Who's Afraid of Jean-Sebastien Girard?
Jean-Sébastien Girard is preparing for his first “one man show”, “A boy like no other”
He never misses one and the faults of our stars have often passed with him a bad quarter of an hour. He is convinced of it, Marie-Mai and Marilou “wish [sa] death together”. Today, with his first one man show, Jean-Sébastien Girard is open to criticism in his turn.
The man of the hour (his myriad of projects for the next year is enough to make you dizzy, we'll list them below) admits it candidly: he is aware that A boy like no other, whose run-in will begin with great fanfare in the fall with a view to a return to Montreal in March 2023, may not be “the success of [his] life”. And he, of course, secretly hopes the opposite. Because, once you have shone under the light of a success like that of The evening is (still) young – and for a decade – you don't want to go back to the 'shadow…
Jean-Sébastien Girard admits that he has acquired a taste for success…
Credit: Josie Desmarais/Métro
“I would never like to be the subject of a column of the type What are- they became, admits Jean-Sébastien Girard, smiling, curled up in an armchair in a dressing room at Le Bordel cabaret. When I was a researcher, I made files on those who existed and then disappeared. I wouldn't like to tell a reporter that I'm gardening now. I would like to stay in the light, and I fully assume it. It's fun, light!».
Love and self-deprecation
It must be said that the spotlight shone brightly on the final meeting of La soiree…, on May 8th. Never, ever, Jean-Sébastien Girard and his associates Jean-Philippe Wauthier, Olivier Niquet and formerly Fred Savard could not have anticipated that their “extremely nested”, “super underground showon Friday night – attended by only a handful of university students whose names they knew by heart – would become such a monument to radio and popular culture.
“Robert Lepage sent a funeral wreath, points out Jean-Sébastien to illustrate the extent of the phenomenon, which still exceeds him himself. Come on, let Robert Lepage send us flowers! We were like three kids who barely realized that they were sending Nathalie Petrowski to shit [in the face, at the microphone] on whom they tripped yet in their youth…”.
Jean-Sébastien Girard will no doubt run in a few numbers of his one man show, A boy like no other, at Cabaret Le Bordel
Credit: Josie Desmarais/Metro
Jean-Sébastien Girard is a former theater student – by his own admission “not good” – turned researcher, who dreamed of carrying out “very dark” reports for palliative care in children's hospitals. Then, he was noticed by Dominique Poirier backstage at L'après-midi porte conseil, where the great lady of information predicted that his professional destiny would be traced right in front of him the day where he would assume his comic side. And he became “someone” thanks to La soiree. He knows it, says it and repeats it often.
He has become this caustic character, capable of unleashing a virulent bitchery towards Josée Boudreault and her stroke. And who, paradoxically, venerates the singers sometimes considered “cheeky” of the 1980s, like Johanne Blouin and Marie-Denise Pelletier, pampers her aging mother and makes a misfortune with the elderly. “A drooling guy who likes grandmothers”, in short, as he likes to define himself.
“I am basically a kind, benevolent, caring person, but also drooling. That's what made people accept this convention: they quickly saw a kind of humanity behind this drooling, but not mean, guy character. I had a license to say enormities, because we knew that, coming from me, it was not petty. People are generally good players.”
Jean-Sébastien Girard, interview with Métro
Except for Marie-Mai and Marilou, let's reminisce above.
A bitter criticism of the premiere concert at the Bell Center in February 2019, and he was attacked from all sides on social networks by hordes of raving fans of the singer, who blocked her on all social platforms. His memories of the origin of the cold with Marilou are more vague – he mentions an interview that would have gone wrong –, but he knows that the creator of Trois fois par jour had subsequently demanded not to be on the same TV shows as him.
“Self-mockery seduces me, opposes Jean-Sébastien. It is a great manifestation of intelligence to know how to laugh at oneself. This is the basis. And the people mentioned above are sorely lacking…(smile).
He has been compared to a mixture of Mike Ward and Serge Laprade, but Jean-Sébastien Girard admits becoming “more and more Serge Laprade… »
Credit: Josie Desmarais/Métro
Desire for benevolence
And The evening… made him a celebrity, so much so that Just for Laughs offered him the luxury of a one man show. Nothing less. The 46-year-old guy (47 on June 24), who had already promised that no such experience would come from his years on the radio, therefore promptly refused the proposal at the first discussion, then agreed to embark on a warning that he is not Louis-José Houde. That's good, we replied, it's Jean-Sébastien Girard we want.
The synopsis of A boy like no other, which evokes a “weirdo in permanent , a “superstar of living room who dreamed of signing autographs and who ended up being pitched baloney sandwiches”, hints that there will be a little “Janette” side to her one-on-one with the microphone. Jean-Sébastien Girard, whom Olivier Niquet compared to “a mixture of Serge Laprade and Mike Ward” during their recent appearance on Everyone talks about it, indeed concedes laughingly that he is “more and more Serge Laprade than Mike Ward”.
The poster for the show JS Tendresse – The show, from the Les arts d’été series, which Jean-Sébastien and his guests will offer at the end of August
Courtesy Productions Martin Leclerc
“I have this claim to hope that people are touched, upset, that there is a reflection, even if it remains a comedy show. I try to find a certain dramaturgy, knowing very well that I am not Michel Tremblay. But I want to create small areas, moments. I have excerpts from books and plays that touch me, that support my point.”
If you liked him at La soiree…, you will like Un boy like no other, summarizes Jean-Sébastien. “And if I get on your nerves, don't come and see the show!”.
A ton of projects
Jean-Sébastien Girard will be in many forums in the coming months.
-Starting in the fall, we will be able to applaud him almost everywhere in Quebec as he laps up the equipment of A boy like no other. His return to Montreal is scheduled for March 14 and 15, 2023, at the Olympia (with extras on April 19, 20 and 21). His complete schedule is available on his website.
-From August 25 to September 5, he will present in some regions the show JS Tendresse, which is part of the series < em>Summer Arts. Inspired by his radio show of the same title, the concept will take the form of a jukebox from which small and great popular songs from the 1970s to 2000 will resonate. Johanne Blouin, Joe Bocan, La Compagnie Créole, Léandre, Herbert Léonard , Marie-Denise Pelletier and Martine St-Clair will join Jean-Sébastien in this great nostalgic reunion.
Jean-Sébastien Girard will be back on the airwaves of ICI Première in the fall, in the shows The day is (still) young and Jeannot BBQ
Credit: Josie Desmarais/Metro
-Jean-Sébastien Girard, Jean-Philippe Wauthier and Olivier Niquet will taste their own comic medicine during the Roast of The evening is (still) young, presented on July 21, at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts, as part of the Just for Laughs festival. Le bien-cuit, whose identity of the guests is always kept secret, will be hosted by Maude Landry, Suzie Bouchard, Élise Guilbault and Anne-Marie Cadieux, directed by Brigitte Poupart.
-Finally, Jean-Sébastien Girard is not abandoning the radio and ICI Première for all that. In the fall, he will go regularly to make dips at The day is (still) young (weekdays, from 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., from September 5) with his accomplices from The evening … Then, on Sunday, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., he will be at the helm of Jeannot BBQ, where he will celebrate a chosen guest, exploring his life and his work with humor, in front of an audience.
Métro warmly thanks the cabaret Le Bordel for his kind collaboration on this article.
Jean-Sébastien Girard strikes a pose for Métro on the stage of Le Bordel cabaret
Credit: Josie Desmarais/Métro
Jean-Sébastien Girard, about…
His mourning for The evening is (still) young
“The first week, I felt like I was in love. I did not do anything. I was curled up. The end of The Evening… hurt me physically, for real. We were getting pictures from the event, I was looking at them, and I felt like I was looking at pictures of my exes. We defined ourselves a lot as guys from La soiree…Before, when I went to a flat dinner, I told myself that I would have something to tell on the show; now, when I live a flat evening, it is just lost (laughs).
His first steps as stand-up
“I undertake this project with great humility. I see comedians go, I go to comedy clubs, I attend opening nights, I see the work they do and I know that I did not go to this school. I know how to write a joke in a radio context, with two friends who are there to support me and laugh if it falls flat, but I have not made bars. Of course, there is a side of me that is terrified.”
Her inspirations in humor and animation
“Christiane Charette is still my idol to this day. I listened to her when she was doing her daily routine on TV in the 1990s. I found her extraordinary, with her spontaneity, her intelligence… Marie-Louise Arsenault fascinates me in her way of giving interviews. At In the Media, what she does is art, lace. When I was little, it was the singers, the animators. I was going to attend In good mood, with Michel Louvain, at Casse-tête, a quiz with Guy Fournier and Louise Deschâtelets, and I trippais on Louise Deschâtelets. A bit like Éric Salvail, with whom I claimed a certain relationship, a few years ago… with a few exceptions! (laughs).
