The fall will be quite busy for Matthieu Pepper. After finishing writing the final season of the hit series Between two sheetsthe 33-year-old comedian is launching his first solo show these days: In waiting for the village party. A real tour de force after a start to his career which was anything but smooth sailing.
The day Matthieu Pepper learned that KOTV (owned by Louis Morissette) agreed to produce its first show, in mid-March 2020, the Legault government decreed for the first time the closure of all gathering places to avoid the spread of coronavirus. a dangerous virus from China which until then had been recorded… around thirty cases across the province.
“It was a real scene from a movie,” he remembers. I was in my producer’s office, who was telling me that it was official, that I didn’t have to worry anymore, all I had to do was sign the papers. Then his cell phone started ringing, someone came to knock on the door to talk to him and tell him that the theaters were going to close. Meanwhile, I looked at my cell and also saw everything that was happening. When she came back, we looked at each other and said we’d let the dust settle. We had no idea that it would last three years. »
At the time, he had already accumulated enough equipment to be ready to begin the running-in sessions. Ultimately, few jokes have stood the test of time. The show he will present throughout Quebec starting this week has nothing to do with the one he planned to put on three years earlier.
“I can’t say the pandemic harmed me in hindsight. Honestly, looking back, three years ago, I wasn’t ready. I wouldn’t have messed up, but it wouldn’t have been as good as the show now,” confided the comedian.
Laugh at what makes you cry
While waiting for the village festival, of which he is the sole author, is intended to be a very personal show. Matthieu Pepper talks about his relationship with virility, male-female relationships and even the death of his father six years ago from cancer. “It’s not a heavy show at all. But everything that is in the show, these are matters that have already hurt me. And my process for accepting them is to end up laughing about them,” summarizes Matthieu Pepper, who reveals a certain nervousness a few days before the big premiere.
By his own admission, Mathieu Pepper suffers from anxiety in an unhealthy way, to the point of insomnia. His mother never doubted his talent, but she reminded him several times that he chose one of the most unstable jobs there is, surely one of the worst for someone as stressed as him. And yet, Matthieu Pepper would never have seen himself doing anything else.
The stage, but also writing and television, he has dreamed of since childhood, even if nothing predestined him to make a career in the artistic world. The youngest of five children, he grew up in Saint-Eustache in a practicing Catholic family. His father was a deacon and spiritual guide for people at the end of their lives.
“Yes, religion was very present, but it didn’t affect me. Very quickly, my parents let us make our own choices. Today, it is not present in my life at all. Above all, my father instilled in me values of helping others. He also brought a spiritual dimension into my life. When I say that, it might sound a little esoteric, but it’s not. It really came about in a natural way, in a very healthy way,” explains the man who is one of the regular collaborators on Marc Labrèche’s new talk show, I am coming to you.
Quite an honor for someone who grew up listening Great blonde with a sneaky show. At home, humor was a big part of it. His parents, far from the cliché of strict and closed-minded Catholics, always encouraged him, even in his difficult beginnings, in his early twenties.
Eat your black bread
Rejected at the National School of Humor, Matthieu Pepper first worked in small neighborhood bars. He had to learn everything on his own, through trial and error. He didn’t take any screenwriting classes either. It was based on film scripts by Gilles Carle on the Library and Archives Canada website that he wrote his first screenplays.
At the time, he led a more than frugal lifestyle, sharing modest accommodation with a certain Phil Roy and Charles Deschamps, today co-owner of the Bordel Comédie Club. “I don’t think it was more tough because I didn’t go to the National School. I think that whatever path you take to make humor, it’s tough at first. My God it is tough ! » remembers the one who has the necessary perspective today to laugh about it.
His life changed completely when François Bellefeuille asked him to host comedy evenings at the Brothel. Matthieu Pepper then made friends with several influential people in the comedy world. The TV projects then added up. He also opened for Julien Lacroix’s first show.
Matthieu Pepper is one of the few in the artistic community to have openly acknowledged his friendship with Julien Lacroix after the latter fell from grace following allegations of sexual misconduct in the summer of 2020. As luck would have it, Julien Lacroix announced his big return to the stage at the same time as Matthieu Pepper is preparing to launch his first solo show.
“Every time I release something, people ask me questions about Julien, because we know the bond that unites us. I’ve decided not to comment anymore because it’s becoming redundant. But the only thing I want to say is that you have to believe in second chances. I still believe we can repair it. I believe in dialogue and I hope that it goes well for everyone,” he slips.
Dare to refuse
Visibly uncomfortable, Matthieu Pepper immediately changes the subject. After 10 years of career, he learned to set his limits, to say no. Tired of always having to tell the same anecdotes, he now allows himself to decline invitations to countless podcasts hosted by fellow comedians,
He also decided of his own free will that the fourth season ofBetween two sheets would be the last, even if the broadcaster wanted the adventure to continue. Matthieu Pepper felt he had done the trick and preferred to bow out while the show is still at the top. This sketch series, which he wrote and in which he played a role, was one of the biggest successes of the Noovo channel. It even led to an adaptation in English, Pillowtalk.
Matthieu Pepper is already working on a still embryonic project for a new series, which is less of a sitcom like Between two sheetsbut rather a dramatic comedy, “a bit like the first season of Midnight, evening “. For now, Matthieu Pepper is fully enjoying the present moment with his first solo show, the culmination of several years of hard work.