The passionate backpacker and bon vivant Benoit Roberge is delighted to have been able to start traveling once more and to now be able to show us images of his fabulous journeys. His heart, which has been hurt over the past few years, is now lighter.
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Benoit Roberge has made not one, but two major stays abroad in recent months, in order to offer us two new shows on Évasion. Whoo! “I was really depressed this winter, admits the host. I wondered what I was going to do. I didn’t know if my programs at Zeste would come back… And then came these two series of trips: Benoit among the Belgians et Thai tower.»
Right now he can be seen guiding us through the land of fries, waffles, chocolate and beer. Benoit walked as much in Liège and Namur as in Ostend, Bruges, Antwerp and Brussels… When he visited the country’s capital, was he disappointed with the small size of the Manneken Pis, the emblematic statue of Belgium? “Yes. It shows that when the buzz hits on something… But there are days when we dress it up, so it gets a little funny. You wonder what he’s going to wear the day you’re there. He has already been dressed as a fleur-de-lis on Saint John’s Day, as Elvis…”
UNFORGETTABLE ENCOUNTERS
He made some great friends. In particular with the Belgian humorist Bruno Coppens. “He is so funny! It was a big hit! He’s coming to Quebec in the fall and he said to me: ‘You’ll come on stage to make a tune.’” As a great fan of comics, Benoit spoiled himself. “I met Midam, the guy who does Kid Paddle. He received me at his home. It was interesting to ask someone who does comics why the Belgians have distinguished themselves so much in this field.
IN THAILAND WITH FRIENDS
Benoit also traveled to Thailand with his friend Jean-Michel Dufaux to shoot the show Thai tower, which we will see this fall. “It’s a place that Jean-Michel knows well. He has been there often since 1998. He talked regarding it a lot. I found it far. He asked me: “When are we going to go there?” And there, that we do it together for TV, it’s touching.
The 35-day trip, in a period of great heat, was gastronomic, but also introspective and spiritual. “We visited temples. There were moments of emotion. We went to the monks. I talked regarding my father, who died in 2018 … ”In this series, we will see the depth of their friendship which has lasted for 25 years. “I owe him a lot to Jean-Michel, because at the start of my career he was there. Together, we did street entertainment before the Just for Laughs galas for Canal Indigo, he recalls. We make a good team. He knows his subject very well, I am more in reaction.
A PAIN OF LOVE
Work allowed him not only to meet friends, but also to experience love. During a shoot in France a few years ago, Benoit fell in love with a Parisian, Marie Sanson. The couple had told their sentimental story in a book released in the fall of 2020, Our crossings: Romantic and practical notebook on Montreal and Paris. “With the pandemic, our story has not held up. It was very hard for me. I really went down very, very low. We weren’t filming and I was going through a heartbreak, he confides. There was a good age difference between us… And Marie mightn’t see herself giving up everything to come and live here. Me, I went there often, but not enough to say that I might make my career there. It means that we separated in 2020, at the start of the pandemic. For a year and a half, it was very, very hard! Besides, our book came out following our separation! Today, I talk regarding it, and it’s going well, but during this period, I was not strong.
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