Arnaud Soly in tune with the times | The Press

Revealed by social networks during the pandemic, Arnaud Soly now deploys on stage and on TV his absurd humor and his keen sense of observation. While the second season of Club Soly ends this Monday at Noovo with a one-hour Christmas special, he gives us an overview of his year, but also of the news of 2022.

Josee Lapointe

The Press

A Félix and an Olivier for the first season of Club Soly aired last year, 50,000 tickets sold for stand-up, his first show: things are going well for Arnaud Soly. But when he thinks of his year, particularly the fall during which filming and touring – around forty shows – overlapped, he sees above all that things went very quickly.

“It’s like a moving train. Let’s just say I couldn’t afford to be sick,” he tells us on the phone, straight from his basement, while his two little girls, 4 months old and 3 years old, are upstairs. . and sick. Because through all that, there is also his desire to be a good father and the guilt that sets in when he has to be absent.

“But when I’m at home, I’m completely in the moment. Everyone works too much, all parents will understand that. It’s not just the artists who experience the split between work and family, it’s just that we have atypical schedules. »

In addition to traveling a lot for its shows, the production of Club Soly is a real machine in itself. It’s that even if a large part of the sketches are shot in the summer, he is also filming every week, a question of staying glued to the news.

Club Soly thus lies somewhere between Appendices and Infoman, but what interests the comedian, a great consumer of news, is more the major trends than specific events. “That’s what we’re talking about this year, the environment, bullying, cancel culture… The things that are on everyone’s lips, the great themes that inhabit us all. I would say it’s more of a current show than a topical one. Who is of his time. »

Adrenaline

Filming every week has “the qualities of its faults”, explains Arnaud Soly. “While we’re doing the post-production of an episode, the editing, the sound design, I’m already writing with Julien Corriveau for the following week, in addition to managing social networks with the sketches of the week before. Sometimes you don’t push as far as you would like, but there is also an adrenaline that I really like. »

He could of course decide to have less “hands in”, but he recalls that the show still bears his name. “I don’t do it halfway. If I wanted to be just an actor in a show in sketches, it would not have been called Club Soly ! »

We attended, a few weeks ago, the filming of the last scene of the last episode of the regular season. Surrounded by a team of technicians, Arnaud Soly was preparing to thank viewers in several languages ​​and practiced his pronunciation very seriously.

“I want to do things well, with respect for everyone! It’s a big set and I don’t like wasting people’s time. We mess around in the job, but I like when we mess around in the rules of the art. »

If he wanted to make the transition to TV, it is also because he finds ways there that he would never have had by shooting capsules in his basement with his phone or his laptop. . “I like the immediacy of social networks and I will never stop. But on TV, there are technical means to go further. And it’s really exciting to work as a team and to put the strengths of so many people together. »

Spontaneous

A trademark of the show is the giggles of the host — and the crew! — during the sketches of the guests, of which he knows the outline, but not the details of the text. “I don’t want to know the jokes in advance. I like to keep it spontaneous, it creates a bit of magic on set. »

If it is not unanimous – “We float between the variety show and fiction, it can be confusing” – this form attracts more and more flashes of prestigious guests. Arnaud Soly can’t get over having been able to shoot with some of his idols, such as Marc Labrèche, Bruno Blanchet, Louis-José Houde or Christine Morency.

Proud of the result, he believes that the season which has just ended is better than the first, especially in its small details. “When you start making bread, you’re better the second year! »

2022 in the eye of Arnaud Soly

When we asked Arnaud Soly to choose the events that marked 2022, we expected a humorous review. It is rather a serious look that he takes on the year that is ending.

The war in Ukraine

“I watched it go up the weeks before, I thought Putin was bluffing, but afterwards, you see the images of the tanks… It really marked me. While doing this exercise, the word that came back to me with every big news was impotence. My way of doing something is to try to use humor, sometimes to denounce… Without falling into moralizing humor, you have to take a stand, attack. »

Revolts in Iran and China

“It seems like the planet — and the internet is part of that — is realizing that you can’t control and censor a people anymore. There’s a limit to what you can do. But can we talk about all these subjects in humor? “Yes, even if there are slippery subjects. But it’s not always easy to find the angle, especially when the event is recent. »

The CAQ election

“The electoral system, we talk about it at each election, but this year, it was even more convincing, the imbalance between the percentage of votes and the result. Again, it’s helplessness: it’s the party in power that makes the rules, when it should be the people. At the same time, it is complex, we have to propose solutions, and there is no perfect voting system. During the elections, we laughed a lot about the CAQ ads. I’m able to salute his good moves, but these ads, a lady in the woods who says nothing, they were so laughable…”

Inflation

“With inflation, falling stock markets and cryptos, the economy is a big topic… We feel helpless. The grocery store, the cost of living, the price of gas, it’s worrying, we get pushed around and we don’t know what to do. Sensitive to the ambient gloom, he takes the part, particularly in his show, of using humor to make people forget everyday life. “This platform is a privilege to pass on ideas, but also to make people have a good time. Art serves to make people react. You don’t come out of this show with existential questions, but I try to talk about serious issues. ” Like the farts sauce ? “Yes, but it’s a metaphor for racism! Haha! I like this double level, talking about serious subjects, but with a completely juvenile treatment. I don’t hide it. »

The Soccer World Cup

“I love sport and the World Cup is the most exciting event on the planet. At the same time, in Qatar, there is corruption, political play, thousands of deaths in the construction of stadiums, the rights of women and LGBTQ+ communities which are denied… It puts everyone in a position where no one no one knows whose fault it is, everyone passes the buck and feels guilty. But it is still money that wins and has the last word. »

The labor shortage

“There are plenty of other things that I have noted, the labor shortage, the health system…” When he looks at everything that is going wrong, what does Arnaud Soly want for 2023? “People are stuck with short-term problems. It’s hard to talk about climate change for 10 years from now when you can’t see your groceries in 10 days. It’s all the violence of the system in which we live, which puts pressure on everything, and we won’t settle that tomorrow. Hence the key word of the day: impotence. The key to all of this is education. It needs to be restored to its former glory. Not just school, but the way you raise your children, what values ​​you pass on to them, listening, tolerance, openness to others. »

But in a world where they try to make us believe that there is “really a radicalization of the left and the right”, Arnaud Soly likes to think that the majority of people “are more sensible than we think”. “It’s like inventing imaginary enemies. But we have to find a way to talk to everyone, and it’s not by shouting that we’re going to find solutions, or on social networks. Me, I like to laugh at extremes. I attack the too much, my characters are larger than life. But the real world is full of nuances. »