Mélanie Couture presented her “line-up” to an apathetic and barely warmed-up audience at Friday night’s Just for Laughs festival.
“I was at Yvon Deschamps’ last gala yesterday [jeudi] Evening, can you tell yourself it’s a nasty ‘drop’ tonight,” she said with a lopsided smile to the crowd sitting on the Place des Arts steps, not overly reacting to what was happening on stage. The ground was also moving a lot. People stopped there for a moment, glancing at the comedians and continuing on their way to other locations or in search of food.
TOMA ICZKOVITS
The comedian-writer wasn’t intimidated, however, and offered a good first number, well put together, before greeting her guests.
Nadine Massie, who already delivered the first parts of the moderation on tour, made the start. She did well too, eliciting a few laughs from the apathetic audience.
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Erich Preach, who hosts The Fallopian podcast with Mélanie, then continued with a number in which he notes that he has aged – he got a PS5 at his party but would have preferred a Dyson – and in which he returns to the existential thoughts he has in the shower about aliens and when they will come to earth.
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“I dread the moment when we have to have a conversation with them to explain to them why they’re being killed in all the movies that they’re in,” he said.
However, it was the performances of Alphé Gagné and Steven Bilodeau that drew the strongest reactions.
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Alphé Gagné, who scores a 96.9 CKOI on “Le retour dans un Instant”, presented a number in which he recounts his childhood with his four sisters and his trick to taking his eyes off his “sugar bunnies”; colored shoes.
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However, it was mainly through his “crowd work” that he attracted the attention of the people, who listened more and more.
Rising comedian Steven Bilodeau, who retired from the Canadian Armed Forces after 20 years of service and post-traumatic shock syndrome, going from “GI Joe to GI Joke,” also did well. Possibly the one that spoke to the audience the most.