These videos have been coded with the new software which integrates the subtitles into the video
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| Here is the wonderfully irreverent Franck Dubosc, musing on that strange phenomenon, adolescence. The French have a freer attitude to matters sexual than we protestants in the anglosaxon world. Good for them | This sketch made me laugh a lot. It's the most traditional of stand-up comedy in a small theatre, finishing with a nice punch-line | Popeck, and another type of traditional music-hall humour. Here he reminisces about les mardis habillés de la Comédie-Française. |
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| Daniel Prévost demonstrates a strange style of humour, suing a box of Camembert cheese to demonstrate that God does not exist. followed by a tirade against security guards and their dogs. | Chevallier et Laspalès are not only very funny, but relatively easy to understand with their moderately paced and careful diction. Here they muse upon the meaning of dreams | Sadly, I have very little recorded of the work of Pierre Desproges, one of the very great French humorists - only a programme in the series Un soir... from which I have already assembled a medley. So here are the rest of the quotes the programme made from his stage show |
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| Acording to the Wiki article on Jean-Marie Bigard, in 2010 this sketch was to be performed in Patrick Sebastien's show les Années Bonheur. The CSA (the French TV watchdog) wanted it banned on grounds of 'sexism and vulgarity'). Sebatien insisted, and the sketch was transmitted. The article speaks of it being construit comme une métaphore filée - it is based on the idea that men chasing girls are doing the same thing as those who hunt game or catch fish. Yes, it's very vulgar, but as a confirmed feminist, I did not find it insulting to women. So I am including it. But please - if this is not your cup of tea - don't watch it ! It's a long sketch- eight minutes, and an excellent listening exercise. | When I first started to watch French television, Laurent Ruquier was doing an early evening chat show called On a tout essayé. Florence Foresti was on every evening with one of her stock characters to comment on some aspect of the programme. I recorded these little inserts in the hope of learning to understand them completely. One day perhaps ... So here are two helpings of the scatter-brained Brigitte talking about savoir-vivre and what she calls généralogie |
Here is a long sketch - Jojo - from Elie Semoun which
comes from Laurent, who is French and a teacher of French to
anglophones resident in his country. He sent me the text, so all I
have done is prepare the subtitles. I explain that with care,
because this is a very difficult listening exercise indeed.
But it is very funny, and it is useful for us to follow
something as fast-paced and colloquial as this. If you're feeling ambitious, why not download the audio version, and see how far you get with it, before watching the video ? |
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| Here is a classic sketch from the great Jean Yanne, Permis de conduire. I couldn't find it completer anywhere in a form I could post without copyright problems, so I've taken the complete second half from a TV broadcast, and added some still images to the sound-track for the first half. I hope you'll agree it's worth it. | Th French can't do sitcoms, but they do short sketches very well, and a favourite form is a situation consisting of a number of little gags. The most famous of these series is Un gars une fille, the series which started off the careers of Jean Dujardin and his wife Alexandre Lamy. It is constantly rebroadcast and deserves to be .. it's very funny. Here Loulou has to go to the dentist with a not always very sympathetic Alexandre | The stand-up comic has vanished from British television, but the art is, happily, alive and well in France. Patrick Timsit is as traditional as it gets, Direct 8 did a themed programme on the subject of work, and Timsit did a nicely acid piece on doctors. Emjoy ! |
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Here is the greatest of all the French humorists - Pierre Desproges.
Magnificently irreverent and politically incorrect, he weaves
wonderful poetical flights of logical fantasy - as in this
opening sequence from his show at the Theatre La Fontaine. Now - a quite difficult little test of your knowledge of modern French history. At a certain point in the sketch he says " je suis incapable de connaître un rayon laser d'une corde de linge ordinaire .. ou un chien qui pète d'un avion qui renifle ". What is the story behind this "aeroplane that sniffs". Clue: He is speaking in 1984. There is a clue on this site ! |
Here's the man who started my fascination with French stand-up comics. Six years ago I found in my local University library a DVD called Raymond Devos à l'Olympia. I didn't understand a word, but the audience laughed enormously at this strange-looking man. Later I discovered that he had the reputation of being the greatest jongleur des mots of all time, and that made me want to understand even more. Well, my ear has improved a little since then, and I am delighted to be able to share this pleasure with you. | When I saw that Arte was to screen Python Folie, or And now for something completely different, in English, I expected it to be subtitled rather than dubbed. But no, the dubbing studio had evidently taken a deep breath and launched themselves on Mission Impossible. Well - you can't say Nudge, nudge, wink wink in French. It doesn't exist. And the gesture which the French call a bras d'honneur has a quite different meaning for us. The result is quite astonishing... |
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| Here is a very short clip from my sketches collection. It's Isabeau de R, who is very funny, but not at all easy to follow. Here she demonstrates that French air hostesses are just like those we have on British Airways. Where do they get them from - the local jail ? | Here is the wonderfully earthy Jean-Marie Bigard who starts off with the story about the le songe doré; then recounts the rivalry between two opera singers, and finishes with an Eskimo joke. That's what I call culture - and just the sort of material you need next time you speak in your French class. | You certainly can't say that there is a lack of variety on this site. However there are some old favourites that I have to trot out occasionally. One of them is France's naughtiest comic Jean-Marie Bigard. He is here mostly because he makes me laugh. But his anecdotes are also excellent listening exercises. Having said that: could any kind student of French kindly explain to me the sketch that finishes « Tu vois .. on a même une heure de plus . parce que en ce moment il est en train de jouer au tennis avec toi ! » ? |
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| From a collection called Le meilleur de Florence Foresti, here is one of the sketches she did every evening on Laurent Ruquier's chat show On a tout essayé. This time it is the engaging Brigitte who talks about Les célibataires. | Every so often we have to have an extract from Pierre Desproges, just to remind ourselves of the amazing originality of this comedian. Most French comics take care to stay within the bounds of what can be done in comedy - aller trop loin is a social offence in France - but Desproges is often offensive - but always inventive. And his flights of poetic language are a delight. Here is more from his show at the theatre La Fontaine. | |
