Toulouse: the Knights of Biel at their Zenith
The Chevaliers du Fiel present their new show this Sunday at 5 p.m. at the Zénith de Toulouse. It’s the 120th Zénith for those who are the favorite comedians of the French.
When, in the mid-1980s, Éric Carrière and Francis Ginibre heard the audience of Père Bacchus, Place Saint-Georges, laughing heartily during performances of “The craziest plane hijacking of the year” or “The Assassin is in the room”, they are however far from imagining that, 37 years later, they will appear on the list of the most popular comedians in France. And that their journey would have led them to tread the stages of the Olympia 32 times, the Palais des Sports 17 times and to visit 120 Zeniths! At 27 and 25, one, a sociology student and the other a Fine Arts graduate, had “no career plan” at the time, despite the name of the hard-working, productive, inspired worker in whom the second places complete trust and delivers his know-how as a singer, mime and actor. “From the start, the goal was to laugh so it proves that we had a good laugh and that we are still laughing Eric smiles. And, the only time we said to ourselves “We did it” is in 2013 when we filled the Palais des Sports in Paris 13 times in a row. Because when we left Father Bacchus in Toulouse, without connections, without money, simply with the public. It was he who brought us imposed on the radio, on TV, through records, shows…”
Loyalty and hilarity
This loyalty of the public that the two accomplices gladly underline has accompanied the duo since the origins. Télé Toulouse then broadcasts their shows. The shows follow one another in Avignon, Paris and elsewhere. Then, a certain Michel Drucker offers them their first television where France discovers the song “La Simca 1000” which then sells 400,000 copies in six months. Then RMC, Sud Radio alongside Pierre Galibert, Rire & Chansons and France Bleu will welcome them to their stations. The characters assert themselves such as Gaby, Hildegarde, Yvonne the seer or Christian de Montauban. And television also seizes the two phenomena, from Comédie + to France 4 to join C8 since 2016. “Otaké”, “Hell’s Christmas”, the “Best ouf” (played in New York in front of the French community at the Gramercy Theater) depend on the rooms. The idea of a comedy festival launched by the Knights was born in Toulouse — to the detriment of the older Printemps du Rire —, the Cassoulet World Championship has accompanied it since 2018 and the successes are still linked: “Les Chevaliers du Fiel à la carte”, “Camping-car for ever”, “La Brigade des Feuilles” and, on television, the series “Les Municipaux” (then in the cinema) or “Les Chevaliers du Fiel dynamitent…” the years that parade, ensures comfortable audiences at C8. “That’s what saves us, explains Éric Carrière, because they’re not crazy on TV or even on Netflix where our film has been in the highest scores for months, it’s because people l buy it or rent it.” So vox populi…
Presidential: Mouniès in the campaign
After 2012 and 2017, Jean-Pierre Mouniès, hairdresser for ladies, is a candidate for the 2022 presidential election. Inspired by the Aude elected official Gérard Schivardi, the character created by Éric Carrière is “a delirious candidate, president of the hairdressers of the department who sees himself as President of France as well. So he is proposing completely crazy measures!” Among other delusions, the man proposes “that the Eiffel Tower be itinerant since it is a national asset from which all traders in the country must benefit in terms of tourism to attract the Japanese. It also proposes the removal of zebra crossings near nursing homes to keep only the most resistant, the obligation to consume wine to save viticulture, the tarring of the Larzac plateau transformed into a giant car park, the destruction of the Pont du Gard to recover the stones for its terrace and to gun down the pink flamingos because they taunt the south with their pink jerseys from the French Stadium!”