Published at 12:57 am. Updated at 7:00 a.m.
The Emotions of Live
We can always count on France Beaudoin to transform our living room into a festive happening… even if we catch up on her show the day after tomorrow, on a Monday morning.
Once again, the Live New Year's Day team has outdone themselves by creating a harmonious marriage between catchy songs, emotional moments and an annual retrospective. The spontaneous kidnappings (without brushing teeth, shaving or showering… except for Gino Chouinard) and the allusions to the news of the last 12 months were particularly successful. Among them we remember Creton (Josée Deschênes) dressed all in Barbie pink, Le REM about Je t'aime by Lara Fabian, Les beauxgemüse to talk about inflation in the supermarket and Mélissa Bédard , which roars over Oxygène by Diane Dufresne. in relation to summer forest fires.
Chemistry seemed to be in full swing in the quintet of “lively” personalities consisting of Mélanie Maynard, Benoît McGinnis, Gino Chouinard, Élise Guilbault and Ève Côté. The latter summed up our thoughts perfectly by letting out a “Phew!” » Feeling good at the heart of the show's most tear-jerking section: the salute to the deceased, a magnificently stripped-down number (compared to the backfiring medleys) that brought together Alyocha Schneider, Richard Séguin, Kim Thúy and Ingrid St-Pierre and 84 residents of Lac-Mégantic in front of star constellations that outlined the silhouettes of Karl Tremblay, Michel Côté, Denise Bombardier, Louisette Dussault, Hubert Reeves and Guy Latraverse.
The more the years go by, the greater the expectations and the more Live from the Universe exceeds them.
PHOTO ERIC MYRE PROVIDED BY RADIO-CANADA
Gino Chouinard, Élise Guilbault, Ève Côté, Mélanie Maynard and Benoît McGinnis
Thanks to the actors
Of the four big December 31 specials, “See You Next Year” was never our favorite. We appreciate the performances of the actors/impersonators who enhance the material we give them, but the good-natured humor of the radio show, usually conceived, written and hosted exclusively by Philippe Laguë, usually leaves us untouched.
PHOTO LAURENT BOURSIER, PROVIDED BY RADIO-CANADA
The cast of “See You Next Year”: Pierre Verville, Michèle Deslauriers, Dominic Paquet, Philippe Laguë, Véronique Claveau and Benoit Paquette
The 2023 edition continued the tradition. We saw most of the gags coming from a distance, and after the irresistible whirlwind of emotions of “Live on New Year's Day,” the simplicity of the meeting, recorded at the Beanfield Theater in Montreal, curbed our surge of enthusiasm like a not necessarily cold shiver. but definitely lukewarm. Fortunately, thanks to the interpretive talent of Michèle Deslauriers (great as Ginette Reno), Benoit Paquette (convincing Bernard Drainville), Dominic Paquet (Normand Lester), Pierre Verville (François Legault, Patrice Roy) and Véronique Claveau (Pénélope McQuade, Sonia). Benezra) we didn't look at the clock too often during the course of the lesson. And the obvious enthusiasm with which they perform each sketch shines through the screen. (Note for those interested: The program will be rebroadcast on Tuesday at 9 p.m. on ICI Télé.)
Never too much from Véronique Claveau
Speaking of Véronique Claveau, the singer had a great evening, both in front of and behind the lens. According to what we learned during the behind-the-scenes show of New Year's Day Live (which will be shown again on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. on ICI Télé), former star academic France Beaudoin helped Véronic DiCaire surprise by replacing Gowan in rehearsals and then allowing the Canadian singer on stage during recording, much to the astonishment of the Franco-Ontarian impersonator who had accompanied him on tour in 1996.
PHOTO LAURENT BOURSIER, PROVIDED BY RADIO-CANADA
Véronique Claveau in See you next year
In addition to her (too brief) reinterpretation of Céline Dion's pagan prayer in “Live from New Year's Day,” Véronique Claveau also distinguished herself by caricaturing the Queen of Vegas in “See You Next Year.” His Céline-who-takes-a-serious-tone-to-discuss-serious-things was breathtaking. “In the last few months, one thing has become clear to me. This thing is a sentence that, when said, means something that is also a sentence…” This line promises to become a classic.
A less snappy infoman
Still many, many good discoveries in Infoman, but for some reason we didn't laugh as much as we would have liked while watching Jean-René Dufort's humorous revue. Could the depressing news from 2023 have something to do with it? Perhaps. But we tend to blame the overly complacent interviews with the political elite. Without providing any particularly memorable moments, they took up half of the airtime. Justin Trudeau, François Legault, Pierre Poilievre, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, Bernard Drainville, Steven Guilbeault, Yves-François Blanchet, Bruno Marchand… It's too much.
We would have liked more innovative and surprising segments, such as “Parlons baboune” with Marc Labrèche and Jean-René Dufort dressed as Pierre Fitzgibbon in front of the real “Superminister”, the Barbada lecture for the children of right-wing parents (with titles like… The Princess petit Poilievre and Bambi in Longueuil), Les triplettes de Drainville (his almost a cappella cover of Toune d'Automne by Cowboys Fringants is still embarrassing), In the Head of François Legault (with Antoine Vézina) and, above all, La ré- Resurrection of the third link, which told the endless saga of the Quebec-Lévis road project by manipulating the images of Jesus of Nazareth. Should have thought about it!