Why this title, The Marrow Bone?, we asked Pierre Dac. ” Why not ? “, replied the editor-in-chief of this newspaper “tact for tat”, recounts Emmanuelle Galabru in the show designed by Anne-Marie Lazarini, the director of the Artistic Théâtre, in Paris. With the blessing of Jacques Pessis, biographer and universal heir of the brilliant comedian and singer who died in 1975, this enthusiast puts on a show which resurrects the spirit of a humorist as sharp in the absurd register as for the sense of repartee.

On the set, enlarged front pages of his famous newspaper written by editors experienced in the exercise of farce (Francis Blanche was one of them). Four pages “For all that is against and against all that is for. » Born André Isaac, to a butcher and a stay-at-home mother, Pierre Dac founded “the official organ of loonies”, a “noun that can be used as an adjective”, on May 13, 1938.

Anti-Hitler, L’Os à marrow, does not fail to recall the dictator’s visit to his premises, emphasizing that he forgot to pay his subscription. Nonsense will not resist the enemy. Publication ended on June 7, 1940, after 109 issues, a week before the Germans entered Paris. “What happened to me makes perfect sense. It is well known that marrow bone decomposes on contact with verdigris,” analyzes the caustic Pierre Dac.

Three deadpan comedians perform editorials, current affairs columns, classified ads, competitions, readers’ letters and cooking recipes, each more delirious than the last, all testimonies of a “healthy joke”. “We are asking for a serious horse that knows Paris well to make deliveries on its own”, “Two-ton truck, released from military service and having a horror of responsibilities, requests trailer space”…

Reader of all of Pierre Dac’s writings, Anne-Marie Lazarini has the gift of conveying their earthiness and intelligence in a simple, but effective setting. She once again trusted the faithful to reproduce the words of the inventor of Bigloton and the radio soap opera Signé Furax. On the courtyard side, Emmanuelle Galabru appears both curious and doubtful about the comments of her two companions placed on the garden side, Cédric Colas and Michel Ouimet. Michel Galabru’s daughter brings a welcome feminine touch. His partners fully occupying the territory of the joke.

Cédric Colas is always accurate when he explains the games invented by journalists with unbridled imagination, and Michel Ouimet plays a larger-than-life Pierre Dac. As we leave, we can’t help but think that the creator of the satirical weekly is greatly missed today. “ Make it soft again. »

“L’Os à marrow”, at the Artistic Théâtre (Paris 11th), until December 31. Loc. : 01 43 56 38 32

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