Every day, Sam Cyr and Marylène Gendron call each other. “And one of the subjects that comes up all the time is how we hate each other,” admits the first, laughing out loud. “Ah my god, my skin is ugly today, so I’m really fat.” Every day, we feel fat and we call each other to tell each other. »
Posted at 8:00 a.m.
Marylene smiles. “We’ve been on the phone for two hours. Sam decides to go grocery shopping. He puts on his coat, and then he says to me: “My coat is way too tight! I no longer fit into my coat.” And there, I try to convince him that it doesn’t matter, that he just has to buy another coat. We try to comfort each other. »
At the heart of a podcast offer where the proposals tend to resemble each other – each more or less well-known Quebec humorist seems to have exhausted his repertoire of anecdotes from the dressing rooms –, Sam Cyr and Marylène Gendron had a real good subject in their daily chatter: complexes that rot our existence. This is the rich program of Everyone hates each othera podcast at the microphone of which the duo discusses with their guests their quest for self-esteem, but also their disgust with themselves, which they try to heal.
Sometimes I feel a little bad for other podcasts, because we shotgunned the juiciest part of an interview. But that’s what we wanted to hear! We want to know how you find it, your bulge, when you’re on TV. Tell us!
Sam Cyr, comedian
Launched in March 2021, the podcast, which now has over 25 episodes, is nominated at the next Gala Les Olivier in the Humorous Unscripted Podcast of the Year category. A more than deserved mention, but also a little ironic. It is that, if they are explored with a great deal of self-mockery, sometimes even with a lightness of good quality, the subjects dear to Everyone hates each other are undeniably more serious than humorous.
Examples ? Katherine Levac evokes the disappointment that her weight loss caused among some of her admirers who saw in her an example of fulfillment. Stéphanie Boulay reflects aloud on the pressure of undergoing cosmetic surgery. Jean-Sébastien Girard (who chooses the podcasts in which he participates sparingly) confides that he systematically receives messages about his teeth when he appears on the small screen.
“It amazes me every time how open people are,” says Marylène, for whom, there is no doubt, the mirror of the media exacerbates the feeling of inadequacy of those who see their reflection there.
Being constantly photographed, having a camera on you, leaving, it makes you think about your appearance all the time. But it’s sure that pretending that everyone on TV is a perfect little doll is what ends up creating expectations that have nothing to do with reality.
Marylène Gendron, comedian
Need the mic
Friends since day one of their studies at the National School of Humor, where they graduated in 2018, Sam Cyr, 34, and Marylène Gendron, 24, belong to a generation of comedians for whom the stage is less an opportunity to give free rein to their exuberant energy than to talk about their relationship to the world and their many anxieties, in a tradition that has more to do withalt-comedy (alternative humour) American, microcosm where strange or shy personalities were able to flourish.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY EVERYBODY HATES
The podcast poster Everyone hates each other
“It was when I saw a Yannick de Martino or a Katherine Levac here that I understood that there was room for introverted personalities like me, who need the microphone to be heard,” recalls Sam Cyr, which was beginning the run-in of its first show, nicely titled Wrapped, last December. Marylène Gendron will soon present the first dates of her solo, One day or another). Shows whose themes inevitably overlap with those of Everyone hates each other.
Assuming this humor, where laughter is combined with introspection, however, requires a certain courage, especially in front of audiences who only ask to be stupidly distracted. “It is certain that if I participate in a corporate show, I sometimes have the impression of breaking the party when I go on stage after a guy who has just told a fuck while shouting into the microphone, observes Marylène. It sure clashes when I start telling people that I have a hard time loving myself. »
Are we walking?
If there can be something comforting in learning that an Adonis like Jean-Philippe Wauthier is not perfect, hearing people blessed by the gods list their microscopic flaws can also be violent for those who live in a body not at all corresponding to Western standards of beauty. This body that we would like to change is always the ideal body of another, Sam and Marylène know it too well.
“We try to be careful, to educate ourselves, not to talk nonsense, explains Sam. I don’t think our podcast would be satisfactory for someone who lives with morbid obesity, for example, but we don’t want nor invalidate the complexes of our guests. »
And what about their own journey? Do they feel better, now that they have spent several hours going over these delicate questions? “We would really like to say that it’s behind us, but… no,” replies Marylène, bursting out laughing.
These interviews, somewhere between jokes and tears, will nevertheless have enabled their guests and the hosts to name what torments them. Which is already a lot. “What is certain, concludes Marylène, is that it is more useful than when you call to complain. »