“I feel like a child having help for the first time in his life.” François Pérusse can’t wait to see the show The 20 minutes of the peoplepresented on July 20 as part of Just for Laughs, which will bring his famous sketches to life through six actors led by Guillaume Lambert.
“All the actors are fans of Pérusse. They bite into every word. It’s really physical performance,” says the director.
Gathered in a conference room of Just for Laughs, Tuesday morning, François Pérusse and Guillaume Lambert presented to the media the main lines of what will be The 20 minutes of the people.
The show will take place inside the Carrefour du peuple, a small village set up on the Place des Arts esplanade, which will include a colorful stage with an immersive sound system, a Snack-bar restaurant at Raymond, karaoke and a photobooth ski doo.
Amsterdam and Vegas
It was during the pandemic that the director of francophone programming at Just for Laughs, Junior Girardeau, had the flash of 20 minutes from the people. “We were looking for new ways to present outdoor shows with distance.”
Trips to Amsterdam, with the famous cabins of the Red Light, and to Las Vegas, with the Container Park, inspired him for this creation on the universe of Pérusse.
“The idea of the box shows ignited François,” says Junior. Quite quickly the name of Guillaume Lambert as director came up in the discussions.
“Guillaume knows my world very well,” says François. When we worked together on his two films (The fortuitous scenes And niagara), we realized that we got along very well. We never argued. Besides, Tom Hanks couldn’t. Either way, it’s not even good!”
In The 20 minutes of the people, we will find six actors: Sarah Anne Parent, Marie-Ève Morency, Audrey Guériguian, Joseph Martin, André-Luc Tessier and Nicolas Michon. Together, they will portray more than thirty characters from Pérusse. Only the character of Bob Harley will be recurring.
“They will lipsync his sketches. […] I was looking for people who knew the universe of François. We also wanted to look for new faces, to leave all the room for Pérusse, ”explains Guillaume Lambert.
Pérusse re-recorded everything
The troupe began work about a month ago after receiving the 23-minute audio tape that François Pérusse had concocted for them.
“The whole tape was recorded in an original way, says Pérusse. I completely redid the characters, even when we are talking about already existing replicas. I realized that I did not have the same breath and the same shape as 33 years ago. But I succeeded!”
This Tuesday afternoon, the six actors had also planned to do a sequence of the show for the first time in front of François Pérusse himself. “They are very nervous to meet him earlier,” said Guillaume. “Me too!” adds Pérusse.
The free outdoor show The 20 minutes of the people will be presented three times a night, at 7 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., from July 20 to 29, on the Place des Arts esplanade. For info: hahaha.com.