In the wonderful world of showbiz, kingdom of insatiable egos and the eternally dissatisfied, Daniel Lemire is a man like few others: a contented man. Conversation on the place of comedians with the one who celebrates 40 years of career.
Daniel Lemire’s new tour? “As the Chinese would say, it’s just for plain fun,” explains the 67-year-old comedian. “I’m not here to break a sales record. I do it because the stage allows me to talk about what I want to talk about, and because people still follow me, it’s not more complicated than that. What more could I ask for? »
Since reaching fifty, the veteran has slowed down considerably. This is because he gave a lot of himself at a time when he could present up to six shows a week, for nine to ten months a year. And that, as he himself says, “there is more than humor in life”. An observation that he means as much in a personal sense – he spent a lot of time in Mexico with his partner, the writer Lucie Dufresne, whose work focuses on Mayan civilization – as in a social sense.
Coming from a time when it was possible to count all the Quebec comedians on the fingers of two hands, the veteran remains one of the rare representatives of his profession to allow himself a critical look at the media ubiquity of his colleagues and, above all, , on their propensity to agree to express themselves on all subjects, without regard to their expertise. Although he kneads the dough of the news, and we guess he is more on the left than on the right, Lemire has always been careful not to disseminate his own opinions.
And if he admires several of his cadets – particularly Simon Gouache, Louis T and Rosalie Vaillancourt, with whom he presented a number this summer in Uncle Georges during the final Just for Laughs gala –, it is less likely that you come across Daniel Lemire among the audience of a comedy evening at the Maison symphonique or in a dance show, “one of the art forms that moves me the most, even if I am far from being an expert “.
“And it’s essential that we continue to present a variety of shows throughout Quebec,” he argues. Humor should allow broadcasters to bring in shows that may be less crowded, but which are as important, if not more, for culture. I always thought that just because your venue is full doesn’t mean you have the best show in town. I’ve already left rooms where there weren’t many people and I was floating. »
We emphasize too little, thinks Louis T, to what extent Daniel Lemire will have known, over the last four decades, to indulge in a sort of split by combining “very cabotine humor and commentary on current affairs, characters and stand-up. He pursued these two approaches, head on, which is extremely rare,” argues the man who could be considered his heir.
Zigzagging between the fault lines of our proverbially polarized era, Daniel Lemire continues to succeed. We can no longer say anything, we repeat ad nauseam in certain circles about the decline in artists’ freedom of speech. “That seems to me to be a clearly exaggerated reading of the situation,” he replies.
The biggest problem Daniel Lemire faces when it comes to coming up with gags? “It’s that a lot of people don’t listen to the news anymore, because they find it too depressing. » And this, without taking into account that even if the year 2023 did not invent drama, “we now have to work very hard to find comic elements” in anxiety-provoking events like last summer’s forest fires.
A fascinated (and often incredulous) observer of American society, the creator of Yvon Travail and Ronnie Dubé is also concerned about the influence of far-right leaders on the political life of our neighbors below, while being rejoicing that Quebec is not giving in massively to this fetid wind.
Daniel Lemire considers this tour as his last, without swearing that this will be the case, while trying to adhere minimally to the practices current in his environment, although up to a certain point. He thus presented around forty running dates of this show, while in its beginnings, indoor rehearsals did more than enough of the job.
Getting on stage at the Brothel? He visited the comedy cabaret on Ontario Street on a few occasions. “But I felt like the uncle who goes gogo dancing with the kids at Christmas,” he says, bursting out laughing.
Born in Drummondville in 1955, Daniel Lemire remembers that his parents, factory workers who had had to leave school too early, “couldn’t believe that [he] was performing and [that] he became known “. “It was so far from their world. »
“And you see, my father, where he lit up was when I did a number with Jean Lapointe [in 1993 on Just for Laughs]. For him, the Jerolas were idols. In his eyes, it had finally consecrated me. ” What more ?
