“Just be Garry. » American comedian Garry Shandling punctuated each page of his notebooks with this sentence. And Jay Du Temple, too, writes it all over his notebooks. Not “Just Be Jay.” “Just Be Garry.” »
“That means be yourself, obviously. It’s a phrase that I often repeat to myself,” confides the 32-year-old comedian. “And yes, as a joke, I still write “Just Be Garry”. »
Learning to be himself, without constantly trying to offer what he imagines others expect from him: such is the quest that drives Jay Du Temple in life as in his second show, END.
The fact is that beneath his big boyish smile, Jay Du Temple is a dormant volcano of anxieties and questions. He confides, laughing even if it’s not so funny, that he has welcomed eczema back into his life since he knows that he will host the Québec Cinéma gala on December 10, which had almost been shelved forever. . “It’s an ideal context because the expectations are low,” Jay said half-jokingly. There almost never was a gala again. It takes the pressure off. »
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Jay Du Temple
The great paradox that inhabits him, he knows it himself, is that no one seems as worried as him that his ego will one day take on stratospheric proportions, but that he is, in all of Quebec showbiz, one of the people least threatened by this danger. Jay Du Temple being the very example of what should be called a “true ending”, which offers few opportunities for people to hate him (unless nail polish is a source of hatred for you).
I seem like someone who is very confident in my looks, but in certain aspects of my personality, I am not at all. And despite everything, I practice this profession. It’s almost counterintuitive for someone who wants well please everyone to have to make peace with the fact that he’s going to displease lots of people, all the time.
Jay Du Temple
The best ahead
This interview, I had imagined it without mention of Jay’s six years at the helm of the popular reality TV Double occupation, which will not have been entirely possible, even if it is the Jay Du Temple disciple of the comic thing and eternal student of the masters of the funny who stands out the most.
The comedian’s eye is never more sparkling than when he talks about the courage instilled in him by Jerrod Carmichael’s razor-edge performances, his admiration for Mike Birbiglia’s most recent show (The Old Man and the Pool), which capsized him, or his dream of one day meeting Yvon Deschamps.
“What I find fascinating is that yes, what makes him Yvon Deschamps is the quality of his writing, but above all it is the human that he is,” observes he about the father of Quebec humor, a phrase which also seems to encapsulate his own aspirations.
And even if his role as host has sometimes overshadowed that of comedian, his primary identity remains that of seeker of jokes. His tour is far from over, but he is already presenting shows in small venues crowd workbased on its interactions with the crowd, in order to generate new material.
THE stand-up, spiritual practice ? I ask, assuming hyperbole. “Yes, really,” replies the man who is particularly fond of artists who bare themselves on stage, who show off their all.
It’s a bottomless pit, the comic thing. It’s as if, at first, I clung to all my best jokes, as if each time, I had found a diamond to collect. At some point, I realized that if I dug, I was going to keep finding more. The best material is ahead.
Jay Du Temple
Rumors about the city
It was during one of these recent shows of crowd work that Jay denied a strange rumor spread by certain gossip sites the day after his visit to Everybody talks about it. On his neck, that Sunday: a rosacea mark having all the appearance of a lollipop, on the basis of which some of these sites had concluded, according to the established formula, that the boy’s heart was no longer up for grabs.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Jay Du Temple in interview
The real cause of this lollipop was, in reality, the wetsuit he wears during his Ironman training. Its velcro, more precisely. Plate the same.
By chance, our meeting took place the day after a vast movement denouncing the practices of the QC Scoop site, which had published very personal, and above all false, information about the singer Rafaëlle Roy.
“We have already sent a formal notice to QC Scoop,” confides Jay. And now, are there going to be articles about the fact that I’m talking to you about this? That’s what’s absurd, it’s endless. »
“What is difficult with these sites,” he continues, “is that there is no rigor, no value line. And what I don’t like is that sometimes I muzzle myself [par rapport à certains sujets, en entrevue, de peur que ce soit repris hors contexte]. »
Jay is surprised that a society that works so hard to combat bullying in schools tolerates such a lack of empathy. “In high school, rumors made me suffer,” he remembers. And as an adult, this is still the case. I’m trying not to feed the beast, but it’s weird, because that’s what I’m doing by telling you about it. »
Do not feed the beast and concentrate on the essential, therefore: the stand-up. “My job is an avenue that helps me so much to work on the human that I am. I find that humor brings out the best in me. I can easily find myself not good and, thanks to humor, I stay light, I stay optimistic, I stay hopeful. »
Three quotes from our interview
About his affection for Christiane Charette
“I’m learning to color outside the lines by watching Christiane go. She is so personified. And it’s not a show. She doesn’t do it so people will say she colors outside the lines, that’s what she is. She’s basically curious, clumsy, charming, funny and smart, obviously. […] There is something free about Christiane. »
About his talent as a comedian stand-up
“I think I have some talent overall, but I need to go to bed early, be in good shape, eat well. I remember a guy in high school who smoked cigarettes and when it was time for the beep-beep test [le test de Léger, une épreuve de course à pied], he was wiping everyone. As a comedian, I will never be that guy. »
About his relationship with OD
“I remember hearing Daniel Radcliffe say: ‘I’m going to be Harry Potter my whole life, and I’m never going to get tired of being told about it.’ My God, for me, it’s on a microscale compared to him, but I had remembered that. I don’t want to become the person who doesn’t want to be told about OD. I’m trying to remember that I hosted a Quebec classic. »