Jay Du Temple, Martin Perizzolo or Matthieu Pepper are among the more than 250 artists who will perform on July 13e Zoofest. Isabelle Desmarais, the new general manager of this Montreal festival of emerging comedy, created a program that blended young voices who have proven themselves on the Internet and more established comedians.
About 150 shows divided into ten categories will be shown in several halls of the Quartier des spectacles from July 14 to 28. Thirty comedians will be alone on stage, including Jay Du Temple, who will offer five performances of his second show, intended to be intimate and personal.
Matthieu Pepper, who is currently working on his solo show, will share the fruit of his work, which he describes as a mixture of poetry, hip-hop, Indian food and maple syrup.
For Martin Perizzolo, he will give in to self-deprecating and committed humor with Perizz.
Other solo artists include David Beaucage, Garihanna Jean-Louis, Mona De Grenoble, PO Forget, Suzie Bouchard and Thomas Levac.
Zoofest viewers will see twice – and in some cases four times – on 30/30a basic concept of the festival where two – or four – comedians take turns sharing the stage over a one -hour marathon.
Note in this category the duo Jean-Michel Elie and Erika Suarez, alias The beautiful and the beast, who co-hosted the podcast Controlled skids, as well as Val Belzil and Rachelle Elie. The latter, a regular at the Ottawa Fringe festival, will discuss topics such as sex, drugs and youth.
A springboard to the general public
We treat ourselves as a festival that wants to be a mediator, explains Isabelle Desmarais, general manager of Zoofest and OFF-JFL. He said he admires the ability of emerging comedians to build their brand by wearing a few hats: directing, writing, editing, marketing strategy …
He hopes Zoofest can give them the decisive help that will allow them to thrive. We are the trampoline before they land on your screens, on your radios; they are readyhe added.
This transmission belt role that Zoofest trusts can be seen, for example, using the TikTok Stand Up formula, back for the second consecutive year and again hosted by Mégan Brouillard. Personalities from the popular app popular with young people will take the stage for the first time, along with comedians who use TikTok to promote their careers.
Zoofest is always a celebration for upcoming comedy stars, and at a low price, Isabelle Desmarais says. So our goal is accessibility, but it’s also to say: “If there’s a list that exists, and it’s funny, we dug it up and we presented it to you.” We are gold prospectors.
Universalism and representation
As the first female director of a major cultural festival in Quebec, Isabelle Desmarais, who grew up in a Rwandan-Quebec family, said she developed a program that resembled her.
Humor and laughter are general, he says. Our goal is to say: “Is the rainbow of humor represented in the moment, whether in sexual diversity or in cultural diversity?”
Isabelle Desmarais cites drama as an example Aphrodisiacby Maryline Chery and Don Paco Master of Keys, speaking about the plight of being a young black woman who suddenly moved to the countryside of Laval.
This work presented on July 18 and 24 at Monument-National is a theatrical solo that reflects the texture of black women’s hair, and the way in which they are perceived and treated in contemporary society.
Aphrodisiac is included in the Place au théâtre section, which also includes Knoxville, TNthe story of the three sons of an American wheat magnate signed by the Pea Soup collective, and Snuba work by Mathieu Quesnel inspired by the dramaturgical process that animates the play Dear Chekhovby Michel Tremblay.
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A female team
Isabelle Desmarais is proud to have a 100% female team to organize and lead the 13e Zoofest. The festival also boasts a program that provides plenty of latitude to many artists of sexual, gender or body diversity.
Sa BITCHfestdrag queen Mona de Grenoble will host a great show aimed at guest of honor Christine Morency, recently the star of the documentary I love youwhich speaks of fatphobia.
Drag kings Rock Bière and RV Métal, also the stars of a documentary released last year, will celebrate bizarre feminism in a show that promised us to be chaotic.
Finally, the Womansplaining Show will return to the festival with three exclusive female performances hosted by Noémie Leduc Roy and Anne-Sarah Charbonneau. They describe their concept as a show by Jean-Marc Parent if he can explain the first time he put on a DivaCup.
The complete program is available on its website (New window).
This text was written from from an interview by Catherine Richercultural columnist on the show At 15-18. Comments may have been edited for clarity or brevity.
Radio Canada
Radio Canada
Source: Radio-Canada
