For almost 25 years, Mathieu Gadbois has been energizing our television by participating in large sets from which he controls the threads of its management.
Projects that appear on his resume include A Guy in the Evening, Sucré salé, Les Gars des Vues, Les Recipes Pompettes, Les Poilus, Génial and Bonsoir Bonsoir . We also owe him the TVA Tower. He talked to the director of I Come To You with Marc Labrèche and followed the news thanks to Deux hommes en or. And it highlights the intelligence and relevance of young people with 100 Geniuses, a challenging, fun and energetic quiz game.
Photo provided by Ludovic Rolland-Marcotte
With so many young people you have to have eyes everywhere. How many cameras do you keep an eye on in the control room? And how do you manage to make them stand out so much?
I have eight cameras in the studio. But I would say the escape room is the most challenging. There are 15 cameras (including GoPros). It’s a great exercise that adds rhythm to the editing. Even when we were designing the format, it was clear that we also wanted to include the 94 young people who didn’t play. Your answers are important in strategic moments, including in the endgame. We included short interviews to get to know one of the young people in each show. These are moments that we really like as a team. They have space engineering and volunteer projects. They are impressive.
You bear great responsibility for the content. Who prepares Pierre-Yves’ questions and content?
We have no room for maneuver. There are 80 questions per broadcast. A team of 6-7 people creates the questions. Researchers, authors. There is Fabio de Calvalho, member of the Génies en Herbes association, who is our judge. Anne-Marie Cadieux and Nicolas Boucher are responsible for the content. It’s hard work. They go through all the questions again. Everything must be undeniable. There were times when we had to stop filming to do an inspection. But it is extremely rare. Pierre-Yves has additional information and jokes ready for every question. Like a true Quebec guy, he likes to make Nordic jokes. He is very dedicated and loves the show.
It is often said that young people are not interested in Quebec culture. Is there a mission in presenting performances?
This is an important element that is always well received by young people. We had Marie-Mai, Fouki, Louis-Jean Cormier and Vincent Vallières, whose children saw the show. It’s a private concert in front of 100 young people who are at 220! We make our pitches to artists that relate to our topics. We’re thinking about co-viewing. Our theme “Rare and Precious” was all about money. We turned to Luc De Larochellière (Cash City), where “Two by two gathered” sang Natalie Choquette and her daughter Éléonore Lagacé. We found that young people really like traditional music. Yves Lambert takes part in our final in front of 100 enthusiastic young people.
Every week we see young people who feel very comfortable. How is their preparation done on set?
Every season we hold a general mechanic day. All the young people are in the studio, we take the games from the previous season and six young people make the pastilles, six the memory card, six the escape room. It gives our 100 young people the opportunity to see how a show works. I have to say they connect pretty quickly. The shoots are compacted. We’re shooting the season in 15 days. They have their headquarters near the studio, where they meet for dinner. Before each final recording, we hold a small gala where we award participant prizes. It’s very emotional.
What exactly can you expect from your All-Star Game?
As Yves Lambert says, it’s time to shake up our heritage. The atmosphere is exciting. We have the best players of the season. We have a great tour de force. It’s quite emotional. It’s a rolling fire with a large number of questions to find. And an entertaining, dramatic ending. We were able to welcome over 300 young people in 5 seasons (the number of participants was reduced during the pandemic). We always say that in 10 to 15 years they will be business leaders, politicians and people who will move the world.
► 100 Geniuses – All-Star Game Thursday 8 p.m. on ICI Télé