(Quebec) It smells good for the new upcoming comedy show by Marc Dupré. As an appetizer to Ben, let’s see!, which he will launch at the beginning of 2024, the singer-songwriter who has become a joke again hosted his very first comic gala of his career at ComediHa! Fest-Québec, which opened at the Grand Théâtre on Tuesday evening. And you can only put a star in your notebook for this very successful first test.
The evening – generous, over three hours with intermission, TV coverage required – not only propelled this 24th Old Capital festival on a happy note, but also confirmed that Dupré has not lost this charisma and this irresistible poise that had earned him the title of revelation of the Just for Laughs festival at the tender age of 21, in 1994.
Our man is aware of it and he has fun with it. The generation of his three young adult children does not know that before singing We are the same and being a coach at The voice, he provided the first parts of Celine Dion and Patricia Kaas with his legendary imitations (Bryan Adams, that you said something?) and caused a sensation to the point of launching three shows, in 1996, 1998 and 2001.
A pool of admirers who take pictures of him at Walmart and who try to see the color of his underpants in his door frame on Halloween…
The voiceover that accompanied him when he entered the stage had also buttered thick in this regard. “We’re lucky to have this giant from Quebec! “; “Whoever showed Bryan Adams how to sing like Bryan Adams!” “; “It’s been 15 years since we’ve seen him do 20-year-old impersonations!” ”… Dupré retorted that he was rather tired of fame. His welcome tableau ended with an improvised anger from Erik and Sonny Caouette, of 2 Frères, who violently smashed a guitar on a giant cake, and with the impromptu appearance of Celine Dion, alias Véronique Claveau, who was going reappear sporadically during the show.
Later, to cap a segment on his new fiftieth birthday (passed July 28, greeted by the acquisition of a bidet and which seems to hit hard), Marc Dupré realized his fantasy of being part of a boys band (the Marc Street Boys!) shouting with dancers in a choreography typical of the genre.
Freshly separated from Anne-Marie Angélil, our host also howled his exasperation at being asked about stepmother Céline Dion (“All I know is that it’s stiff! […] What a guy here who called her mother-in-law lately to check on her? […] Did someone ask Céline how I was doing?”) and told the embryos of anecdotes, not bad for five under and filled with tenderness, on the late step-dad René Angélil. Like the time when the late impresario, apparently clumsy at the wheel and a pioneer in the use of the Bluetooth system, had installed his device upside down.
Among the guests of this Dupré gala, it was picking a little in all directions in a resolutely sympathetic sequence, where Richardson Zéphir, Stéphane Fallu, the funny character of “young old man” Sam Vigneault, the crazy duo made up of Mathieu Dufour and Pascal Cameron (whose sunny fiesta-like kitsch vignette has even been enhanced with a visit to Bonhomme Carnaval) and the no less caustic Brick and Brack, the famous tandem of “radical poets” who vote for the ghost of René Lévesque so much do they hope to separate Quebec from the rest of Canada. They were interrupted in their “hostage taking” of visitors to ComediHa! by Gildor Roy, who came to proclaim himself master of the world.
A newcomer to the world of stand-up, Pascal Morrissette, with his experience of youth programs, redoubled his energy, going so far as to throw himself on the ground during his tirade on the theme of courage.
Yannick de Martino created a jamming effect in the room with the absurd lines that we know him for. The poor man is as disappointed to see bread bowls disintegrate in the dishwasher as he is to find he can’t live in a “home fries” by ordering a potato. There are, however, people who live in cottages within blocks… (you follow?).
Requested by ComediHa! to integrate pastiches like those of yesteryear into his menu, Marc Dupré spoiled us with layers of stamps by Mario Pelchat, Shaggy and Claude Dubois, among others. The real surprise was nevertheless brought by a spectator recruited from the audience, a man named David, who blew his mind with an almost perfect reproduction of a song by Laurence Jalbert. As a threesome, David, Marc Dupré and Véronique Claveau brilliantly recreated the illustrious moment of Ginette Reno, Céline Dion and Jean-Pierre Ferland on the Plains of Abraham in 2008. It was to be mistaken!
