I am a bit of a prisoner of my image,” Claude Meunier wisely attests. The author of The little life has ventured into dramatic comedy in recent years, trying as best he can to move away from the kind of humor that made him known. But after suffering a few failures, he finally came to terms with the idea that this is not where the public expected him to be. So, as long as you are confined to the absurd, you might as well immerse yourself in it and favor the more left-field projects that are close to your heart.
After resurrecting the Paré last fall for six episodes, Claude Meunier reconnects this time on stage with the Denuys, another equally crazy family drawn from his imagination. The Denuy brothers were created by Claude Meunier and Serge Thériault in 1976, at the time of Paul and Paul. Parodying western music, this short-lived duo is best known for classical It’s Christmascovered by none other than Céline Dion during the Christmas special of The little life in 2002.
For a long time, Claude Meunier had the fantasy of recreating an absurd country group, he being an admirer of Willie Nelson. The idea took root. Then his meeting with the musician Jean-Sébastien Chouinard, who played notably with Les Cowboys Fringants, was decisive. They will be joined by other experienced musicians, such as Jocelyn Tellier, Pierre Fortin and Gautier Marinof. Thus was born “The entire Denuy family”, a “progressed western” group originating from “old Brunswick”. Let’s just say that with the premise, the tone is set…
“We’re a bit like the Three Accords, but western. The lyrics are very absurd, but musically, it’s serious. We really worked hard to make it sound good. You can slip a humorous tone that sounds crooked into a comedy show. This is what we did in the time of Paul and Paul. But for a show lasting an hour and a quarter, that can’t be done. It has to be pleasant,” summarizes Claude Meunier, alias Noël Denuy, the singer with a touch redneck by The Denuy Family.
This relationship with the Three Agreements is very real. The group’s singer, Simon Proulx, collaborated on the first album of La Famille Denuy, which will be released this spring. Singers Mara Tremblay and Sara Dufour also took part in the project. You can even hear Serge Thériault’s voice on the backing vocals of one of the songs on the record.
A “gang trip”
Daniel Boucher wrote a play, My Sandra, but most of the texts are signed by Claude Meunier. We can also detect his humor very well in certain titles, such as Alone in my grave Or 25 years in penitentiaryin which he sings the story of a prisoner who decides to change his sexual orientation after falling in love with a fellow inmate.
To add a layer of absurdity to the project, the first series of La Famille Denuy shows at the Salle Claude-Léveillée at Place des Arts was titled “The Tour sold out running in.” The title has since been changed to “The “progressed western” tour in progress”: the public did not understand the joke and really believed that the series of concerts was sold out.
“We won’t get rich with that. It’s really a trip of gang. We don’t put pressure on ourselves. It’s really just fun. We have no expectations. So much the better if people follow us,” explains Claude Meunier, who seemed very relaxed a few days before the first show.
The co-author of cult pieces Broue And Neighbors has already experienced projects that made him quite a bit more nervous. He remembers being overcome with doubts before filming began on the new version of The little lifebroadcast since last fall on Tou.tv Extra.
“Everyone was afraid that I would screw up by bringing The little life. But I had taken 50,000 precautions. I had my texts reread plenty of times. When we rehearsed, I saw that the other actors found it funny. I was really confident until we were going to shoot. There, I really screwed up. I told myself that the actors were all my age and that perhaps that had misled me. I was reassured when I saw the reaction of the audience in the studio. People of all ages were laughing. It was as funny as before,” says Claude Meunier, who is very sensitive to bad reviews.
Recovering from failure
Critics have not spared him in recent years. They had fired red cannonballs at Detect. inc., a police comedy which was only entitled to one season on Radio-Canada in 2005, and which had even been nicknamed “Déteste inc. ” in the newspapers.
Set in a realistic setting and shot with a colossal budget for Quebec television, this series marked a strong break in tone compared to The little life. Nearly 20 years later, Claude Meunier says he understands that the shock was too great for the public. “I’ve given up on more serious projects for the moment,” he explains, continuing to think that Detect. inc. was treated unfairly, even though he admits to having made some mistakes.
Claude Meunier also makes his mea culpa aboutAdam and Eve, this comedy broadcast on Radio-Canada in 2012 which followed three couples of different ages, but played by the same two actors, Pierre-François Legendre and Sophie Cadieux. The basic idea was good, Claude Meunier remains convinced. Moreover, the concept was purchased by Fox in the United States. But he readily admits to having gotten lost along the way in this project.
“The problem is that when you work on something, you have a bit of blinders on. You don’t see the problems. It’s afterward that you realize it. But hey, if I have two projects that have worked less well in 50 years of career, I tell myself that it’s not that bad. Even Paul McCartney made albums that didn’t work,” quips the man to whom we owe the greatest success in the history of Quebec television.