A past master in the art of bamboozling you with preposterous stories, Quebec storyteller Éric Michaud put his crown back on the line during the oldest international lying competition, organized in France, and won the favor of the jury, which crowned Monday king of liars.
Posted at 8:00 p.m.
Within the framework of this event organized since 1748 in Moncrabeau, in the French South-West, the exercise is simple: after having settled down on the armchair of the liars, then having kissed the stone of truth while swearing to “disguise the truth , the whole truth”, each of the 10 candidates declaims an astonishing story of 7 to 8 minutes, to charm and entertain their audience while sowing doubt in their minds. The more the members of the jury are convinced by the performance, the more salt they pour into the respective bags of the liars, in order to reward the stories that do not lack it. Whoever wins the most beans takes all the winnings.
At this game, professional storyteller Éric Michaud, originally from Verdun, Montreal, shone again: already the recipient of a royal title won in 2009, he faced nine other kings and queens consecrated in previous years; in short, a real league of lying champions, open to all the French-speaking world.
A lie is to distort reality, with an exaggerated life story, a false explanation of the origin of an object, a word, a historical event or an invention, for example.
Eric Michaud
As part of this final, he went fishing in his imagination for an incredible story of fur trout, forcing the line on the myths and clichés about Quebec that have a hard skin in France (hello, TF1!).
ball of myths
To his audience, he tried to make swallow not only snakes, but especially his adventures in beaver sledding and moose back, facing bears in the heart of the boreal forest. There, he swears he saw ducks, their legs caught in a frozen lake, flying away, taking the frozen body of water with them, from which furry trout were falling!
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ÉRIC MICHAUD
To prove his point, Éric Michaud brought a real fur trout from Quebec to present to his audience. Has this one taken the bait?
“Since it’s very hot in Moncrabeau, I thought of a story to bring some freshness from Quebec. So I brought them a Quebec fur trout, an animal that has adapted to cold temperatures, to put in the Baïse, the local river, which will lower the outside temperature by 5 degrees every day.” , he narrates. As soon as it starts to snow, residents can use maple candies as bait to fish out trout and raise the temperature – again according to the person concerned, who learned Quebecism “frette” to his uninitiated public. A story that brought him 1.2 kg of salt, beating his Belgian rival; enough to make beautiful salted fur trout…
Pipe Jedi
Those who have already tried to explain to their girlfriend where the graffiti on her car came from have seen it: lying is an art. “It has to sound natural, it doesn’t feel like it’s a text learned by heart. And it has to amuse people, that they have a little doubt knowing very well that we are lying to them. It’s a question of energy, ”explains the crowned, who also draws a border between lying and lying.
One is made to entertain, the other to deceive. Among the liars, there is the dark side of the Force and that of the Jedi. We are on the side of the Jedi.
Eric Michaud
Does the king of fabricators see large specimens of liars emerging in public life? “Lying, we don’t play politics with that. But we have still had good examples in recent years, with Trump or Putin. The biggest liars are those who continue to lie when the truth is put in their face,” he remarks.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ÉRIC MICHAUD
Éric Michaud’s certificate of victory
That said, what tells us that Éric Michaud is telling the truth about his coronation? Fortunately, he has several testimonials and supporting documents, including an official certificate, which he can proudly brandish in Quebec.