The title
When Patrick Rozon asked him to put on a show a few years ago, Jean-Sébastien Girard looked a lot for what he was going to write. “I said to myself: but what can I say that I haven’t already told The evening ? Or who hasn’t been said by a thousand other comedians? Then this song of starmania, A boy like no other, popped into his mind. And it was when he decided to use it as the title for his show that he started cleaning up his ideas and pruning everything that was superfluous. “I knew what I wanted to write from my title. It was a blessing. »
And what he ultimately wanted to tell was this: the story of this particular boy, who loved showbiz stars, who liked to dress up and host fake shows, who we got to know at The evening is (still) young. “The quest for comedians is often that of the character. And me, I am one, I exploited it for 10 years, I know all the veins. So much so that he gave him enough material to create a pure stand-up show, which he honed in break-in throughout the fall.
Important question: what is his favorite interpretation ofA boy like no other ? “That of Celine Dion. I already knew the song, but the album Dion sings Plamondon is very important in my life, and I would be lying if I said that my favorite is any version other than that. It remains mine. »
Evolution
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
The DVD set of human earth
When he wants to relax or be comforted, Jean-Sébastien Girard likes to watch old soap operas like The time of a peace Or human earth. “Partly for the second degree, also for the nostalgic side, but because I still find qualities in it. I still love it for real. In the show, these old shows, which also translated the ambient air with homophobia, racism and uninhibited sexism, allow him to measure how much things have changed. ” And that’s good. »
” In human earth, there’s a scene where a mother says her biggest fear is that her son will “go fag”. I show things like that to explain that people built themselves on it. This TV was confrontational for all the people who were different. It’s another era, yes, but it hasn’t been 100 years! »
Nostalgia
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Some vinyls
When he affirms that he does not define himself as nostalgic, his friends “howl with laughter”, says Jean-Sébastien Girard. But he persists and signs. “I am very happy now and totally in line with my times. Being interested in the past does not mean that we would prefer to live there, but it is true that at 47 years old, he sometimes seems born in the wrong era. ” A boy like no other, that’s exactly it! It is the difference of interests. I was raised by my mother and my grandmother who lived upstairs, it was very close. I have long loved what they loved. »
He admits it, if he is more contemporary in his tastes on the side of the series, the cinema or the theater, in music he listens more to “old matters” – one sees it with his selection of vinyls. ” JS Tenderness, it is not a posture. It’s really music that I listen to. I like that, Les Louanges, I recognize a lot of qualities in current music and I’m aware of what’s coming out, but it affects my sensitivity less. »
The difference
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
A Tonka truck kit
“My father hoped to make me normal with yellow Tonka construction trucks,” says Jean-Sébastien Girard during his show. “I wanted Barbies,” he explains. I have a photo of me at 5 years old with a big truck, I didn’t want it, I didn’t know what to do with it! » Truck that he had also called… Isabelle.
This feeling of not being adequate in the face of expectations is at the heart of his point – his mother gave him a small Tonka for Christmas to echo this. “The originals, I did not keep them. »
Growing up with the feeling of being different will have been fundamental for the young boy who lived with this daily feeling of not being what he should be. But what would he choose today between his singularity and a normal life? He thinks for a long time. “I would keep the life I have now. But in the next one, I might take one in the standard. A little life where I would be good at dodgeball. Yeah, I should have been for a more restful life. »
The scene
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
A bust of Molière
At the start of adulthood, Jean-Sébastien Girard discovered a passion for the theatre. “I went from Pierre Marcotte to Molière! » Registered in theater at UQAM, he quickly becomes disillusioned – « I was not good! – and, after his schooling, reoriented himself somewhat by chance towards the job of cultural researcher at Radio-Canada.
“I did this for 15 years and loved it. For real. The dream of being “in front” had taken the edge, but fate wanted it otherwise: humorous capsules allow him to be noticed by the director of The evening, who recruited him. The rest tumbled out. This first show therefore arrives after a very long detour and today, Jean-Sébastien Girard has the impression of being exactly in the right place, of having the breath, the subject and the perspective.
I couldn’t have done it 10 years ago. I had no self-mockery. It is The evening who reconciled me to all this. Before I looked at the photos of me as a teenager and I therefore found myself ridiculous. There I show them on the big screen, and we laugh about it.
Jean-Sebastien Girard
When he sees that people are there for this show that he wanted to be really funny – “I paid attention: if you feel in a conference by Jasmin Roy on bullying, it’s because I missed my shot! – it’s a bit like reclaiming his story. And he takes an amusing revenge in the form of an ode to difference.
“I would never have imagined that. “A beautiful course, yes. He bursts out laughing. “I could die, the circle is complete! I can leave. »