“In the brain of those who exclude, there is a lot to laugh about”

Jean-Pascal Zadi is a multidisciplinary artist, director, actor, film producer and rapper. He first made his debut in music with the group La Cellule, but quickly got into making documentaries with From the Halles to the bins on French rap in 2005. Will follow To screw up (2008), African Gangster in 2010 or Without shame or morality the next year. Films he self-produced. In 2020, he received the César for best male hope for the comedy he directed: simply black. In a short time, it has become a must with, since January, the series In place that he directs and in which he plays, on Netflix. This Wednesday, May 31, 2023, Kokorikoa 60-minute sketch-show with a series of 15 humorous scenes will be broadcast on Canal+.

franceinfo: Kokoriko is a compendium of clichés, unfortunately ordinary prejudices. Funny, sometimes sadly funny, by the truth of these. Was the goal precisely to provoke debate?

Jean-Pascal Zadi: The goal is to stimulate debate, to open discussions. And me, I understood that what made me laugh is when there is absurdity in it. What really makes me laugh is the mechanism that leads to exclusion or misunderstanding, or things like that. I find that in the brain of the one who excludes, there is a lot to laugh about.

Can self-mockery and humor cure these ailments?

Yes. I think that humor can allow many, many things, self-mockery too for that matter! I think self-mockery is mandatory if you want to be humorous because you can’t be humorous without making fun of yourself.

You talk about racism, rejection of the other, discrimination. Have you suffered from this?

Yes, very much. And I think even that built me. My mother prepared us for this life. My mother told us when we were little: “You are black, you are African, so your life will not be like that of others and you have to be ready“. So, since I was little, I already knew.

It’s terrible to say that!

In any case, it allowed me to feel good about myself. For example, I have friends who did not have the same education as me and when they came across situations where they could experience racism, they were all shocked because they thought their life was going to be like those of others. Whereas when I was confronted with racism, it didn’t particularly shock me because I was prepared.

I would like to talk about this first documentary. You are given a camera completely by chance and you say to yourself: “Here, I’m going to film my friends and I’m going to tell the story of independent French rap“.

Absolutely.

I feel like you are a storyteller first.

I’ve always wanted to stage things that I couldn’t see.

Jean-Pascal Zadi

at franceinfo

I started with documentaries on rap, then films with rappers followed by stories with characters that surrounded me, but that I did not see. My first job is really a screenwriter-director.

There is always this aesthetic. You take care of the aesthetics and then there is a very poetic side. Do you assume it?

Yes. It’s clear. Yes, I assume it because it is really part of me. When I was little, I remember, there was a library at my parents’ house and I only read one of the books, The 1000 most beautiful French poems, and it’s the only book I looked at in their library. And I remember my little brother making fun of me.

In 2013, you will be approached by Canal+ for the Before the Grand Journal with your chronicle What about the bayes? I have the impression that it also changes the confidence that you had in yourself and that you sorely lacked.

What Canal+ taught me was that ultimately my strength was myself. Because when I got there, they were like, “No, but just be yourself!“I was trying to do things and they were like, ‘But no, no, no, stay yourself, you stay yourself and you talk to people“. And so it was very formative for me because it taught me that there was nothing more important and better about me than myself.

Kokoriko is really a big part of you, your outlook on the world, your outlook at times on “human stupidity”, the rejection of others. There is a common thread through this sketch-show, it is: “We can’t say anything anymore“.

In fact, we can say what we want, but do you want to hurt people? Do you want to shock people?

I’m not here to hurt or shock. I’m here to open the debate on themes and with humor if possible.

Jean-Pascal Zadi

at franceinfo

Being on Netflix too today is another dimension. Does it sometimes create pressure that you hadn’t put on yourself before?

No pressure. For me, what counts is really the pleasure that I share with people, with the actors, with the technical team, etc. And by the way, on the service sheet of In placethe first day, I was asked to put a note and I wrote: “At worst, it will suck“because that’s really what I think. I think it’s nothing serious, in terms of movies, series, whatever. I think life is more important than movies!