Mick Jagger took control of Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais. At least, that’s what he tells us at a sports brasserie next to the Bell Center where next Thursday’s tour ends, which has propelled him to the ranks of one of Quebec’s favorite comedians, a status he’s still trying to tame.
Posted at 12:52 am. Updated at 06:00.
Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais found the best joke. Which ? He won’t tell us right away. Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais has found the best joke: it’s the title of the 255th and final performance of his Jokes Chapeau Maman magic piano tour, of which he will offer a deluxe version at the Bell Center next week.
But the further the conversation goes, the clearer it becomes that the best joke is the mere idea of putting on a show at the Bell Centre.
This is what I talked about with my technicians when we were improving the show on tour: Imagine if we did that at the Bell Centre!
Pierre Yves Roy Desmarais
We’re almost there, sitting in La Cage, next to the house of the bleu-blanc-rouge, in front of half a liter of one of those beers that feel a strange pride in their unchanging coldness. We would have loved to have walked through the doors of the arena itself, but a former Degrassi series star was there that day. The comedian looks like a big shot: “Listen we can go there later if you want, I just have to text him Drake. »
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais in an interview with our journalist
Of course, Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais is not the first comedian to utter this phrase: “Imagine if we did that at the Bell Centre!” ” – just for fun. The project, an art form that uses a microphone and that can be satisfactorily satisfied with a stool in such a huge space borders a priori on the ridiculousness of a Cirque du Soleil production in a pocket theatre.
But Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais, whose performances resemble long CrossFit sessions punctuated with jokes, is the one in the current Quebec comics ecosystem whose quick gestures, sprinting intensity, and plasticine face shape justify the closest amphitheater.
“As the months went by, the show became more and more like a sports performance,” he agrees. At first I played him very naively, amazed at being there, but the character gained a lot of confidence: I kick the air, I think I’m good, I make fun of the audience. It’s like Mick Jagger took over the show. »
If he likes to play the arrogant so much, it’s because Piouaille has nothing of the little Kodak on whose skin the lightning acts like a balm. During his first moments aboard the show business bus, the 20-something was more spontaneously offended by the princely attitude of some of his colleagues (broadly speaking), “who think everything is their fault, who assume everyone knows.” them who demand respect from us muggles”.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Pierre Yves Roy Desmarais
“And today it just makes me laugh,” he notes. Arrogance couldn’t be further from going to the supermarket to buy milk. I’m happy to be doing a show at the Bell Center, but part of me finds it really funny when I think I’m a kingpin. »
Accessible and refined
Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais is a popular humorist; Writing this sentence seems as relevant as telling you the sky is blue. “But my relationship with the popular word, that’s what I’m working on.” In my eyes, there’s still something derogatory about it,” says the man who won three statuettes at the last Les Olivier Gala, including the Olivier of the Year award, and preparing to perform at the Bell Center reminds him , not exactly a confidential space.
This is because, although Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais is now one of the most prominent pranksters of his generation, he descends from Denis Drolet and Chick’n Swell, comedians whose success is more cult than mass phenomenon.
“I wonder: can my humor be a popular restaurant, but where chefs love to eat, an accessible yet refined experience? ‘ he explains, before biting back a word for fear of being passed off as one of those daffodils whose head he likes to play. “Not in the sense that my sense of humor is more sophisticated… but in the sense that I’ve always had a desire to make people laugh who made me laugh.”
The people who made him laugh? During a recent visit by Claude Meunier to one of his rooms, Pierre-Yves, an ardent Paul and Paul supporter, will have spent the entire evening on stage wondering, “Do you think that’s a good thing?” Think that’s a loser ? »
“And after the show, as soon as he came out of the dressing room after he came to say hello, I passed it on to Sam [Boisvert, son ami qui assure sa première partie] : “Do you realize that it was Claude Meunier? Do you realize that it was Claude Meunier?” »
Therefore, to appease this surreptitious fear that the big headlights do not correspond to his deep being, Pierre-Yves repeats, thinking of Ding and Dong or La petite vie: “There is something beautiful when everything in the world becomes delirious.” .
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Pierre Yves Roy Desmarais
With love
When Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais accepted one of his trophies depicting Olivier Guimond last March, he declared from the podium that “it is extremely important to encourage young people who want to joke, even if they don’t is.” seems to be a lucrative avenue.
He knows that the trust his parents placed in him remains one of his most powerful tools. “The reason I never have a plan B is because they never doubted me,” he says. I don’t think I was the most talented, I wasn’t the best, but I never doubted that I belonged. I have talented friends who I would like to give that trust to. Would you like to shoot a sketch? OK, call this guy to borrow his camera, call me, I’ll come and do the sound. When I did that, I was never afraid to upset anyone. »
At the heart of an industry where artistic considerations sometimes give way to less noble economic considerations, Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais also hopes to continue to consider his career primarily as a creator rather than an artist Managing director of an SME.
It’s an environment where many people identify as winners, enjoy winning, and sometimes make certain decisions. When you want to be at the top, there’s something attractive about humor. If you have that temperament, you might not get into the circus or poetry…
Pierre Yves Roy Desmarais
I like jokes: this is the leitmotif of Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais’ show that he will present next Thursday. “I’ve loved jokes since I was little, and because humor is a business, I try never to forget to make my jokes with love. When people joke with love, it makes all the difference. »
Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais found the best joke on July 27 at 8 p.m. at the Bell Center