Do you think Laval’s municipal campaign is boring? It is because you do not know the Mayor of Laval.
Well… not that one.
The Mayor of Laval, whose real name is Mounir Kaddouri, is a personality apart in the small world of Quebec youtubers.
His YouTube channel has nearly 50,000 subscribers. Some of his videos have exceeded 100,000 views. He has 5.3 million since his debut two and a half years ago.
Sans parler de sa balado (Fait divers) et de ses multiples plateformes sur les réseaux sociaux, TikTok, Instagram, Twitch, alouette…
Si vous avez plus de 30 ans, possible que son nom ne vous dise rien. Mais parlez à un millénarial de votre entourage : les chances sont bonnes qu’il soit un fan.
Son succès peut paraître étonnant, vu les sujets qu’il aborde.
Alors que la plupart des youtubeurs parlent de jeux vidéo, de shampoing ou de bouffe, Mounir préfère s’épancher sur les enjeux de société, la politique et la culture populaire.
Mais son style unique et son éclectisme lui ont permis de trouver un créneau, tout particulièrement chez les 18-25 ans.
Qu’il parle de wokisme ou d’Occupation double, de la loi 21 ou de Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge, ses chroniques en ad lib font sourire et réfléchir. L’humour est son levier, il a le sens critique aiguisé. Sans parler de son franglais à la puissance 10, actuellement en vogue chez les jeunes Montréalais, qui est l’une de ses marques de commerce. No shit man, on est down avec le maire de Laval parce qu’il parle fucking bien…
Un « vulgarisateur »
Quand on lui demande s’il se voit comme un influenceur, ce sympathique gaillard à la carrure de joueur de football répond qu’il est plutôt un « vulgarisateur ». Pour lui, les sujets « triviaux » sont une porte d’entrée pour intéresser les jeunes à des enjeux plus sérieux. Occupation double un jour, Joyce Echaquan le lendemain…
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, LA PRESSE
La chaîne YouTube de Mounir Kaddouri compte près de 50 000 abonnés. Certaines de ses vidéos ont dépassé les 100 000 vues.
Apparemment, la recette fonctionne. « Je ne sens pas une diminution d’intérêt », dit-il, quand on le rencontre dans un café du quartier Villeray.
Au contraire.
Selon lui, les jeunes sont beaucoup plus politisés et curieux qu’on pourrait le penser. « C’est juste que ça ne se rend pas à eux ou que le format est une barrière, explique-t-il. D’ailleurs, quand les gens me parlent, ils me remercient de packager ça pour eux. »
Idéologiquement, Mounir se veut du reste « le plus neutre possible », bien que son jupon dépasse très souvent, à gauche de préférence.
« Je suis engagé sans être [militant] He said.
When asked about the municipal campaign in Laval, he also refuses to display his colors. But don’t hesitate to give your opinion on priority issues, starting with public transport, a problem that has lasted too long.
For the rest, he does not seem very impressed by the eight candidates, except the independent Nicolas Lemire, the only one who seems to find favor in his eyes. According to him, the departure of Gilles Vaillancourt has left a huge void in Laval, for better and for worse.
“It had always worked so much the same way that it put Laval’s political life to sleep and that it is no longer interesting for several generations,” he says.
Fundamentally Quebecois
Mounir Kaddouri, 24, was born in Laval to Moroccan parents who arrived in Quebec in 1983.
Even though he spent his holidays in Morocco and still observes Ramadan for cultural and non-spiritual reasons, he says he is “fundamentally Quebecois”.
His education is North American. He played American football, grew up watching Infoman and the Daily Show, studied at Cégep Lionel-Groulx, listened to in droves of American and Quebec rap.
Conscious “since always”, he also won a competition in 6e year, which earned him a speech at the town hall of Laval. Hence his avatar: Mayor of Laval.
This desire to communicate has never left him. In March 2019, taking advantage of a strike at UQAM, where he studied media and philosophy, he launched his first videos on YouTube. The character becomes clearer. With the help of his girlfriend, his sister or his brother, over time he develops a kind of narrative “free style”, filled with “jump cuts” which allow him to cut the fat. For him, the text is written “after”, by the magic of the editing.
After two years and more than 220 videos, we feel he is ready for a new stage. He does not hide the fact that traditional media interest him.
Amazing from a social media star. But he says it without complex: that is not where the money is. YouTube is for him only a “lever” to move up a gear. “I just have to get better at what I do. ”
Modest… but also full of confidence. Mounir knows it’s only a matter of time. He can already be seen on some Quebec radio station, crossing swords with “Pat Lag ‘” or Mathieu Bock-Côté. To comment on the news without complex, with his Frenglish and his caustic humor.
Municipal or not, the Mayor of Laval has probably not finished talking about him.
Consult Mayor of Laval’s YouTube channel Consult his Instagram account