“It’s him, him once more!” “. When Gad Elmaleh is asked why he returns to New York to show his last show, the Moroccan comedian returns once more and once more to his professional sponsor in the United States: Jerry Seinfeld. ” I was at the Beacon Theater a while ago to see it. He was so comfortable, happy… It made me want to do a date there once more”.
“NYC is forever”
To the delight of French speakers in New York, the project became a reality. Between a stopover in Bordeaux and Mondorf-les-bains, the actor will go back on the boards of the mythical room from the Upper West Side this Tuesday, April 11 to play, in French, his new show, “D’ailleurs”. You might also run into him at the Comedy Cellar, the standup lair, where he had his habits when he lived in the Big Apple. ” I stayed very close to the city. I strongly disagree with this trend of saying that New York is over since the pandemic. Admittedly, it is complex, hard. But NYC is forever,” he said.
By his own admission, he returns more cool “ than in 2015, when he bet to cross the Atlantic, with the support of Jerry Seinfeld, to make a name for himself in the United States. In addition to his shows, played for three years across the country, he toured American talk shows and produced his own mini-series on Netflix, in which he played the role of a French star that no one knew. in the country of Uncle Sam. All in a language – English – which is not his own. ” It was a challenge, a novelty. I was performing in front of a mix of audiences. There’s a magic thing regarding playing in English, but my DNA is improvisation, it’s playing with the public. However, when I do it in English, it’s less virtuosic. Humor is a language he observes. Coming back to a city in front of an audience that I love, with a show that I have already been running for some time in the French-speaking world, it has a more comfortable side..
“It’s hard to be humorous today”
In “Besides”, he will discuss his American adventure, but also more personal subjects, such as fatherhood and relationships – he separated in 2015 from Princess Charlotte Casiraghi (daughter of Caroline of Monaco and granddaughter of Grace Kelly) with whom he had a child. He will also talk regarding religion, death, his stage debut… At 51, “ I am at a time in life when I am less apprehensive regarding the reactions of others, especially on faith, death, religion. These are subjects that generate tension. At thirty, you don’t say anything that upsets you. At forty, we say it halfway but we squeeze our buttocks. At fifty, we say it and we accept the consequenceshe said. There are sensitivities everywhere today. It has become difficult to be humorous ”.
He will take advantage of his visit to New York to present his autobiographical film “Reste un peu” (“Stay with us”) on April 14 at the FIAF. This one found a North American distributor (Film Movement). In this spiritual comedy, he recounts, he who was born into a Berber Jewish family, his journey towards Catholicism and the efforts of those close to him to put him back on the right track. ” It was an unexpected pitch coming from me”, he acknowledges. Gad Elmaleh has not finished surprising us.
