The 55th edition of Bye bye, produced for the eighth consecutive year by Simon-Olivier Fecteau and Guillaume Lspérance, closed 2023 on the waves of ICI Télé. The traditional annual review offered viewers segments on topics related to Quebec and federal politics, but also nostalgic elements with the return of the program Chambres en ville.
The central team of this edition consisted of actors Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse, Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais, Claude Legault and Guylaine Tremblay. There were also Patrick Huard, Louis Morissette, Coco Belliveau and Louis-José Houde.
Bye bye also opened this year with a song by comedian Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais. He welcomes the last “Bye bye” with a pessimistic song that lays the foundation for a review of the year with a political twist.
The CAQ in the spotlight
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Claude Legault played a François Legault who desperately tries to fix what's broken.
Photo: ICI Tele
From the first minutes of the annual review, the most difficult moments of the Legault government were discussed. The Le Plan CAQ segment features Claude Legault in the role of Quebec Prime Minister François Legault as he tries to deal with the controversies that have marked this year, particularly that surrounding the 3rd Quebec-Lévis link. The Prime Minister decides to enlist the services of the show Plan B, which allows him to travel back in time and attempt to repair his mistakes, but in vain.
Likewise, later in a skit about the failures of the launch of the SAAQ-CLIC platform, Claude Legault plays Éric Caire, the Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital Affairs, at the head of a team of young, turbulent and lazy people. Like Robert Oppenheimer's team in the film Oppenheimer, the group controls the project without considering the consequences of their actions, in a section entitled SAAQENHEIMER.
Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville was also portrayed by the Bye Bye team at the end of the show. The minister played by Patrick Huard is portrayed as one of the greatest actors of his generation. He then gives advice to experienced actors Rémi Girard and Élise Guilbault.
The TVA-Radio-Canada joint newscast returned this year with Sophie Thibault, played by Guylaine Tremblay, and Patrice Roy, played by Pierre Brassard, in a studio full of children due to public sector strikes in Quebec. This section provided the opportunity to look back at several notable moments in the news, in particular the trip to Dubai of the President of the FTQ, Magali Picard, the expenses of the former President of the Office de Consultation Publique de Montréal, Dominique Ollivier, and the arrival of the Los Angeles Kings in Quebec.
The return of Chambres en ville
Part of the cast of the show “Chambre en ville” was brought together for a sketch about rising rents and the cost of living. Louise Deschâtelets was back with Pete Béliveau (Francis Reddy) and couldn't find a place to stay. Geneviève (Patricia Paquin) and Marc-André (Gilbert Lachance) had been renovated and Julien (Grégory Charles) was sleeping at the piano in the living room.
Anne Dorval was also seen reprising her role as Lola, Pete Béliveau's partner. Known for her strong character, she was not afraid to complain about rising mortgage rates. All residents also sang to a tune by Grégory Charles that their mortgages could walk through the door. Even Vincent Graton appeared as his character Gabriel.
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The show “Chambres en ville” was back with a report on the rise in rental prices and mortgage rates.
Photo: ICI Tele
The Slapheads were back in a segment of the submarine Titan, which imploded in the Atlantic in June.
Just Justin
The Bye-bye team did not fail to reference the film Barbie in a sketch with Simon-Olivier Fecteau in the role of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. During a psychologist appointment with ex-partner Sophie Grégoire, played by Catherine Chabot, with the fur coat on his back, he sings about his feeling of being misunderstood and reminds us that he is just Justin.
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Simon-Olivier Fecteau in his role as Justin Trudeau.
Photo: ICI Tele
The change in the appearance of the conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre also had a highlight in the annual review. Guylaine Tremblay plays Pierre Poilievre, who tries to change the frames but is instead told by Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse's character to simply forego the glasses.
Simon-Olivier Fecteau is at the top for the eighth time
This is the eighth “bye bye” for Simon-Olivier Fecteau, who admitted that it was difficult to find the comic in the news in 2023. This is where experience comes into play. If it had been our first “Bye Bye” we would not have known how to make it funny this year, because there are many events that are very sad and very dramatic, he explained in an interview on the program Tout un matin.
As the producer announced, the war in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip were not directly discussed in “Bye Bye 2023”.
The team nevertheless addressed the impact of climate change on Quebec producers in a parody of the show Green Week.
There are years that are more promising than others when it comes to stupid news, said Simon-Olivier Fecteau on the show C'est ma tour.
He did not want to confirm whether he would pilot the Bye Bye again next year.
The team of authors for this year's review includes Suzie Bouchard, Maxime Caron, Valérie Caron, Julien Corriveau, Philippe Gendron and Julien Tapp.
A festive evening
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France Beaudoin hosted the 13th edition of the special show Live on New Year's Day.
Photo: Attraction / Eric Myre
The television evening began at 7 p.m. with the 13th edition of the New Year's program “En direct de l'univers”. Artists Mélanie Maynard, Benoît McGinnis, Gino Chouinard, Ève Côté and Élise Guilbault were transported this year by France Beaudoin and her team in an introduction to the colors of the Barbie film.
The opening number began with festive songs such as “La ziguezon” by La Bottine Souriante. The opening included a reference to soccer player Marc-Antoine Dequoy's fiery speech after the Montreal Alouettes won the Gray Cup in November. For her part, Mélissa Bédard sang the song “Give Me Oxygen” by Diane Dufresne in a number alluding to the historic wildfire season that Canada experienced last summer.
France Castel was an artist appreciated by all the guests at this edition and took part in several songs. Among the guests were comedians Mona de Grenoble, Guy A. Lepage and Mathieu Dufour as well as the mayor of Longueuil, Catherine Fournier.
Highlights of the show include the French rendition of the song Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In by friends of Élise Guilbault, including Guylaine Tremblay and Émilie Bibeau, the tribute to Cowboys Fringants singer Karl Tremblay by Richard Séguin and numerous supporting singers and Guests and the appearance of Chris Barron, singer of the New York group Spin Doctors, who performed his big hit Two Princes.
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The team behind the show “See You Next Year” filmed the 2023 edition in front of an audience at the Beanfield Theater in Montreal. From left to right: Pierre Verville, Michèle Deslauriers, Dominic Paquet, Philippe Laguë, Véronique Claveau and Benoit Paquette.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Laurent Boursier
Host Philippe Laguë presented the 2023 edition of his show “See you next year” at 8:30 p.m. The comedians Pierre Verville, Michèle Deslauriers, Dominic Paquet, Véronique Claveau and Benoit Paquette parodied well-known public figures such as the politician Pierre Fitzgibbon and the new president and CEO of Hydro-Québec, Michael Sabia, personified as a puppet.
Singers Céline Dion, Charlotte Cardin and Lynda Lemay were among those who received an imitation of Véronique Claveau. Philippe Laguë and his team also looked back at events such as the founding of the Professional Women's Hockey League and the multi-day computer outage at the Laurentian Bank. François Legault was not spared a cleavage at the end of his honeymoon with Quebecers.
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The group Bleu Jeans Bleu sang the theme song for the Infoman show on New Year's Day, hosted by Jean-René Dufort.
Photo: Zone 3
Jean-René Dufort was also there again this year with the Infoman year-end show. 2023 is a year to forget for him and his team. As an introduction, the Bleu Jeans Bleu group has put together a compilation of the natural disasters, inflation chaos and political blunders that marked the year. “We saw something that has never been seen before,” they sang.
The show also began in the far north, where everything burned down, specifically in Normétal, in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, in Chapais, in Nord-du-Québec and in Clova, in Haute-Mauricie.
In particular, the Infoman team put together the podcast Parlons Babounes, a discussion with Quebec Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy Pierre Fitzgibbon. During this exchange he spoke to two other Pierre Fitzgibbon, played by Marc Labrèche and Jean-René Dufort. They particularly talked about his pheasant hunting trip and his speeches on energy sobriety, an interview that brought a few smiles to his face.
A section was also dedicated to the saga of public transport in the Quebec region. More specifically, Jean-René Dufort and his team reviewed the CAQ's various changes in ideas about the third term in a sketch entitled “The Resurrection of the Third Limb.”
The show ended with a series of hugs from Jean-René Dufort to the politicians he spoke to, including Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, former Speaker of the House of Commons Anthony Rota and new Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, on the soundtrack of the Song “America is Crying” by Cowboys Fringants.
The broadcasts from December 31st can be found on the ICI Télé website.
The programs from the evening of December 31st will be shown as a catch-up program on January 1st and 2nd on ICI Télé. On January 1st, Live from New Year's Day will be rebroadcast at 6:30 p.m., Infoman at 8:00 p.m. and Bye bye 2023 at 9:00 p.m. “See You Next Year” will air again on January 2nd at 9 p.m.