So that laughter, undoubtedly crucial at the present time, continues to occupy a prominent place in your lives, we give you here an overview of what the winter cultural season has in store in terms of humor. All that remains is to hope that the reopening of performance halls in Quebec will happen as soon as possible.
Great firsts
A dozen comedians, who have been running for several months, are devoting themselves this winter to an exercise as perilous as it is stimulating, that of the Montreal premiere. It is Guillaume Pineaultwho opens the ball with his first solo, Detour. The one who made a “detour” through occupational therapy and osteopathy before devoting himself to humor presents his show at the Gesù on January 24 and 25.
February 11, Mathieu Dufour offers the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier (a show initially scheduled for July 2020). It sounds ambitious, but it’s really just warming up. Indeed, on July 23, on the occasion of the Just for Laughs festival, the creator of the very popular Show-Rona virus will perform in a Bell Center at maximum capacity. Ten thousand tickets have already gone.
Accompanied by its earthy characters, Richardson Zephyr unveils its show on February 16 at the Olympia. 1er March, at the Théâtre Maisonneuve, the actress Anne-Elisabeth Bossé, who has repeatedly demonstrated his innate sense of comedy, becomes a comedian in good and due form by presenting Jealous. In March, the versatile Adib Alkhalidey settles down for several evenings at the Gesù. In his third opus, Quebecers, the comedian offers hilarious solutions to the health crisis.
With My feelings, his second show, Virginia Fortin claims to be interested in the feelings of others, but especially his own! We can certainly expect absurd humor, full of existential questions and spiced up with a few well-deserved attacks. It’s happening at the National from March 8 to 10. In Philou, his second show, Phil Roy rubs shoulders with the inexhaustible theme of the family. The comedian, father since December 24, explained that he allowed himself to approach this time, between two good jokes, more moving subjects, more personal anecdotes. At the Olympia on March 15 and 16.
On April 5, still at the Olympia, it’s the turn of Cathy Gauthier to unveil Classic, his fourth solo in 20 years of career. “Giving birth to a show in the middle of a pandemic gave way to all my madness, my anxiety and my vulnerability”, explains the comedian.
veterans and rookies
Experienced comedians are continuing their tour this winter in towns and cities across the province: Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais, Dominic Packet, Mariana Mazza, Sam Breton, Francois Bellefeuille, Simon Gouache, Arnaud Soly, André-Philippe Gagnon, PA Methot, Marc Messier, Andre Sauve, Philippe Laprise, Louis-Jose Houde, Phillip Bond, Yannick DeMartino, Mario Tessier, The big floods and Rachid Badouri, Without forgetting Mike Ward, which intends to make the public at the Bell Center laugh out loud on July 22. Check their websites for all dates.
At the same time, a few less illustrious comedians are doing well. On stage or on podcast, Thomas Levac demonstrated a frankness that earned him many followers. After working as a sexologist, Melanie Couture chose to smash taboos with humour, which in 2016 won him the Olivier for discovery of the year. History buff, Charles Beauchesne is inexhaustible in podcasts as on stage when it comes to recounting with humor the crimes of Jack the Ripper or the ravages of the Black Death. Crowned discovery of the year at the Gala Les Olivier in 2018, Maude Landry tackles the absurdity of our repetitive existences in a first show entitled Involution.
Among the solos that can be viewed online are those of Michel Barrette (My funny jobs, on Live in your living room), of Dave Gaudet (The legend, on Zoom, January 22) and Katherine Levac(Fat, on Viméo), without forgetting ComediHa.tv, a digital platform that offers a variety of shows, live or not.