The atypical charm of Larrue-St-Jacques operated Thursday evening, rue de Bleury. Philippe-Audrey, by his first name, is unlike any other comedian in Quebec, and that is his greatest asset.
The poster for his show is a travesty of a painting by James Tissot – The prettiest woman in Paris – in which we see him in a tailcoat, taking a selfie. And in his biography, Philippe-Audrey Larrue-St-Jacques admits that he would have liked his birth to be announced by royal decree.
Yes, Philippe-Audrey is a sort of aristocrat – we’ll come back to that. He also arrives on stage dressed “like the butler of the Titanic”, as he says, quoting Blaise Pascal’s remarks on entertainment, which revolves around (I paraphrase) a void to be filled in order to escape to our sorry condition.
The table is therefore set for a colorful evening, where the actor, columnist and humorist will in turn quote Victor Hugo, Gustave Flaubert, Stendhal or even Alfred de Musset, which he read despite his father’s warning…
But be careful, it’s not about boasting or boasting, each time it’s to support his point of view… It’s because, you see, Philippe-Audrey was brought up by intellectual parents. A mother art historian, a father (French) specialist in Jewish theater. To tell you the truth, at 5 years old, he was touring European cathedrals!
PHOTO DENIS GERMAIN, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Comedian Philippe-Audrey Larrue-St-Jacques
Starting from oneself, from our personal experiences, isn’t that the advice we give to all comedians who write a show?
This is exactly what Philippe-Audrey does, and in a very good way, starting with the bullying he experienced as a child (one must believe that there are benefits to bullying!), which does not doesn’t necessarily make you want to have some… “Children are like radishes,” he would say. If there is, it’s ok, but it’s always better when there isn’t…”
Although convinced that he was born three centuries late, the comedian wants to prove to us that he is indeed a child of his century (hence the title of the show), which he convinces us of… halfway. In fact, we understand that he ended up accepting himself as he is: an intellectual from another century, with a challenge of giftedness that sometimes makes him socially awkward, but who has his heart in the right place.
Special mentions for his segments on Men of Few Words; his meeting with a coke trafficker he met at the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield regatta; his visit to concentration camps in Poland; his emotional complicity with Paul Arcand; his reflections on the transition to adulthood and his “retirement” in Paris to “reconnect” with his origins.
All is not perfect in this second one man show of about 1h40. Alone on stage for such a long period, there are inevitably small hollows. And some topics fall a bit flat. His reflections or observations on the couple, for example, sometimes miss their mark.
First, who names his lover: my concubine? Our encounters, a series of miraculous coincidences in the chaos of humanity? Sigh… And then, the story of his partner who snores, we’ve heard it a thousand times. Please stop giving us that number…
But Philippe-Audrey is surprising and as soon as we start to identify irritants, he takes us on new paths with a unique perspective. The 36-year-old comedian puts an end to this child of the century talking to us about “sharing vulnerabilities” and that’s not fake. And that perfectly completes the loop of this atypical show. We recommend that you go and see in street clothes.
child of the century
Philippe-Audrey Larrue-St-Jacques
At the Gesu, Until March 18. Then on tour in Quebec.