Toulouse makes its “Spring of Laughter” to forget the ambient gloom
The Covid, the war, the cost of energy, how not to be overwhelmed? What if the best defense was laughter? Humor, “Politeness of despair” or real outlet, a possible therapy is possible in Toulouse with the “Printemps du Rire”.
Laughter is a Toulouse flower that blooms in the spring. For 28 years, the pink city has been a fertile ground for young shoots or rising artists who have taken the seed. This year again, Patrick Timsit, Alex Vizorek, Nicole Ferroni, Wally, Guillermo Guiz or Paul Mirabel will bring their humorous grain of salt. What to sweep with a zygomatic the gloomy news a bit stressful.
In the heart of the Borderouge district of Toulouse, the Théâtre de la Violette makes its contribution. On stage, two masked extraterrestrials lead the children in an epic of gags. The public is taken in: “It’s the moment off the weekend. The weather is nice, we forget the hassle”, confides this mother. In front of the stage, a girl still recovering from the show: “When you laugh, you are freed from your laughter and there it is as if I were taking a deep breath…” The conclusion comes down to a lady, who has just found her happiness: “I find that there are always good reasons to laugh anyway. And then it makes you happy!”
Same satisfaction among the actors of the “Saltins Branks” company deprived of scenes for many months. “Laughter makes you fit and afterwards you’re good. You’re all relaxed. And then it’s a sharing.” Robert and Robert met with congratulations.
When it comes to laughter, Belgium is a perennial breeding ground. Capable of self-mockery as well as of plain derision, Belgian comedians carve out a good share at the Toulouse festival with Guillermo Guiz and Alex Vizorek.
The host of France Inter lit and animated Friday “La nuit du Printemps” with 10 comedians on the stage of the Zénith de Toulouse. “I really like festivals because it gives me the opportunity to see other comedians. I feed off of that. It’s very good when there is a generation of people who are struggling to raise the level . ”
With his often vitriolic humor, the Flemish is not often rosy. On France Inter in the program “Par Jupiter” he dents the politicians. But what makes him laugh? Does the crisis modify laughter? “If you fall down there, I’m going to laugh! Life is often funnier than me. I try to shape my jokes, to certainly make me laugh but they also have to appeal to others, otherwise I take them away. Since I was born, I’ve been told: it’s a crisis and we need to laugh. It’s been going on for more than 40 years for me and for an eternity in fact.”
His new show “Ad Vitam” is precisely dedicated…to death! A laugh for eternity not always easy to master.
Without going to this extreme, can laughter help you get through difficult times like the ones we are going through? Does the comedian have a role to play? “A role, I don’t know. That our work is recognized as being joyful, soothing, important in the unity of democracy, is a bit because of or thanks to confinement, I believe. Friday at the Zénith, there were 4,500 people who were there, happy to be together. Me too, I missed all this. To see that the public also missed it touches me terribly. If they spend 2h30 in front of a news channel, the slowdown of spending 1h40 with me is greater. If I’m needed, I’m here!”
Why not then consider a destiny à la Volodymyr Zelensky, the former humorist who became president of Ukraine? “Especially not! He impresses me in his way of being up to the stakes. I didn’t know his sketches, I don’t know if he was funny. I’m more like crying and I don’t like power !”
Alex Vizorek will therefore not change his destiny but it is possible to change his mind, the Spring of Laughter continues until April 10… the date of the first round of the presidential election. Like a snub.