A few weeks before the presentation of his media premiere, which will indeed be held this Tuesday evening at the Olympia in Montreal, Neev learned that his producer, the Just for Laughs Group, was sheltering himself from his creditors. The comedian and his managers tell how they defused the gun placed at their head.
Like thousands of Quebecers, Neev received a notification of The Press announcing that the Just for Laughs Group was sheltering itself from its creditors. The surprise. But for Neev, the news took on something more personal: for around fifteen years, the comedian has been under contract with the flagship of Quebec laughter, which was responsible for the production of his tour No need to add sauceand whose Montreal media premiere was on the horizon.
My wife received the same notification and immediately texted me: ‟What the fuck? » Then I call Gigi [Gisèle Barry]my manager, who was in a good mood, to ask her if she had read The Press. She answers me: “What, is there an article about you? » And then afterwards, it was my parents who called me, all panicked to think that my show was canceled.
Neev
So what was going on in Neev’s head and heart? ” You know what ? It’s almost made laughable,” confides the 39-year-old Quebecer of Moroccan Jewish origin, discovered in 2009 after his friends, whom he made laugh with his anecdotes taken from his daily life as a salesman at Videotron, convinced him to go on stage at the Théâtre St-Denis, opening for Gad Elmaleh. A few months later, he signed his first comedy contract with Just for Laughs.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Neev
“They told me: you’re the next Rachid, we’re going to package you, give you authors and send you on the road,” remembers the man who was a singer-songwriter at the time. “But little by little, I discovered what the job was and I understood that I didn’t want to be a packaged comedian, but a humorous songwriter. »
Like a beam in the skull
The former philosophy student therefore had to do his classes, by increasing the number of appearances in comedy evenings as well as by warming up the audience of Louis-José Houde, for whom he has been opening since his tour Prefer November.
“There are plenty of challenges that have presented themselves on my path,” says the man whose plan was to launch his first tour in March 2020, a show for which he had begun to run, but which was going to end up in a drawer, because of a certain world event that you may remember.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Poster for Neev’s show in front of Just for Laughs headquarters in early March, before the band’s announcement
Like an emergency doctor who greets a patient with a beam in the skull, after the announcement of Just for Laughs, the survival reflex took over. I told myself: if I have to sell my house, I’m going to sell it.
Neev
He is laughing. “But hey, luckily I’ll be able to keep my house. My managers immediately reassured me by telling me that my premiere was going to take place, not to worry. »
Like in a movie
If Gisèle Barry, Neev’s manager, was behind her computer when she heard the bad news, her partner, François Simard, was on board a plane which had just taken off from Montreal, heading for Yellowknife, where he went to the Rendez-vous de la francophonie.
“I learned it right after takeoff,” he explains. I was stuck on a plane for five hours, with no internet access, and must have sent at least 150 text messages. »
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Neev with his managers, François Simard and Gisèle Barry
We ended up with a gun on the temple. We came to the end of almost 15 years of work and there was still a situation where we risked not being able to present a premiere. Let’s just say that time flies in these moments.
François Simard, manager of Neev
Veterans of the comedy industry, Gisèle Barry and François Simard both worked for Just for Laughs, at different times and in different capacities, from (respectively) 1987 and 1990. They chose fall 2023 to found their own small management agency, a question of slowing down their activities, while continuing to watch over the progress of their foals. It was then out of the question for them to have to become show producers overnight.
After the trustee estimated the costs incurred so far by Just for Laughs in order to set up and market Neev’s tour, François Simard wrote up a buyout offer on his laptop, in a car, on Highway 20, towards the capital, on the morning of the comedian’s premiere in Quebec. “It was pretty funny,” he sums up. It almost looked like a scene from a movie. »
Tie the strings
In the meantime, Gisèle Barry had contacted all the show’s collaborators in order to reassure them, while taking care not to oversolicitation the ex-employees of Just for Laughs, until then responsible for various files concerning Neev. “Let’s say that the week of the announcement, it was not the time to bombard them with questions,” she observes, while emphasizing the efforts made by bosses Patrick Rozon and Marie-Julie Larivière in order to soften the transition.
“Launching a show, holding a premiere, it’s a lot of little strings to tie,” she continues. Who has the guest list? Where are the visuals located? What to do with the poster campaign? It was also necessary to contact all the broadcasters who must host No need to add sauce until November 2025, in order to make the necessary modifications to the contracts.
A range of tasks for which the small structure of the company of Gisèle Barry and François Simard, Simone & Associés, was not prepared. “We may need help over the next few weeks,” they confirm. Especially since on Monday, Neev and his managers officially became the rights holders of his show.
Although serious competition prevails within the wonderful world of funny professionals, Neev had rarely felt so much solidarity from his community.
“Humor is like tennis: we all want to win Grand Slams,” he admits. But I received a real outpouring of support and empathy. Everyone called me because I think everyone knows that a first is like a bar mitzvah, it can’t be canceled. »
No need to add saucethis Tuesday, March 26 at the Olympia and on tour throughout Quebec
Check out their show dates