2023-07-11 18:20:00
The Stockfish, “the largest of the small rooms in Nice”, (200 seats in a seated configuration, 600 standing), had planned to take a break during the summer. It was without counting on a surprise guest: Gad Elmaleh.
“We wanted to end the season on June 30 and close until September 1. Obviously, we postponed the holidays with pleasure “, smiles Graig Monetti, the Deputy Mayor for Youth who launched this place of culture almost a year ago on the Saint-Jean-d’Angély campus. “Gad Elmaleh is Live Nation, heavy. He is used to performing in halls of 1,000 or 2,000 people. It’s a great opportunity, almost a private show”. The king of stand-up will therefore give two performances there on the evening of this Wednesday, July 12, with in particular the comedian from Nice Laurent Barat (sorry for the fans, it is sold out).
Why did the great Gad choose this small room in Nice?
“ He’s a longtime friend, we’ve known each other for 20 years. A few years ago, on nearly 60 dates, he took Laurent Barat in the first part of his shows. They have a very strong bond. Since then, we have often met on tour, we left little messages in the dressing rooms”, raconte Gil Marsalla, of Directo Productions, a club from Nice which plays as far as New York and beyond. He is also Laurent Barat’s producer. “Gad’s manager came to see Laurent Barat at the Fridge Comedy (Kev Adams’ stand-up venue in Paris) and showed him some excerpts. Gad loved it. A fortnight ago he called Laurent and told him said: ”What is the Stockfish where you play? I’m coming!” was decided in two hours”.
He comes to test these ideas, which can work for a next show, continues this specialist. Testing the valves, the rhythm, the sequences in small rooms is a very widespread practice in the USA. Find the “The”.
Gad Elmaleh had already done that in 2014 in the United States: total or almost unknown across the Atlantic, he played in cellars for 100 dollars, hard.
In 2020, the Chouchou de la France had played the same bet on the stage of the Théâtre de la Cité, rue Paganini in Nice.
“A call: ‘‘Shello, it’s Gad Elmaleh, I would like to prowl my show at your place. Could you find me a date or two?’’”, remembers director Thierry Suirace. “ We had already received Jamel Debbouze. It was bliss: following the performances, he would say: ”Are you inviting friends, we’re having an following party?. We ate stuffed Nice, it was nice”.
He analyses: “Most of the great artists need to get back to basics, to the public. With us, they run their shows, try… We are local structures: in our rooms, we see the smiles of the spectators. Gad Elmaleh does part of those who like contact with the public”.
Princess Charlotte in the audience?
“ He is a simple, accessible, human artist”confirms the journalist of the culture department of Nice morningMathieu Faure, who interviewed him last January. “Gad Elmaleh was there for a show in Menton. He gave me an appointment by text. We spent an hour together in one to one, it’s rare. He was staying in a hotel on Jean-Médecin near from the Nice train station, a four-star hotel but far from the palaces one might have imagined… He explained to me that the boss was a friend and that he had friends in Nice”.
Friends in Nice and family ties in Monaco, on the Rock. It is also rumored that his ex-wife and mother of his second son Raphaël, Princess Charlotte Casiraghi, might well come and applaud him this Wednesday, July 12 in Nice.
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