Gad Elmaleh: “New York is the mecca of stand-up”

After Montreal, Dubai or Morocco, here he is back in New York. Gad Elmaleh and his show Besides will be passing through the city that never sleeps for a performance on April 11, 2023. A destination that he particularly appreciates and whose comedy clubs have no more secrets for him.

Comedian Gad Elmaleh, on tour for his show Besideswill be present on April 11, 2023 at Beacon Theater from New York for a performance in one of the cities that marked him the most. A show that never bears its name so well as when the well-known French artist takes him around the world, to meet his French-speaking audience. With many dates in France and destinations abroad like Montreal, Dubai, Morocco, London, Tel Aviv, or even Luxembourg, Gad Elmaleh is arming himself for the United States. Between potential new show in English and love of the Francophonie, the Canadian-Moroccan evokes for lepetitjournal.com his attachment to the Big Apple as well as on Broadway.

The last time you went there with a show entirely in English. How does it feel to go and perform again in the United States with a new show?

It was decided quite quickly for a very simple reason. A few weeks ago I went to see Jerry Seinfeld at Beacon Theater, At New York. I had a form of nostalgia for this theater that I already did in French, a very long time ago. In the meantime, there had been the show in English – at Carnegie Hall in particular – the clubs and the talk show. I wanted to redo this room because it is very large, but very warm. The project for the show in English was a different thing from what I do now. This time, I’m really going to play in French in front of French-speaking expatriates.

I say francophones, because in New York, when we say francophone, there are mostly French people, but there are still the Maghreb, Africa, the Lebanese, the Swiss, etc. The Francophonie is honored in this kind of evenings, and I love this idea. Unlike the tension there was when I was playing in English, where I was putting myself in more danger, I feel there is a form of comfort in playing in my language in front of an audience with whom I really make New York happy.

What is your connection to this country, and New York City in particular?

In my opinion, it’s the Mecca of stand-up. This is where the stand-up comedy. This is the city where my idols like Woody Allen and Jerry Seinfeld live. It’s also the place where I realized my dream of playing in English, of being in the comedy clubs, to do the talk shows and to run my sketches every day. I lived there for three years. This city really speaks to me, I have real ties there. I’m so fascinated by Broadway and all of its culture. It’s really incredibly inspiring to me.

Sharing with French speakers is different in each country

How does it feel to confront different French-speaking audiences around the world?

Once again, what I love is the Francophonie. But I must say that what I have observed while playing in the Francophonie and in different countries is that it is totally impregnated, soaked, with the cultural environment in which Francophones evolve. The French speakers of Tel Aviv, Dubai, New York, London are not the same. I am therefore obliged to look in the same direction as them in my observations and to analyze the populations in which they live. I have the impression of putting myself at their side to make observations as a French-speaker, as a French by adoption – since I am Moroccan by birth. Let’s say that sharing with French speakers is different in each country. However, it has one thing in common: I contemplate with them the country in which we find ourselves. I therefore use local elements with which they can identify, in order to be able to make people laugh.

Would you consider a new show in English in New York?

Totally. I would love to do a show in English again one day and for it to be a monologue this time. Americans differentiate one-man-show and stand-up show by the narrative found in the first. I would like to do a story, a monologue on this whole story over the years where I lived here and there, where I tried different experiences. It would be an opportunity to play the different characters so that it would be less “stand-up” to produce something that we see less of in the United States.

Do you have to completely change your comedic style when doing a show in English?

The changes are more in form than in substance. The form must be more radical and more effective. The Anglo-Saxon public is used to it, even if it is made up of expatriates. He has a reflex of efficiency, there is no time for a form of French explanation. The way of bringing things is radically different.

If that is even possible, how can French-speaking artists find their place internationally?

I think it’s an exercise in humor that is extremely difficult, even if it’s not impossible, I did it myself. I have played in front of English-speaking and even sometimes 100% American audiences, especially in comedy clubs. When I went there unannounced, there wasn’t a single expat. It is therefore possible, but there is always an exception, the person from elsewhere. Which is good for the inspiration, the themes and the material used. However, I don’t know how much we can bear to be “the other”. At some point, I think we want to be totally integrated into the society of American artists. I believe that in the cinema, in the theater or in the musical world, it is more possible to blend into American or English productions.

As humor is something extremely personal, and you are going to tell your life story, you will necessarily tell that you are from elsewhere, making you “the one who is from elsewhere”. There will be added value, but that somewhat distances the artist from the micro-society of American artists.