A Bye bye without Israel-Hamas war | “It’s just not funny”

THE Bye bye 2023 will cover a wide variety of topics. The Israel-Hamas war will not be one of them. No sketches are planned. No jokes either. “It’s just not funny,” says Simon Olivier Fecteau.

In an interview, the content producer and director of the popular television show adopts a more serious tone when the Middle East question is raised. He does not know how to find the “comic angle” of such a murderous and divisive conflict, which has been making headlines and generating tensions in the four corners of the world (including in Quebec) for two months.

He prefers to leave this task to the cartoonists, better placed to “send a message with an editorial point of view”, he believes. “But us, at the end of year party… No. This is extremely serious, what is happening. There are thousands of deaths. »

The war in Ukraine, which intensified when the Russian army entered the east of the country in February 2022, will receive the same treatment.

“We’re too deep into it,” explains Simon Olivier Fecteau. I don’t know what to do with this. »

Never finished

The filming of Bye ended last Thursday, a month after it began. The next few days will be devoted to editing the show, once again produced by Guillaume Lspérance (Everybody talks about it, Discussions with my parents).

Once this stage is completed, Radio-Canada’s annual humorous review will be presented – under close surveillance – to a few discussion groups of around thirty people (commonly called focus groups), to take the pulse of the public and make corrections, if necessary.

Just before our interview, Simon Olivier Fecteau spoke on the phone with Maxime Caron, the script-editor of Bye. Were they talking about the public sector employee strikes, which are monopolizing the news at the end of the year? Did they discuss the approach they wanted to take to integrate this hot but evolving issue into the 90-minute show? Impossible to know.

“This is another matter that I learned: the Bye is never finished. Yes, we write 80% of the sketches before starting filming, but there is another 20% that moves until the end. And even when we’re done filming, we continue to write. »

More serene

Simon Olivier Fecteau displays astonishing serenity before beginning this final blitz of work. Surprising, because the actor, comedian and director did not always cope well with the pressure surrounding the delivery of the Bye. In 2019, he even found himself in the hospital a few weeks before New Year’s Eve.

“I had too much weight, I was eating poorly and during filming, I had to stop to go to the emergency room. My digestive system had stopped cooperating with me. It wasn’t fun. »

Simon Olivier Fecteau often made himself sick with the show. For several years, when the pressure subsided in January, his immune system collapsed. This period seems to be over. He claims to have “got back into shape physically and mentally” in 2023, which he describes as “a year of cleaning, of clarification”. He now runs and prioritizes “good things”. “I am extremely happy to do the Bye. I am extremely focused. »

Claude Legault “top shape”

As previously announced, the Bye bye 2023 will feature Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse, Guylaine Tremblay, Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais and Claude Legault. The latter joins the team after two years of semi-absence (he appeared as François Legault in the 2022 edition) due to professional burnout.

Simon Olivier Fecteau did not hesitate to recall the actor.

“He’s in top shape. He’s never been better. It’s true. What’s fun about Claude is that beyond being funny and being a good actor, he brings depth to the characters he plays, even if it’s to make people laugh. He brings a humanity that a comedian is not necessarily capable of having because he does not have the same tools. I’m very, very happy that he came back with us. »

The COVID momentum

Once again, this new Bye will include several special appearances, an essential ingredient of a recipe that Simon Olivier Fecteau and Guillaume Lspérance have been applying since 2020, a pandemic edition that they – initially – did not want to ensure.

Since this pivotal year, each edition of the Bye records astronomical ratings. In confirmed data (which includes recordings), we are talking about 4,862,000 viewers for 2021 and 4,702,000 viewers for 2022.

“We kind of reinvented ourselves,” underlines Simon Olivier Fecteau. We’ve been working on this for three years. Every year, we knock on wood, because we never know when we might go wrong. We are never safe from failure. »

The evening of December 31

As usual, Quebec networks leave the field open to ICI Télé on New Year’s Eve. And as usual, the public broadcaster maintains (approximately) the same winning alignment.

7 p.m. | Live from New Year’s Day

France Beaudoin “kidnaps” personalities for this great 90-minute musical celebration. (Rebroadcast on 1^er January at 6:30 p.m.)

8:30 p.m. | See you next year

Philippe Laguë, Pierre Verville, Michèle Deslauriers, Dominic Paquet, Véronique Claveau and Benoit Paquette find their microphones. (Rebroadcast January 2 at 9 p.m.)

10 p.m. | Infoman 2023

Jean-René Dufort revisits the notable moments of the year 2023 with his faithful companions, MC Gilles and Chantal Lamarre. (Rebroadcast on 1^er January at 8 p.m.)

11 p.m. | Bye bye 2023

Guylaine Tremblay, Claude Legault, Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse and Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais form the main quartet of the most anticipated show of the year. (Rebroadcast on 1^er January at 9 p.m.)

12:30 a.m. | Behind the scenes of Bye bye

The team of Bye reveals the secrets behind the camera…and quite possibly some bloopers. (Rebroadcast January 2 at 7 p.m.)

1:30 a.m. | Behind the scenes of Live on New Year’s Day

A first in 13 years: cameras show behind the scenes of the biggest party musical of the year. (Rebroadcast January 2 at 6:30 p.m.)