“We need comedians more than ever,” began Pierre-Yves Jeholet, the minister-president of the Wallonia-Brussels federation. On Tuesday in Paris, he opened the Belgian Turbulences gala, a fortnight of 100% Belgian humor, organized with the help of Vincent Taloche, the president of the Belgian Federation of Humor Professionals (FBPH).
“Until now, comedy was not considered as a discipline in its own right. From now on, we are recognized at the headquarters of the Chamber of the Performing Arts Council,” noted the very proud comedian. The meeting in Paris is a springboard which allows ten young artists to play in venues in the capital dedicated to humor (the Scène Barbès, le Point-virgule, The Joke Comedy Club, the Apollo Comedy, les Blancs -Coats, …). They were chosen by professional juries out of 65 candidates during public evenings which took place in Brussels and Liège.
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Their compatriot Alex Vizorek was promoted to master of ceremonies. “Be careful, if you miss a premiere in Paris, it’s over for three years!” he said, laughing, his cards in one hand, the microphone in the other. He took the opportunity to promote his latest show on death called Ad Vitam.
“Hello Paris!” Aged 23 to 43, the future Jamel Debbouze seemed to have given themselves the word for their entry onto the set. Anthony Circus, Mehdi BTB -a financial consultant-, Gaëtan Delferière, Sacha Ferra, Sarah Lélé, Denis Richir and Julie Geller competed in imagination to seduce the one hundred and fifty people installed in the room of the Wallonia-Brussels international center.
Among them, knowledgeable comedians, like Virginie Hocq, and channel managers like Yves Bigot, at the head of the international French-speaking television channel TV5 Monde. “I started there twelve years ago,” recalled Alex Vizorek. His future rivals had 7 minutes to convince. Lorenzo Manchini said he was the first architect to “build jokes”, Kostia wondered what it means to be a man today and curvaceous André Demarteau confided that he dreamed of being a gastronomic critic .
