An essential step in the creation of a show, running in humor takes more and more different forms. An attempt at clarification, on the eve of a summer when stars of laughter will be numerous to try out new jokes.
Separation. Self-confidence. Solitude. Kijiji. Anxiety. Montreal Metro. Ski. Massage. Paul McCartney. On a large whiteboard, Guillaume Pineault has written a series of seemingly unrelated words, but which will weave part of the fabric of his next show.
During what he calls his white board challenges, the comedian asks his audience to choose from among the themes at his disposal the one in which he wishes to hear him dive first. And so on, until the end of the evening.
“If I had written my number on friendship at home, on my computer, I think it might have given a beautiful poem, he quips. Whereas when I’m in front of people, my brain takes me to areas of my mind that don’t light up when I’m sitting alone writing. I know the anecdotes that I want to tell and the presence of the public helps me to add gags, because it is in my nature to want to make people laugh. »
find the red thread
A practice formalized at the end of the 1980s at the Vieux Clocher in Magog, where comedians would settle down for several evenings to polish their new material, running-in now takes on different forms in the laughter industry, all year round, and not just during flip flop season.
Never mind, several major figures of Quebec humor will premiere their new show this summer, including Katherine Levac, Daniel Lemire, Rosalie Vaillancourt, Louis Morissette and Louis-José Houde, in addition to a few newcomers like Matthieu Pepper and Michelle DesRochers.
The preliminary versions of certain shows today often bear their own name, as is the case of Guillaume Pineault who wore the title Running in (from small 2e) its current site, with the main concern not to mislead ticket buyers, its first tour having not yet ended.
“To me, a run-in is a show that’s funny enough that you don’t mind people paying to watch it,” he clarifies, the reason his whiteboard challenges were reserved. to members of his fan club, who took part for free, “because there are certain evenings when it could look more like a lecture by Jean-Marc Chaput on loneliness, perseverance and friendship,” he laughs. Of the 24 themes explored during these evenings, only 6 have found their way into his current New Hour, which he will continue to refine at least until 2024.
Beyond the infallibility of the jokes, it is the consistency of a show that the run-in allows us to experience, after it has been tested in ten or twelve minute increments of numbers in the comedy clubs. It also cements the universality of a statement, which should resonate with Quebecers in Montreal, Matane and Rouyn-Noranda.
PHOTO ANDRE PICHETTE, PRESS ARCHIVES
Maude Landry performing
“If you want to build a show with a red thread, with good links, to test the story you are telling, you have no choice but to run in”, thinks Marilou Hainault, from the Hainault management house, who notably represents François Bellefeuille, Maude Landry and Simon Gouache.
Guillaume Pineault nods. “I don’t want people walking out of my show thinking, ‘I laughed the whole time but I don’t remember anything.’ That’s what I hate the most some people shows of humor that I will see. I want there to be a talk. »
Of the flashes unpublished
The preliminary running-in stage will certainly have gained momentum over the past two decades, and a fortiori over the past five years. If a comedian could, in the early 2000s, be satisfied with a residence of a few weeks in the same room and rehearsals alone with his director, a new show now generally benefits from 50 to 100 release dates. ‘test. Guillaume Pineault’s little first? “Look, I must have done 177 break-ins. No wonder he titled it Detour.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Guillaume Pineault performing
Marilou Hainault agrees that the word “running-in”, which technically continues until the media premiere, can designate works corresponding to different states of achievement. “But it is certain that in the few weeks before the premiere, we are more in the fine tuning “says Guillaume Pineault. We now sometimes even speak of “pre-running” to describe the more exploratory stage of the very beginning, with tickets sold at a price reflecting the stage of progress of the work.
“There are those who like to see the different formulas, who come to run in and who come back to see the finished show. It’s interesting to watch an artist go through this process,” says Pascale Gougeon, director of programming at the Salle Odyssée in Gatineau. It is not uncommon in the Outaouais for a comedian to first wander around the foyer of the hall (144 seats), or in the auditorium of the Polyvalente Nicolas-Gatineau (588 seats), before migrating to the big enclosure (830 seats).
One thing is certain: the trial and error inseparable from running in is generally largely redeemed by the pleasure of witnessing the moment of grace when an idea is born. “The quality of a break-in show is in its very nature more variable, believes Marilou Hainault, but the chances that you see something being born that did not exist the second before are much greater. »