Stéphane Guillon in Toulouse: “I hate gratuitous wickedness so I don’t practice it”
Columnist with a hard tooth, Stéphane Guillon returns on stage with a new show in which he takes stock, with irony of course, of the benefits of confinement on society. The comedian is for three evenings at 3T, in Toulouse, from November 23 to 25.
The title of your show, “Stéphane Guillon on stage”, doesn’t reveal anything… What are you talking about?
Everything we’ve been through lately. During the 18 months that we were confined, where we stopped, we reflected on our mistakes. I say this break has been beneficial for humanity. Obviously this is ironic. Man has learned nothing from his mistakes. You just have to see what happens with these presidential elections: we take the same ones and we start again, only worse. I’m sweeping away all the subjects, confinement with its nonsense and nonsense, the situation in Afghanistan, our politicians, the migrants …
Do you work with authors?
I have always written my shows on my own. I do not see this profession otherwise. It might have been easier, but I think comedians who have multiple writers get lost. The big ones, like Desproges, have their own identity, their own tone. The pitfall for me is that I have to rework the show regularly, because it has to stick to the news.
Do you consider yourself to be a mean person, as we sometimes hear?
No, I have never been mean. I never woke up saying to myself: I’m going to hurt someone. I hate gratuitous meanness so I try not to practice it. I always try to have a smart, grounded, talkative laugh. A comedian is someone who holds up a magnifying mirror. He makes people laugh with the excesses of society, but he is not responsible for them.
Are you talking about your eviction from public TV and radio stations?
Yes I’m also talking about myself, about what it was like not being able to do a scene anymore, to stop throwing bullshit from morning to night… I practice self-mockery. I don’t lecture people, but I like to shake, disturb. The stage is the last place of freedom. No boss, censor, financial interest. And in addition, I speak to people who choose to come and see me. I do not impose myself by means of a TV or a radio.
What state of mind are you in right now?
Everything is extremely complicated today and I find that quite sad. We are going through a very anxiety-provoking period. However I think that in these moments, it is important to continue to make people laugh, to entertain them, and if possible in a smart way.
Does the scene allow you to extract yourself from this agonizing reality?
The stage for me is an outlet. After my eviction and the judgment of the Guignols, Gisèle Halimi told me: “they are wrong because humor is a valve”. I am very happy to make people laugh on a daily basis which in itself is not very cheerful. There is always hope when you can still laugh.
The pronoun “iel” is entered in the dictionary. What does this inspire you?
I think that’s bullshit. It’s like the over-feminization of professions. I do not see the interest. There are good things in the evolution of society but also a lot of excesses and excesses. Well-thinking is unbearable to me. It’s racism backwards. Under the pretext of equality we fall into another form of injustice.
Zemmour is one of your targets?
Obviously. Like Marine le Pen. For once it is really the role of the king’s jester to ridicule these people. Ridicule can hurt them a lot.
Are you afraid for the future of our children and the planet?
I find that in terms of ecology the basic work is not done. I’ll give you three simple ideas. We should have bins of all colors to sort, as in Belgium, it should impose drastic construction standards for all these industrial zones, these warehouses that disfigure the landscapes, and we should see TV spots to teach children , to everyone in fact, not to balance their shits on the floor. This is the basis. Politicians always create smokescreens with big plans.
Do you feel like you’re getting into politics?
No, it’s not my job. We have seen the disasters that it was the comedians who wanted to get involved in politics. The most recent is Jean-Marie Bigard. Patrick Sébastien also had some inclinations. Each his trade.
Is there any good news in this show anyway?
I think he’s funny, touching, and positive. I have the feeling that people come out of it invigorated. They are forced to wear the mask in a performance hall and despite all these constraints I manage to make people laugh and forget their daily life. What better reward for a comedian! We should be reimbursed by social security.