Burlesque takes precedence over finesse in It was time!the former loudmouth’s first solo show.
José Gaudet’s father used to ask his son if he knows how much money Patrice L’Écuyer earns. Understand: the gentleman was fascinated by this showbusiness, which seemed as distant as the moon to him. And even if the comedian’s mother liked to repeat that royal blood flows in the veins of his lineage, it was in reality in a modest environment that he was raised. That he co-hosted one of the most listened to radio shows in Canada for several years represents something of a small miracle.
But all these accomplishments were not enough for José Gaudet who, with his first solo show in his 32-year career, clearly wants to show that he is not a one-trick man. It’s undeniable: the scene remains, in the world of humor, the border separating the real ones from the others.
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, THE PRESS
José Gaudet during his premiere
Although billed as a show with a personal tone, It was time reveals very little about its author, except that he had a hair transplant and that he will never participate in reality TV Get me out of here of VAT. However, when he relies on what he knows best, he remains unstoppably comical.
A comic which relies essentially on his elastic face, his Bobblehead face and his cartoon voice, the main ingredients of his caricatures whose excess always only contributes to increasing the hilarity. In other words: with him, it is the opposite of moderation, the excess of everything, which tastes better.
The pangs of age
Looking back on his youth, José Gaudet does not escape the obligatory passage of each first show, which consists of tenderly mocking the more or less endearing eccentricities of his parents. It’s in his ” act outs “, when he shows and hears the absurd behavior that he has just described, when he gets the most laughs, as when he imitates the fascinating ability that his father had to express himself without ever using a only conjugated verb.
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, THE PRESS
José Gaudet offers his faithful the promised medley of his most memorable characters from the glorious era of the Grandes Gueules.
José Gaudet, however, shines neither for his finesse nor his originality. At 53, the man watches, helplessly, the slow decrepitude of his body and laments his sluggish prostate as well as his declining eyesight, which forces him to “put on his glasses during oral sex”.
He rails in bulk, a little reactionary and without any real common thread, against extreme sports, the abuse of cosmetic surgery and the supposed laziness of Generation Z, rehashed grounds, in which there are very few humorous nuggets left to unearth.
Nor is the veteran immune to the occasional crude cliché, whether it’s about veganism, public transportation or gender identities. Jokes which, on Monday, during its media premiere at the Cinquième Salle at Place des Arts, were mostly received lukewarmly, proof that these subjects undoubtedly call for more tact.
The Jesus of the characters
Before concluding by telling a touching story about his father’s legacy, José Gaudet offers his faithful the promised medley of his most memorable characters from the glorious era of the Grandes Gueules.
A jubilant medley where the homoerotic Enrique Iglesias, the deceitful Jean Charest, the monosyllabic José Théodore, the virgin Stéphane Sansoucy and the adorable Jocelyne Top-Model take over. After all, he explains, anyone would be disappointed to attend a performance by Jesus during which he omitted his famous number of water changed into wine.
In a few minutes, the comedian recalls why he belongs to a category of his own, thanks to which Quebec tuned in for twenty years to the show he piloted with Mario Tessier.
The generous laughter of his comrade, present in the room Monday evening, had something moving and cruel, as it became impossible to ignore that the sum of their equation was greater than each of its parts.
It’s a triumph that awaits the inevitable (?) return tour of Les Grandes Gueules. But until then, like the sex toy of which he imitates each of the intensities with improbable virtuosity, José Gaudet strikes a sensitive chord in his audience, although without completely succeeding in making us forget that what he is offering is a replacement for the duo for which we first loved him so much.
His greatest asset? José Gaudet has few peers in the current humorous landscape. While a majority of his colleagues claim to be part of the legacy of Yvon Deschamps, he belongs more to the tradition of Gilles Latulippe, whose characters of cuckolded husbands and hot guys perhaps did not raise awareness , but splendidly lightened the mind. A gift that is easy to snub, but that you must know how to honor.
Check out the dates of his shows
It was time!
On tour throughout Quebec