The hosts of the Les Olivier gala trumpeted that the comedians had sold a million and a half tickets during the year. They were right to rejoice: demand is strong and supply abundant.
According to State of play of culture in Montérégie, a study carried out by the Daigle/Saire company, humor, circus and magic occupy 46% of performances in the region; throughout Quebec, they accounted for no less than 25% of the total performances between 2008 and 2018. At an average cost of $45 per ticket, that comes to more or less $67,500,000 per year.
In general, a comedy show presents a comedian, sometimes preceded by a first part, with a microphone, without sets, without costumes, with the strict minimum of makeup, light and sound effects.
In contrast, theater, dance, singers, musicians and other performances most often require numerous craftsmen, sets, costumes, lighting, makeup and sound effects. Many people work there.
Comedians have spread across all means of expression. They strongly occupy the highest paying sectors of advertising, they are very present in daily radio broadcasts, weekly television broadcasts and the production of web series and podcasts. Several have also become actresses or actors, both on television and in the cinema.
The winner of the Comedy Show of the Year award, Philippe-Audrey Larrue-St-Jacques, declared that he was “really proud to belong to a people who gave so much importance to humor to the point of transforming it into an art.”
Balance
I like comedians, who are often intelligent, funny, relevant and impactful women and men. Some have created iconic series that have left their mark on all of Quebec, and several are involved in or have created important charitable works. Others have been enlightening our vision of who we are and who we could be for decades, and several have been real awakeners of consciousness.
However, I ask myself the following question: does humor occupy a balanced position in the cultural offering in Quebec? To ask the question, is to answer it. To achieve such a balance, we would have to seriously, first of all, agree that other forms of performing arts lack the means to occupy a fair place in the niche of cultural activities and programs offered to the general public, everywhere in Quebec. Show producers do not have to think long when it comes to calculating the financial challenge and risk: clearly, the less expensive production of a comedy show significantly reduces this challenge and risk.
Obviously, closing the door on humor is not a solution. But opening it much wider to forms of cultural performances which require greater means of production seems to me an essential avenue to explore. We must dedicate ourselves to it and determine the means to get there. Otherwise, we knowingly consent to a reduction in the diversity of our cultural offering.