# "There's no stand-up in France." **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 20, 2008, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026 "2008-03-20T01:33:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/1 "2008-03-20T01:33:22Z")
Recently I was watching Eddie Izzard’s _Dress to Kill_ concert on YouTube, where some copyright-ignoring scofflaw has generously uploaded it. Several scofflaws, to tell the truth. One day they’ll be called to account for themselves, and will have to face the ultimate choice: _cake, or death_. Anyway, as a casual remark in the middle of another point he’s making, Eddie says, “There’s no stand-up in France.” — meaning, no stand-up comedy. And he doesn’t appear to be joking there. I find this statement impossible to believe. I know the French have a healthy sense of humor, as strong as ours here in the Anglosphere, and they certainly have other forms of comedy. And, stand-up hardly demands expensive production costs like a play or movie can. The comedian just gets up on stage, no sets, no costumes (except Eddie), and makes them laugh. A pretty simple idea. So, what is Eddie talking about, and what’s really going on? Is there a definitional problem here? Thanks for any responses. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/2 "2008-03-20T02:37:45Z")
Maybe they use chairs? ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/3 "2008-03-20T03:06:49Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] Maybe they use chairs? [/QUOTE] _Everyone’s a comedian. . ._ ---
**Author:** ![coffinjumper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@coffinjumper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffinjumper)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/4 "2008-03-20T03:15:57Z")
[QUOTE=Bytegeist] And, stand-up hardly demands expensive production costs like a play or movie can. The comedian just gets up on stage, no sets, no costumes (except Eddie), and makes them laugh. [/QUOTE] I don’t know the answer to your question, but I have to be there person here that points out that Eddie Izzard doesn’t wear any costumes. Unless every single person that chooses clothes for stand-up is wearing a costume. He’s a transvestites, it’s not just for the show. it’s what he wears. I think he’s even occasionally shown up in a dress and then changed into pants for his stand-up routine. There’s a point there, and it’s mainly that it’s all just clothes to him. Anyway, a google search for French stand-up comedians does give a few hits with names, so it looks like they do exist. I’m sure someone will be around shortly with more detailed, better information on it though. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/5 "2008-03-20T03:22:53Z")
It’s France. Everybody, comedians included, is in perpetual stand-_down_. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/6 "2008-03-20T03:40:04Z")
Here’s an [article](http://www.gregproops.com/home/archives/2004/12/english_stand-u.html) about stand-up in France. > [@](#): > > A raft of award-winning comedians have lined up to be pioneers of this kind of stand-up in Paris – **Eddie Izzard** , Greg Proops, Ardal O’Hanlon, Alan Davies, Reginald D. Hunter, Dom Irrera and Rich Hall. No stand-up in France, is there Mr. Izzard? :dubious: Well, then, I only have one question for you: _Cake or death?_ “Death please. No, cake, cake, cake, sorry!” “You said death first, ah ah ah! Death first!” “No, I meant cake!” “Oh, all right.” ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/7 "2008-03-20T03:58:47Z")
[QUOTE=Bosstone] Here’s an [article](http://www.gregproops.com/home/archives/2004/12/english_stand-u.html) about stand-up in France [/QUOTE] The last paragraph of the article seems to answer the OP’s question pretty well. > [@](#): > > French comedienne Anne Roumanoff, who performs in France, Montreal and has done a show in English at the Hotel du Nord, characterised Englishhumour as deadpan and with a sense of the absurd, as in Monty Python. “In truth, the real difference is that until recently French comics did sketches with characterizations and did not involve themselves personally” in the jokes, she said. Five years ago, stand-up comedy was not generally known in France but has now become trendy. “It’s become very snobbish to say I do stand-up.” ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/8 "2008-03-20T04:16:15Z")
[QUOTE=Bosstone] _Cake or death?_ “Death please. No, cake, cake, cake, sorry!” “You said death first, ah ah ah! Death first!” “No, I meant cake!” “Oh, all right.” [/QUOTE] The cake is a lie! ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/9 "2008-03-20T04:26:23Z")
I dunno. I have friends who are quick familiar with France and French culture. All I can say in the French are very, very different from Anglophones. The French don’t “get” Shakespeare for Pete’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/10 "2008-03-20T04:44:37Z")
One of Eddie’s shows in France is on a couple of his DVDs of english shows (I’m pretty sure Circle is one, but I forget the other; it’s the same show, anyway). **Bosstone** - IIRC, he brings the subject up in terms of “I went over there to do it, and they don’t really have stand-up there”. I would say in my experience there seems to be a lot of kinds of foreign humour that I just don’t get (even with subtitles) and raucous audience laughter suggests is funny. I don’t really have any problem believing stand-up isn’t a type of humour that’s all that common there. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/11 "2008-03-20T10:11:21Z")
I was discussing French stand-up just the other evening with a French friend. She said that it does occur, but that it’s rather behind the times, and that the comedians tend to rely on swearing quite heavily to get laughs. All sounds rather vulgar… ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/12 "2008-03-20T12:15:59Z")
[QUOTE=Staggerlee] I was discussing French stand-up just the other evening with a French friend. She said that it does occur, but that it’s rather behind the times, and that the comedians tend to rely on swearing quite heavily to get laughs. All sounds rather vulgar… [/QUOTE] “Have you ever noticed how Frenchmen drink their _cafe au lait_ like this, but Algerians drink their cafe au lait like _this_?” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/13 "2008-03-20T13:12:05Z")
How do we define stand-up here? There is a lot of French humour involving a single performer talking to an audience. There are a number of differences with traditional American stand-up, though. For one, the comedy club culture doesn’t exist. Heckling is essentially un-heard of. There is also much less importance placed with always coming up with new material. As a matter of fact, French stage humour is really an extension of theater. The texts are very important and people don’t mind hearing comedians performing the same monologue word-for-word for 20 years, so long as it’s worthy of being considered a classic. There is also the element raised above: most French stage comedy involves the performers slipping into a character. However, it should be noted that the character will usually always be the same. It’s not France but Québec is an interesting case humour-wise. Comedy is very, very big in Québec. The largest comedy festival in the world is held in Montréal after all. There is a spectrum of stage comedy in Québec that ranges from true American-style stand-up (“so I was walking down the street the other day…”) to French-style comedy that sometimes rides the line between comedy and poetry. For the record, as someone who grew up with French-style comedy, I don’t “get” most stand-up. I tried, but I only find Eddie Izzard mildy amusing. I really don’t get what so great about Bill Hicks. The same goes for Chris Rock. It’s not just that they’re not to my taste, I sincerely fail to see what people find funny about their routines. However, there _is_ stand-up comedy I enjoy very much but it’s much closer in form and essence to French comedy. I love Emo Phillips for instance. George Carlin’s monologue about baseball and football is great… Here are some French-language comedians. They’re all quite famous: Master word-player [Raymond Devos](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0cis_DArH4) [Coluche](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDW_3QAqhc0) Punster clown [Sol](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_(comedian)) The politically incorrect [Dieudonné](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVrEUZFjszw) Jerry Lewis-channeler [Michel Leeb](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giU6_hf-HCw) [Muriel Robin](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJRlZbZ-c-k) Québec legend [Yvon Deschamps](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5_YDgx8vJg) [Anthony Kavanagh](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiC3e02WL80) talking about The Thunderbirds. ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/14 "2008-03-20T13:42:05Z")
One thing to consider is also how language affects comedy. [Stewart Lee did an excellent piece on this](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/may/23/germany.features11) ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/15 "2008-03-20T15:49:01Z")
[QUOTE=jovan] There is also much less importance placed with always coming up with new material. As a matter of fact, French stage humour is really an extension of theater. The texts are very important and people don’t mind hearing comedians performing the same monologue word-for-word for 20 years, so long as it’s worthy of being considered a classic. There is also the element raised above: most French stage comedy involves the performers slipping into a character. However, it should be noted that the character will usually always be the same. [/QUOTE] Sounds like Vaudeville. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/16 "2008-03-20T16:26:00Z")
[QUOTE=garius] One thing to consider is also how language affects comedy. [Stewart Lee did an excellent piece on this](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/may/23/germany.features11) [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > A man jumps out of a plane for the first time. At 3,000m he tries to undo his parachute, but the cord fails. At 2,000m he tries to open the emergency chute but that doesn’t work either. At 1,000m he bumps into a man wearing blue overalls, carrying a spanner. “Can you repair parachutes?” asks the first man. “'Fraid not,” says the other. “I only do boilers.” I dunno, it’s probably still safe to say the Germans aren’t funny. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/17 "2008-03-20T16:35:01Z")
[QUOTE=Sitnam] I dunno, it’s probably still safe to say the Germans aren’t funny. [/QUOTE] This one was pretty good: > [@](#): > > “What is romantic?” “I don’t know.” “When a man strokes a woman tenderly with a feather.” > > “What is perverse?” “I don’t know.” “When the chicken is still attached.” But it seems to be a slightly different form of the pull-back and reveal that Stewart Lee reviles in the rest of the essay. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/18 "2008-03-20T16:40:18Z")
For comparison purposes, there’s definitely French-language stand-up in Quebec. We even have one of the world’s top comedy festivals, with French and English sections. ---
**Author:** ![Ponster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponster/32/17081_2.png) [@Ponster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponster)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/19 "2008-03-20T16:50:22Z")
There are no stand-up clubs where you can go and see a handful of different comedians (unknowns or those starting out) in a single evening. There are some comedians who do large venue shows over a number of evenings but these are essentially “I’m already a star” no risk type things and may include sketches and props. The shows at the Hotel du Nord have changed venue and, as you can see [here](http://www.anythingmatters.com/archives/index.html), are essentially English speaking comedians for an English speaking audience. On the other hand “Slam” evenings are _very_ popular. People get up and recite their own poetry, most of it pretty edgy political stuff but some with a humourous twist. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2008, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026/20 "2008-03-20T17:00:06Z")
There’s a chapter in Dave Barry’s book, **Dave Barry Does Japan** , in which he talks about comedy in Japan and goes to the nearest equivalent he can find to American stand-up comedy. What he describes is more like theater-in-the-round storytelling, with some plays on words that don’t translate into English, and the story that got the biggest laugh was pretty weak by Western standards. From another site, it was essentially this: > [@](#): > > ``` > While taking his daily walk, an old Japanese man passed by an outdoor food stall. The cook was preparing to kill an eel. Feeling sorry for the eel, the old man bought it from the cook and tossed it into the river, saying “Lucky thing I passed by, eel!” > > The cook realized this was a good way to make money, and made a point of placing an eel on the chopping block every day when the old man walked by. Every day, the old man bought the eel and released it. > > One day, the cook had no eel. So when he saw the old man coming, he picked up a baby, claiming a customer had ordered it. The old man, shocked, bought the baby. > > “Lucky thing I passed by, baby!” he said, as he threw it into the river. > > ``` Anyway, it seems that there are cultures where the American style of stand-up just hasn’t caught on. Maybe the audiences just don’t know what to make of it yet, or maybe there aren’t enough performers who are willing to do the intimate, “this is what my crazy life is like” material that we in the West take for granted. And to bolster **matt** , I’ve seen bits of the Montreal Comedy Festival from year to year, and Canada’s got some funny stuff going on. Any nation that produces the Kids in the Hall is OK by me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-no-stand-up-in-france/442026.md?page=2)