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The end of SNL Québec? (#216)
Télé-Québec (Québec’s public television broadcaster, but perhaps only in fourth of fifth place in terms of ratings among non-specialty channels) is currently undergoing a round of budget cuts.
Last September, they launched Saturday Night Live Québec (SNL Québec). The novice comedians of the new series became instant stars and household names across Québec and Francophone Canada. They have since forged a high-profile media presence for themselves on talk shows, at comedy festivals, and in television and media in general. In a nutshell, SNL Québec allowed us to view the making of new TV stars (and boy, have they been high-profile the last few months).
However, the nature of Télé-Québec’s cutbacks have finally hit home, and they had to cancel SNL Québec. Last night’s airing could very well have been the LAST episode ever made.
For the moment, you can still view prior SNL episodes on Télé-Québec’s website, here: http://snlquebec.telequebec.tv/emissions
I’ve seen it mentioned in the media a few times that Télé-Québec is trying to sell the program to a different network- but only time will tell if they succeed.
Regardless of whether or not another network buys the show, the following TV stars have been born and are taking new roles across all media platforms:
- Phil Roy
- Virginie Fortin
- Mathieu Quesnel
- Léane Labrèche-Dor
- Pier-Luc Funk
- Katherine Levac
The show may have come to an abrupt end, but I have a feeling these six individuals will continue to be highly visible for many years to come.
A very funny, well made movie: “Henri Henri” (#210)
Flights are amazing for getting things done – be it work, reading, or movies. Unfortunately I haven’t had the time I need to see many of our movies in French here in Toronto. But I’ve been fortunate in the sense that I could rely on numerous flights the last couple of years to catch up on movies. Air Canada usually has a very good selection of the top box-office Montréwood movies.
On a flight a few days ago I watched ‘’Henri Henri”. It was the first time I had seen a Montréwood film like this. The entire movie had the feel of “Forest Gump” meets “Amélie” meets the quirkier, innocent feel of the small town setting in “Edward Scissor Hands”. It was quite different for a Montréwood film to have this sort of atmosphere.
Best yet, it was funny – in an adult / mature kind of way (I don’t think kids would find it funny – so that should say it’s perfectly suited to adults). I had my big earphones on, so I couldn’t really hear myself laugh, but I must have laughed loud enough a few times because people across the aisle looked at me more than a couple of times (but they just smiled, so all is good!).
Here is the trailer:
Montréwood can pull things off amazingly well… and here is yet another prime example.
I’m not going to spoil the plot for you, but I’d don’t mind leaking a little bit of the storyline. Henri was an orphan, who took a job as the convent’s “lightbulb screwer” (he screwed in burned out lightbulbs… let’s be clear about that). Once he grew up and had to leave the orphanage, he kept his pleasant nativity from an isolated childhood, and subsequently took a job doing the only thing he knew, screwing in light bulbs. With the encouragement of his older co-worker and a customer who he befriended (who both doubled new friends and & life coaches), he met a girl. What happened after came with a twist (both due to his background and hers). The rest I’ll leave for you to find out when you watch the film.
If you’re learning French, this movie contain NO Joual (which is great for learners whose French is closer to entry level). Everything is in international French, and the Québecois accent is toned down to a minimum (it could not be toned down any futher). Thus this would be a perfect film for anyone learning French, even at an elementary level. Much of the movie is carried by the actors’ actions anyway.
Hats off to the writer/director Martin Talbot, and the producers Christian Larouche and Caroline Héroux for a job well done. And the acting by Victor Trelles Turgeon, Sophie Desmarais, Michel Perron and Marcel Sabourin was excellent. It had the feel of a big-budget movie, right from the beginning. Great job!!
Ding et Dong (#196)
Did you happen to guess the answer and cultural context for the last post?
If you missed the last post, click here to see the hilarious advertisement with half of “Dong”:
The answer to the last post is “Ding et Dong”.
Perhaps you recall I mentioned in the post on Elvis Gratton that Québec had a couple of close equivalents to Anglophone culture’s Cheech & Chong, with Elvis Gratton being one of them (the on-screen component), and Ding et Dong being the other (the stage comedy component).
Ding et Dong were a very popular comedy duo from the 1980s. But as you can see from the last post, people are still talking about Ding et Dong — to the point that we still see very regular pop-cultural references to them, such as in the advertisement which was the subject of the last post.
With time, Ding & Dong have become pillars in Québec’s cultural psyche. In this sense, they mean much more to Québécois culture than mere comedians.
Ding et Dong was a stand-up comedy duo, played by Serge Thériault and Claude Meunier. They came as an inseparable pair.
This inseparability was also the metaphor for the punchline of the jokes in the advertisement in the last post. The advertisement in the last post was from the Testicular Cancer Society, warning men to be vigilant and have regular health checks, otherwise, you may lose half of the “pair”. (In Anglophone North American culture, it could be as if the Breast Cancer Society made an advertisement stating “Thelma and ________” in order to entice women to seek regular check-ups).
As a pair, they (Thériault & Meunier, that is) spun off acts which later created some of the greatest successes in Québécois comedic and pop-culture history – most notably, the sitcom series La Petite Vie (the most successful sitcom in the history of Canadian and Québec television) and the “Les Boys” movies (again among the most successful movies in history of Canadian and Québec cinema).
I was quite young when Ding et Dong were in their hayday, but I still recall bits & pieces of their acts from when I was a child. As I grew older, many of their punch lines became part of everyday vocabulary and jokes between friends.
Claude Meunier and Serge Thériault have reunied on the odd occasion over the years, and have brought Ding et Dong back to life for special one-off shows. We may see some more of these rare stage-reunions in the coming years — and I guarantee you they will be the hottest tickets in all of Canada the moment any such show is announced!
Anyway, I’ll leave it there for now — I have to drive right now from Toronto up to Témiscamingue on the Québec-Ontario border for some work-related business (that might make for interesting post in itself). But I can already see some potential posts on the horizon relating to Les Boys, Claude Meunier, and Serge Thériault.
Have a great start to your week !
A bit of humour – See if you can figure this out (#195)
Here is a bit of humour for you. I just saw these signs around the more Eastern areas of Montréal (the most Francophone areas of the city), however I have not seen them in more mixed areas of the city. the likely reason is that the cultural significance of these signs would be easily recognized in the East End where people mostly grew up in French. But they perhaps would not be so recognizable in areas of Montréal with larger anglophone or immigrant communities who have not necessarily grown up in French or perhaps have not lived in Québec for very long (this serves to highlight the demographics and cultural decisions which go into marketing, but which also contributes to the notion of the Two Solitudes).
The cultural reference behind the sign, and how it has been used in this context is hilarious! I laughed out loud the moment I saw the first sign. People around me must have thought I was a “few screws short” when they heard me laugh to myself.
Here is the sign. See if you can understand the cultural subtext (if you have regularly been reading this blog, you may have clued into it).
Click the picture to expand it, because you’ll need to read the two larger words at the very bottom of the sign to understand the goal of the sign.
Did you get it?
I’ll give you a hint: Several days ago, in another post, I made a reference to the same pop-cultural sub-context contained in this sign. Here is a second hint: A few months ago, I presented you with a link to video advertisement from the same charitable organization.
Still stumped? I’ll give you the answer in tomorrow’s post.
Here’s the next post with the answer (click here): https://quebeccultureblog.com/2015/03/02/ding-et-dong-196/
And on unrelated language notes… Above I used a couple of slang expressions in English.
1. If you’re wondering how someone might say “a few screws short” in Québec and Canadian French (the expression I used above), you can say a few things:
- Il lui manque un bardeau
- Il lui manque un bardeau dans le pignon
- Il lui manque un bardeau sur sa couverture
- (In Europe, people might say “Il a une araignée dans le plafond”)
2. If you’re wondering how to say “stumped” in French (a word I used above), you can say a couple of things.
- In international French, people say “Ça m’échappe” or “Ça me dépasse”.
- But in very local French in Québec, you’ll also hear “Ça m’embête”.
The Three “Martins” : Martin Petit (#194)
This is the last of the posts in the “Martins” series.
Martin Petit’s career path is not unlike those of the “Martins” in the two previous posts; Maxim Martin and Martin Matte.
Petit’s first big breaks into the public arena were through improve in the 1980s, and as a member of a comedy troupe and at the Juste pour rire (Just for Laughs) festival in the 1990s. His participation at some of the best known comedy festivals was much more high profile than most comedians – eventually allowing him to take the reins as master of ceremonies.
In the early 2000s, he made the leap to high-profile radio. The mid-2000s saw him host his own morning radio shows. Later he was given the opportunity to host one of the most popular radio shows in Montréal, “Le monde est Petit” (“The World is Small”, a play on his surname) on NRJ.
Petit’s radio-presence made him a household name, and added to the furor and high-ticket sales for his one-man comedy shows. He became a “must-have” figure for various events, and he became a host for Radio-Canada’s annual gala, with 1.5 million viewers.
He embarked in acting with his role in the very successful film Les Boys 2. His acting career continued as a cast member of the very popular TV show, Un gars, une fille.
He was a co-writer of Montréwood’s most successful movie in 2011 (in terms of box office sales), Starbuck.
He currently has his own sitcom television show, Les pêcheurs; one of the better-known weekly TV shows in Québec.
Martin Petit’s official website is http://www.martinpetit.com/ (with ticket information for his upcoming shows).
The website for the TV show, Les pêcheurs is http://lespecheurs.radio-canada.ca/emission-infos/
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