Just for laughs | Mama Roro’s pranks

“It’s my first show since I became a mom,” yelled Rosalie Vaillancourt, starting the first of two Just for Laughs galas that she hosted on Saturday evening, almost a year to the day after piloting a similar event four months away. pregnancy. But has motherhood changed Roro?

Dominic Late
The Press

Answer: Rosalie Vaillancourt, the woman, has indeed transformed. Example: the smell of Canadian Tire which her lover is impregnated with when he returns from it now titillates him. But Rosalie Vaillacourt the comedian, she has not changed at all. His opening number was indisputable proof of this.

After being proclaimed milf (we’ll let you google this obscene acronym if you don’t know its meaning), the very energetic host unpacked the story of her childbirth by multiplying the mischievous jokes about the probably gigantic size of her muscular-mucous tubular organ (her vagina, yes) .

In the first degree, the young mother generously pressed the button of vulgarity, but evoked in subtext the fear of the body changed forever which assails many women after having given life. The nice little plague of humor has a promising start to its second one-woman-show.

Among the highlights of the evening, let’s first mention Jean-Sébastien Girard, who, with the help of humiliating childhood photos, recalled the jokes he had been the victim of at school. Although the process has often been used in stand up Quebecois in recent years, the boy like no other has been able to use it well to modulate his number, somewhere between nasty and emotional. Confidence: the tender viper almost made us tear up.

Véronique Isabel Filion, seen last week at Zoofest, also hit the mark thanks to this irresistible mix of (false) shyness and charisma with which she inhabits the stage. Her body image number avoided both self-pity and morality.

Colin Boudrias has for his part imagined the day when, in 2080, the old man he will have become will proclaim that “we can no longer say anything”. He skillfully managed to deliver a message of benevolence between the generations, without ever sounding gnangnan, while sending some squeaky valves to Justin Trudeau and François Legault. Anyone who mourns the demise of social and political humor would immediately shut up if they went to see it perform.

Adib Alkhalidey, meanwhile, participated in each of the galas of the week, a feat that Yvon Deschamps had also accomplished during the 25th anniversary of the festival.

Certainly, Quebec will never know another Yvon, but Adib has already begun to engrave his name in the monument of Quebec culture. Let’s just say it: Saturday night, the Quebec artist ripped everything off.

At the start of the program, Suzie Bouchard will have struggled to establish her rhythm. His monologue, which was nevertheless based on a solid text, struggling to take off. As for Jean-Michel Martel, his number enjoyed an excellent flash (a maths teacher who confides in his love life through his material), but its effectiveness has been blunted by dint of being declined in countless ways .

TV first

Colleague Luc Boulanger pointed this out this week: a Just for Laughs gala now looks more like a TV shoot held in the setting of a real theater than a real show that would otherwise be filmed for the TV.

After an interminable spiel from the crowd leader, the public was invited to laugh, to applaud and even to offer a (false) standing ovation, in order to facilitate the work of the editors. There’s nothing that makes you want to eat hot dogs less than visiting the factory where they are made.

Could it be that this formula, that of the galas, has reached the end of its useful life? In any case, Saturday evening lacked the common thread and the sparks specific to an event which one would attend with the impression that something historic could happen there.

This observation is of course not at all to be attributed to Rosalie Vaillancourt and her guests, but rather to that of Just for Laughs. At a time when it is possible to hear a series of very good comedians every evening of the week at the Brothel or at the Terminal, an event of this kind would benefit from doing more and trying to be more… event-driven?

Events? The only number of varieties of the gala, a surprise hello from Gabrielle Destroismaisons who came to offer a rereading of her hit And so on to all the mothers who struggle to put babies to sleep, could really have lasted longer, if only for Katherine Levac, all smiles at her side, who seemed to be living one of the most beautiful moments of her life. She found her friend Rosalie to imagine a sequel to their sketch last summer, presented while they were both carrying around pretty round bellies.

But the brief moment on stage reserved for the singer was barely over when a voice told us to go out and have a beer on the outdoor site. However, we would have been delighted to dance with Gabrielle, Katherine and Rosalie all night, or at least until the next chorus.