Hordes of people, mostly in their twenties and thirties, were crowded around the Bell Center Friday night, just before 8 p.m. To attend the concert of a legendary rock band? Or to that of pop star from the moment ? Pantoute. 21,131 people attended the recording of a podcast, Mike Ward Wiretapped.
Posted at 9:00 a.m.
This did not prevent these 21,131 people – in other words, the sold-out Bell Center – from welcoming Mike Ward with the reverence usually reserved for a legendary rock group and with the euphoria generated by a pop star.
After a national anthem performed by the thunderous Mike Paterson (Charles Prévost-Linton on amphetamines) and a video montage summarizing the history of the podcast born in 2011, the host in black nonchalantly made his way through the crowd on the floor. Bottle of beer in hand, the comedian seemed startled by the monster ovation – the Bell Center in full, standing – which was reserved for him.
“The Bell Center is never fun for humor. It is indeed from the mouth of Mike Ward that this sentence came out one day, during an episode of under listening. Understand: this Bell Center was at first only an idea launched as a joke, in order to make fun of his colleagues who pride themselves on having given a show of stand up in the residence of the CH, without completing it in full. For the past few weeks, the host has ironically referred to the event as his Center brag. brag as in: to brag.
“Honestly, I thought I had a better reception than that. We are going to add claps in the editing”, launched in Ward laughing while everyone sat back down, before inviting Jean-Thomas Jobin, his sidekick of several of the most memorable episodes of under listening. The master of the absurd had been enlisted as the official co-host of the two podcasts which were recorded on Friday. And because Jean-Thomas Jobin is Jean-Thomas Jobin, the entertainer offered his longtime friend, as a host gift, an… acrostic.
Rather than being surrounded by two guests, as is the established formula, Ward had summoned three per edition. Christine Morency and Les Denis Drolet (Sébastien Dubé and Vincent Léonard), regulars, formed the first table, Marilyne Joncas, Martin Matte and Stéphane Rousseau, the second.
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, THE PRESS
Mike Ward and his co-host Jean-Thomas Jobin welcomed Christine Morency and Les Denis Drolet (Vincent Léonard and Sébastien Dubé) for the recording of the first episode, Friday evening.
On a revolving central stage, “like the Concorde in Quebec”, according to Vincent Léonard, the comedians composing the first quintet therefore improvised a casual conversation which was intended to be similar to those which are generally captured on the boards of the Brothel: disorderly, vulgar, sometimes hilarious, though considerably more rambling than usual.
Around a ridiculously small round table, there was obviously a lot of talk (too much?) about the furious and magnificent absurdity of what we were experiencing collectively. The second quintet was also better able to ignore the incongruity of the context. Martin Matte and Mike Ward even told an anecdote from their youth, invented or not, featuring sex workers whose services they had retained.
Strange and historic
Record a podcast at the Bell Centre? The evening promised to be strange and absolutely was, but only insofar as 21,131 people had come there with their hearts filled with the singular joy of taking part in a moment that was certainly strange… and historic!
History? Representatives of Guinness Book of Records were on hand to endorse Ward and Co’s podcast, which would have broken the previous record for the podcast recorded in front of the largest crowd, set in November 2021 at the O2 London Arena, in front of 13,000 pairs of ears.
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, THE PRESS
A total of 21,131 people attended the podcast recording under listening.
“Looks like I just to flash that there are more than 21,000 people,” exclaimed Jean-Thomas Jobin after about thirty minutes. ” It’s still weird Ward would later say.
Weird ? Is an arena really a good place to record a podcast? Of course not, especially because of the sound — it was obvious on Friday that the Bell Center does not enjoy the same acoustics as the Maison symphonique.
But it was also obvious that the public of under listeningfiercely loyal, came less to listen to exchanges between artists than to show his support for the humorous podcast community, which flourished on the fringes of traditional media and whose under listening was the spearhead.
Vincent Léonard rightly spoke of a “spirit of gangof clan”, of a “feeling of belonging”.
During the traditional question-and-answer session that concluded the first episode, a viewer asked Ward if he intended to sing for the pope during his imminent visit to the country, a not subtle nod to the judicial soap opera between Mike Ward and Jérémy Gabriel, who once pushed the note in front of Benedict XVI.
Without anyone ending on the subject, it was nevertheless clear that the evening had something of a rally in tribute to Mike Ward, whose kindness and generosity each of the guests praised. His buddy Pantelis would even offer him a wrestling champion’s belt at the end of the curtain.
If Mike Ward is for some a vile and contemptible being, he is obviously for many the venerable creator of a cultural phenomenon of unprecedented impact in the history of humor in Quebec. The investigation of The Press about Philippe Bond, published Thursday, for its part was approached only on the fly.
Jean-Thomas Jobin could not have better summed up the collective state of mind than in this sentence, offered to his friend eyes in the eyes and hand on his shoulder: “Mike Ward, you are someone who wins at to be known. »