Where has the talented Katherine Levac gone, the one who usually makes everyone laugh with her offbeat cultural references and her slightly mocking jokes, which know how to scratch sparingly? It’s not her that we saw on stage, Wednesday evening, during the premiere of her second one-woman show. L‘Man of my life unfortunately turns out to be a rather limp, redundant and lazy show. A real disappointment for a comedian of this ilk, who we know is talented.
Her deadpan side, which nevertheless made her successful, seemed to us this time like a lack of confidence, as if the Franco-Ontarian doubted her own material. This reflected an unforgivable problem of rhythm, aggravated by the absent staging.
Let’s say that the whole thing lacked dynamism. And for good reason, long minutes can go by – an eternity in humor – without her managing to get a hearty laugh from the audience. No doubt it is because Katherine Levac dwells too much on subjects which are not worth the effort, because they are too easy or too superficial. Let us cite his jokes on masturbation during teleworking, his Diva cup problems, or even on the similarities between lesbians and “regional guys”: “both shop at L’Équipeur”.
We would also have done without her long tirade about “her sagging breasts”, which complicates her, because her girlfriend has so much more beautiful breasts than her. His partner’s breasts would be as beautiful as the dishes that our mothers hide in a cupboard and only come out once a year, at Christmas. What time for punch, you say?
Several passages would have been better off being reworked, tightened, or cut out altogether. The former host of Love is in the meadow among other things, she makes a dubious joke about the high rate of suicide among farmers, whose conditions she compares to the Aztecs who prayed to the God of rain for the crops. Black humor is not for everyone…
Too smooth
Katherine Levac still has the merit of opening a few doors which, on paper, could have led to something interesting. But more often than not, the boldness she shows falls flat. The 34-year-old comedian admits, for example, to having used botox. During this long sequence on beauty treatments, we expect a transcendent joke at any moment. But no, nothing. Katherine Levac concludes by saying that botox gives “beluga skin”. It’s bland, and above all too consensual.
Full of good intentions, the comedian repeats that she tries to accept herself as she is, to overcome her constant desire for validation, launching some messages of hope to young women in the process. For a few moments, it felt more like we were watching a personal growth conference than a comedy show.
The only moment when Katherine Levac succeeds in rising is when she very tactfully addresses the abortion she suffered at the age of 19. Family life wasn’t going to happen right away, she said.
The comedian is now enjoying perfect happiness in the countryside with his partner, director Chloé Robichaud, and their twins. The men in her life are them. Motherhood is the common thread of this new show. There is a lot of talk about childbirth, daycare problems, gastro, children who struggle to sleep through the night… It’s normal for the comedian to draw on his experiences. Still, the anecdotes that follow one another about her daily life as an unworthy mother must make you laugh, not just smile.