At 63 years old, the “old skinny” of RBO goes back into his memories of 30 years ago. The most recent story by Yves P. Pelletier, Are you following me?, is officially about his teenage travels around the world, but it also tells the story of fame with a good dose of self-deprecation. Discomfort, humiliations and romantic failures follow one another over 269 pages.
“Self-deprecation is part of the exercise: to be interesting, your main character must have difficulties and a lot of faults,” laughs the comedian, director, actor and screenwriter, met in a restaurant in the Plateau. Mont Royal.
We are a stone’s throw from his apartment at the time, rue Pontiac, where Yves P. Pelletier, then in his thirties, returned to take refuge between two RBO shows and three trips to the ends of the world. He lived next to the legendary couple formed by Gérald Godin and Pauline Julien, whom he secretly admired while maintaining a respectful distance from these political-cultural icons.
“Gérald” and “Pauline”, both on their last miles, are among the most moving moments of the story which runs between the years 1993 and 2004. The author picks up the thread of his book published in 2022, Disoriented, where he recounted his entry into adulthood and the entertainment industry. Ten years later, between the ages of 30 and 40, the artist learned to assert himself – he even experienced a “no phase” – but his personal life remained chaotic.
“Guided by contradictory impulses, I am difficult to follow. Humanistic narcissist, gregarious loner, charitable egoist, control freak freedom-loving, lover who avoids commitment, always here and elsewhere at the same time,” he writes.
Courage, let’s run away!
Young Yves P. Pelletier comes out of two years of therapy in the hope of achieving peace of mind. It doesn’t quite go as planned. Romantic disappointments multiply. This incorrigible romantic always thinks he has met the woman of his life, but each relationship degenerates before the honeymoon is even over.
It also chronicles the ups and downs of fame. Women follow him to his house and compete with each other to become “friends” — even if it means knocking on his door in the middle of the night. He is also the target of incessant gossip: he allegedly cheated on his girlfriend with someone, he lives a parallel existence as a homosexual, and so on.
It must be said that Yves P. Pelletier led the eventful life of an eternal childless teenager. His routine: “Aperitif at Roger’s, dinner at Conti or Pistou, digestive at Sofa. »
When things were bad, he would go to Nepal, Tibet or another exotic place. Not just to escape your problems, but to meet others. Yves P. Pelletier has the gift of making friends from all walks of life. He discusses the meaning of life with a Tibetan monk, buys a sewing machine from a family in Burma, smokes opium with a pusher in Thailand and eats seal among the Inuit.
Privileges and inclusion
“You have to travel to realize that we are privileged in Quebec,” he says. Yes, there are things to change, but we must be outraged as privileged people. It’s imperfect, but we have free hospitals and a free school system. »
The interpreter of Stromgol and Mr. Caron was part of the Artists for Sovereignty in the 1995 referendum. He would still vote Yes to a hypothetical consultation on the future of Quebec, but does not want to campaign for a cause, not even that of the “country”.
Still shaken by the unfortunate declaration of Jacques Parizeau on the evening of October 30, 1995, he advocates an inclusive vision of independence. His former neighbor Gérald Godin, who had reached out to cultural communities as a PQ MP and Minister of Immigration, inspires him to the highest degree.
“We must take care of the world, we must take into account the First Nations and respect linguistic rights [de la minorité anglophone] “, says the former teenager, who ended up finding love.
“The unwise old man”
However, don’t think that Yves P. Pelletier has calmed down: “I like that, being the old, not wise man. If I were a young RBO guy today, I would laugh at myself, the 63-year-old “mononc”! »
“The old skinny guy” (as he calls himself) has dabbled in everything and multiplied projects for three decades. Unlike his friend Guy A. Lepage, who got rich with Everybody talks about it and his series A boy a girlYves P. Pelletier made more niche choices, less profitable, but assumed.
There is no question of retirement for him at 63. “I have to keep working. I’m not Guy! I spent six months working on a documentary in Nunavut that was seen by three people, but it was one of the most beautiful projects of my life. Same thing when I went to Bollywood. I’ll do it again tomorrow morning. »