“In my head, I told myself that I was going to do this once, between two tours,” recalls Louis-José Houde about the moment when he agreed, in 2006, to take the helm of the Gala de l ‘ADISQ. The comedian, met in his dressing room late Friday afternoon, had rarely been so wrong.
Small moment of confusion when we arrived at the Wilfrid-Pelletier room. “Me, it’s Josie,” the photographer tells her. “Me, it’s Louis-José,” replies the comedian, pressing “Louis”, because he understood that our colleague is called Josée. “No, not Josée, Josie,” she repeats. “Ah, Josie! Like the last song on the album Aja by Steely Dan. » A sentence that almost no one else could have uttered.
This is the obvious, but the obvious sometimes deserves to be highlighted: there were few candidates as perfect as Louis-José Houde to lead the celebration of artists and artisans from the wonderful world of music. According to what has filtered to his ears, it is a section published in The Press, in which he revealed the contents of his iPod — can it get more 2006 than that? —, which would have intrigued certain members of the ADISQ board of directors.
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
With Catherine Pogonat, in 2006
“I had chosen a few songs that were a little more off-Broadway, it was quite eclectic, and it seems that it had attracted attention,” he recalled late Friday afternoon, in his dressing room in the Wilfrid-Pelletier room, almost his second living room.
Why is he bowing out when this role suits him as well as the keys of a piano to Ariane Moffatt’s fingertips? Because the workload, especially when you refuse to do things halfway, cannot be neglected. And because every time he adds a perfect game to his record, the pressure not to spoil this flawless game increases tenfold. The year too many has arrived so quickly. He has been thinking about retiring since 2020, but the pandemic will have delayed his decision.
“It’s very, very hard on the nerves,” confides Louis-José, a reality that his back could amply tell us about. In 2021, a herniated disc, visibly endowed with a less good sense of timing that he showed up four days before the distribution of statuettes. “My therapist was there, behind the scenes, the whole time,” he explains. I was pumped full of painkillers. »
Let’s say that it’s a lot of pressure, that it’s all based on one evening.
Louis-José Houde
But it is also very much in the name of beauty that the best gala host in Quebec withdraws, more than because the possibility of making a mistake gives him the jitters. He was 28 years old in 2006, he will be 46 on Sunday when he welcomes us to the 45e edition of the ceremony.
“I find it important to leave while it’s still fun. It’s been such a major part of my life, I can’t stretch it. It has to stay beautiful, because it’s been beautiful all along,” explains the comedian.
The sign of Elvis
Louis-José Houde had just left the offices of the co-producer of the DVD of his first show when he received a call from his manager who told him that ADISQ was offering him the entertainment for its main gala. He was then not yet the established figure that he would become, only a young comedian on whom big bets were being made. His immediate predecessors: the singer Michel Rivard and the statuette thrower Guy A. Lepage.
“At that time, a DVD marked the end of a work cycle,” he recalls. I had started to write a little, but I had nothing in front of me. I was walking on Marie-Anne, my phone rang, and from where I was, I saw Ameublement Elvis. » He makes himself laugh. “I took that as a sign. »
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Louis-José Houde
The comedian had never really envisioned himself in this position – “You don’t enroll at the School of Humor to host an awards gala” – before 2003, after going to collect his trophy from the Spectacle de l’humour. ‘year — humor. He had underlined, during his thanks, the irony for a not-so-talented music graduate to win a Félix and had felt at ease in front of this community which is a bit like his own, although not quite .
His first few editions were nevertheless “really terrifying”, he recalls.
It was going well once on stage, but I always asked myself: “How come people who have enormous talent and professionalism fail while hosting a gala?” And I came to the conclusion that it was because they hadn’t familiarized themselves enough with the material. Why do we break numbers in front of a million people?
Louis-José Houde
From that moment on, he subjected his opening numbers to the same rigorous honing method as that with which he polished and adorned his own shows. The monologue you will hear on Sunday? He has already repeated it thirty times in the small confines of the Brothel. Each of his other presentations is also his own.
“That was my solution to make it no longer terrorizing: I put on some music and I think for hours about what I have to say about Robert Charlebois. What do Louis-Jean or Ariane make me think of? That’s what makes it come from my stomach when the time comes to deliver it. »
For the last time, really?
His best memories? “It’s caught in a kind of bread,” he replies. A few flashes, in bulk: the gigantic bouquet sent to her by Céline Dion and René Angélil the day after the 2008 gala, held at the Bell Centre. “It was almost a tree, that bouquet. »
In 2011 he came up with the idea of starting the evening by playing the sousaphone, a caricaturedly gigantic instrument. “Once, I was practicing alone at home and I said to myself that it would be fun if I were able to do one or two poses that were a little nanny-like at home. guitar hero, but with the sousaphone. And I found myself stuck under the sousaphone cristie, on the ground, like a ladybug on its back. This is my least glamorous ADISQ moment. »
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
With his sousaphone, in 2011
And memories of party post-gala? “After my first animation, I spoke with Jonas, who was perhaps not yet completely aware of who is who in French-speaking culture. We talk about music, the Stones, it’s going well, then he ends up asking me for my number, maybe so I can go play drums with him. And I see him in his phone writing “Patrick Huard”. » We laugh loudly. “He never called me. »
Sunday evening, Louis-José Houde will go to the end of the road and the night for the last time, in the name of champagne and showbiz, but does not rule out, without making a formal plan, returning one day to this awards ceremony with which he will inevitably remain associated. One of his heroes, Yvon Deschamps, piloted four editions, from 1980 to 1983, then four others, 10 years later, in 1993, 1994, 1996 and 1997.
What’s on his agenda when he wakes up Monday morning? Something he preferred to wait for until he had the mental space required. “I’m going to listen to the new Stones album for the first time. »