control of our emotions, even of our lives. Fortunately, it comes back, we regain control.”
Memorable numbers
If we are to believe what we have seen of Max-Otto Fauteux’s scenography, Marilène Bastien’s costumes and Francis Farley-Lemieux’s accessories, the stage should not lack colour and fantasy. We are promised that Courtemanche’s best-known numbers – such as The photo booth, The weightlifter, The western And Drummer — will be reinvented, dramatized, deployed in several bodies. “We find unforgettable characters,” says Brière. Only one number was discarded, that of the samurai, very popular at the time, but which could today be considered cultural appropriation, or even racism.
If the question of words does not arise in this essentially non-verbal show, the main challenge lies in the grumble, this gibberish that has the advantage of being universal and that Courtemanche used a lot. “Michel did not say anything,” explains Brière. “Managing to produce rumblings that are somehow understandable, whose intonations translate states or emotions, is not simple at all. We worked a lot on that. It requires a lot of precision.”
The friends, who have known each other since the early 2000s — when Courtemanche was making Camera Cafe and that Brière played the psychologist François-Baptiste Marois — hope that Michael! will attract a large audience. “It’s a show for the general public,” explains the creator, “a family experience filled with things to see and feel, much more than to understand.” “ComediHa! is planning an international tour,” adds the director. “It would involve doing festivals, Edinburgh, Avignon… the usual circuit for this type of show. We’re working very hard, we’re constantly making adjustments and we’re keeping our fingers crossed for the future.”