(Quebec) Easy as pie, simmering a comedy gala? At ComediHa! Fest-Québec, the company is more like a joyous epic of a year of work, two hundred pairs of arms, a panoply of accessories and a lot of money… for three hours of show. Because making people laugh is serious!
Wednesday afternoon, backstage at the Grand Théâtre de Québec. It is not even 2 p.m. that the narrow corridor leading from the dressing rooms to the stage is already buzzing with activity. In a few hours, Laurent Paquin, host of the second gala evening of ComediHa! Fest-Québec 2023 will welcome the public and its guests (Guillaume Wagner, Rachelle Elie, Sylvain Larocque, Anthony Kavanagh, Billy Tellier…). While Marc Dupré’s meeting, the day before, breathed glitter and variety, that of Laurent Paquin will be played out rather in simplicity, with essentially stand-up vignettes (and a surprise appearance by René Simard in a straitjacket !).
Before supper, the artists go up one by one on the boards, in front of an empty floor, to rehearse their performance.
While Phil Roy and Katherine Levac, in tandem, send their replies on their reality as new parents, on the upper floor, Laurent Paquin, between two clarifications with a collaborator, discovers in his rest area a bottle of scotch offered by the production of ComediHa! He will merge in thanks to whoever will want to hear him in the following minutes.
The 51-year-old man does not need a drop of alcohol to control his stress. If you don’t teach an old monkey to make a face, imagine how a Laurent Paquin accumulating 19 consecutive awards – 18 at Just for Laughs, one at ComediHa! Fest – feels at home in such a setting.
A superstition or a particular habit before G-day (for gala), Laurent?
“I don’t have a ritual. I only need half an hour before the show, where I can be all alone, in my bubble, to put myself in the right frame of mind. »
All the work that culminates in this crucial day is spread over an entire year. Currently, the creative troupes of ComediHa! are busy choosing the hosts for the 2024 galas, which will mark the 25th anniversary of the festival. The stars in question must have initialed their contract before Christmas. In mid-February, the production work begins: hiring authors and directors, writing, developing concepts, rehearsals…
The masters of ceremonies have the right to oversee the personalities participating in their gala, but it is up to ComediHa! and Radio-Canada, broadcaster of the event on the small screen – fully involved in revising the texts and ensuring the diversity of the guests –, to decide on the content. We obviously seek to create moments that are as magical and memorable as they are daring and spontaneous.
A lot of people are busy at high masses ComediHa! (see exact figures below). Dozens of boxes of equipment are piled up behind the stage curtain. However, the very essence of a good gala does not reside in the frills, believes Laurent Paquin.
“The world of humor is one of the artistic mediums that renews itself the most. Sometimes we give ourselves trouble, with group numbers, accessories, things that come down from the ceiling. Me, the older I get, the more I just go there. There’s nothing that beats a good, well-written joke. You don’t have to blow someone up on stage for it to be good…”, he explains.
