Normand Brathwaite will lend himself to the well-cooked game (roast) on August 22 as part of the ComediHa! Anyone who has never hesitated to laugh at others will be the object of derision here at an evening hosted by Laurent Paquin. An “honor” even better than a tribute, according to the principal concerned.
Posted at 8:00 a.m.
“There is nothing that makes me laugh more than making people laugh at myself,” says Normand Brathwaite on the line. He specifies that the exercise is only effective when those who make fun of him are people he is close to, who appreciate him. “Making a joke about someone you don’t really like—and I’ve made one before—it doesn’t work, it’s not funny.” For his well-cooked, Réal Béland, Alex Perron, Richardson Zéphir, Yves P. Pelletier, Luce Dufault, Mona de Grenoble and Maxim Martin are invited to make fun of him for one evening.
Normand Brathwaite was confident in accepting the offer from ComediHa! Firstly because he has a long relationship with the festival — he hosted several galas, including that of his 20e anniversary. Also because he felt “ill-placed to say no”.
I’ve spent most of my career teasing others with Hot pepper. Lawrence [Paquin] told me it could be well done, very well done or broil. I took broil ! It interests me to see how they can go further than me, I go on myself.
Norman Brathwaite
The host-actor-musician knows how to laugh at himself. He is also one of the most open Quebec public figures about his life. Normand Brathwaite has answered almost every question posed to him during his career. And even when he didn’t have to, he sometimes chose to open up. Like when he talked about his depression when accepting a Gemini award. “There are people who don’t like me because I say what I think and I always tell the truth,” he says. Other people love me for just that. »
If he knows that there won’t be any bad taste jokes during his Grand bien-cuit at ComediHa!, he is also aware of the ammunition that his great transparency gives to those who come on roaster. Are there things he is afraid to see covered during the well-cooked? “I just told Laurent that I didn’t want anyone to talk about my children,” he replies. My daughter decided to do this job, but my two other children, not really. They won’t go there. »
An honor
For Normand Brathwaite, whose career has often been recognized by awards and tributes (including the title of Television Immortal from the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television), this well-done is an honor. “It’s like saying you’re important enough to fill a room to laugh at you,” he says. I like that better than a tribute, which can be a bit awkward. »
Normand Brathwaite has been working in the industry for almost 45 years now. Having become a key figure in show business, he first started on the boards, after training in theatre. After a four-decade hiatus, he returned to his first love this summer performing in the play Sainte-Marie-la-Maudernealongside his friend Michel Rivard.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, PRESS ARCHIVES
Normand Brathwaite, photographed during rehearsals for the play Sainte-Marie-la-Mauderne with Michel Rivard and Fayolle Jean Jr.
This return to the theater almost did not happen since he had initially refused the offer. “It was a big no, because I have incredible stage fright,” he explains, adding that the idea of never being able to deviate, as in improvisation or animation, particularly terrifies him.
The excellent actress Émilie Bibeau told me that I was going to realize by playing more often that we can deviate a little, but like a school of fish, everyone together.
Norman Brathwaite
It was finally while discussing with Michel Rivard, who really wanted his participation, that he decided to start. Because Normand Brathwaite is often ill when nervousness takes hold of him, his friend had told him that he would “hold on bucket for him, he says. “It’s like a big brother, he is a little older than me, continues Normand Brathwaite. And we have the same background, even if he went further musically, whereas I am an animator who plays music. But I felt someone in my gang I could hang on to. »
While he has spent the last few months on stage in Saint-Jérôme to present Sainte-Marie-la-Mauderne, he quickly realized what he had heard about: this feeling, after a few performances, of being more eager to go back than afraid of screwing up. “I’m there,” said Normand Brathwaite. So after another season of beautiful and bum from the start of the school year, he will embark on tour next spring with enthusiasm. And then ? “Now that I’m back on the bike, I would like to continue. To present Sainte Marie or another room. »
Le Grand bien-cuit by Normand Brathwaite will be presented on August 22 at the Théâtre Capitole. Those of Michel Barrette (August 23), Martin Matte (August 24) and Cathy Gauthier (August 25) will follow.