2023-06-25 19:11:31
Mathieu Madénian in “A Sunday in the Country” Screenshot
The comedian and actor is everywhere at once. And even if his life is busy, he admits that it changed radically following January 7, 2015.
Nothing destined the native of Perpignan to make a career in humor and comedy. After eight years of study and at the age of 25, he gave up on his career as a lawyer specializing in criminology. From the beginnings of an extra to comedy clubs, passing through roles in A guy, a girl or Taxi, Mathieu Madénian embarked on a successful career as an artist.
It is Michel Drucker who notices the comedian during his first show and will offer him to intervene on television. In parallel with all these activities, Mathieu Madénian unveils his pen in broad daylight by writing for the Charlie Hebdo newspaper. His producer, Kader Aoun, introduced him to Charb at the end of one of his performances at Point-Virgule. “I was a fan of Charb, I read his fatwas in Charlie […] I thought he had an incredible drawing.
“If you’re dead you won’t have a galette des rois”
“They were fucking guys, politically and humanly engaged.” Some time following their meeting, the designer asks him to participate in a special Louis de Funès issue. While he thought he was not at the level, he still tried the adventure. “He tells me he can’t pay me because the newspaper might close but he would pay me in bottles of wine. That’s how we became… We didn’t have time to become friends but we became very close.”resumes the comedian.
This link was cut short by the attack perpetrated on the premises of the newspaper Charlie Hebdo January 7, 2015. Mathieu Madénian must, on that day, go there to attend the editorial conference and “bring a king cake with a bean from Charles Aznavour”. Fate decides otherwise. The comedian says he paid himself “a nice TV for Christmas – my first present with Drucker’s money – and in the morning at 9 o’clock I turn on my TV and it’s hilarious”. It is ultimately this technical problem on his brand new television that delays him at the Charlie Hebdo meeting, and saves his life. “My neighbor is repairing my TV and here we are on BFM and I see past banners “Charlie Hebdo shootings”. The last message I send to Charb is “I warn you if you are dead you will not have a galette des rois”».
He learns a few minutes of the death of the members of the editorial staff, Charb included. “I remember that day from A to Z. Often in interviews I am asked what my plans are but since that day, I no longer have any plans. It’s short term, we don’t know what will happen tomorrow.” This tragic event anchors Mathieu Madénian considerably in the present, as Frédéric Lopez points out.
I sometimes write to them and wait for the three little dots to light up
Mathieu Madenian
Turned upside down by these memories, the comedian asks the other guests – Frédéric Lopez included – if they keep the messages of the people who have left. And if all answer in the affirmative, he continues: “I have two or three people who have left my life, and I sometimes write to them and wait for the three little dots to light up. It’s stupid huh but…”, suspends Mathieu Madénian before returning to the genius of the late designers and the chance he has to still be there. After the tragedy, the comedian continued to write for the newspaper for three years.
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