Yvon Deschamps
Encyclopedia
Yvon Deschamps, CQ
(born July 31, 1935 in Montreal
, Quebec
) is a Quebec
author
, actor
, comedian
and producer best known for his monologues. His social-commentary-tinged humour
propelled him to prominence in Quebec popular culture in the 1970s and 1980s. A long time comedian and still active, Deschamps is now perceived as one of the greatest of Quebec history.
's working-class Saint-Henri district. He left school in 1951, after Grade 11, and in 1953 found work in the record library at Radio-Canada's new television service. It was at Radio-Canada that Deschamps discovered the performing arts; after attending a boulevard theatre
piece starring Georges Groulx
and Denise Pelletier
, he added a taste for the theatre, and enrolled in acting classes with François Rozet
and Paul Buissonneau
.http://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Deschamps%2C%20Yvon He took the stage for the first time in 1957 at the , playing Pylade in a production of Jean Racine
's Andromaque.
In 1959, Deschamps was part of La Roulotte, Paul Buissonneau's travelling children's theatre. The following year he married Mireille Lachance (the two would divorce in 1967). In 1961 he became friends with Claude Léveillée, becoming his drummer, even though the man had actually never played the drums before. In 1963 he formed a company with Léveillée and several other artists at Buissonneau's Théâtre de Quat'Sous
. In 1964 he played his first film role in Jean-Claude Lord
's .
That same year Deschamps left his short career as a musician behind and opened Le Fournil, a restaurant in Old Montreal, followed by Saint-Amable in 1966. Both would end up bankrupt a few years later, but while they were open Deschamps hosted his Boîte à Clémence, a boîte à chanson hosted by Clémence Desrochers, participating in the (People are Funny) and (Be Yourself) shows which opened there in 1967. The latter played a special role in his career, because that is where the Yvon Deschamps "character" and his "good boss" role appeared for the first time.
's celebrated play Les Belles-sœurs to the Rideau Vert theatre, and was looking for a play to finish the season with.
Deschamps proposed a musical review to Louise Forestier
and Robert Charlebois
with Mouffe on board, and very little rehearsal time. The result would be known as L'Osstidcho (L'hostie de show or "The freaking show"), a show that would revolutionize Quebec song. Inspired by Arlo Guthrie
's Alice's Restaurant, Deschamps made his first real monologue part of the review when Robert Charlebois did not want to learn his lines for the dialogue (he decided to strum the guitar instead). In Les unions, qu'ossa donne? (Unions, What are they Good For?), Deschamps played a naïve worker extolling the great generosity and good-heartedness of his boss, making it clear that reality was not quite so rosy:
Deschamps would write a number of other monologues, including (People are Crazy), (That's Really Something), and La Saint-Jean (June 24), as well as Nigger Black and Pépère (Grandpa), both of which went back to the character's childhood.
's tour, then Le bonheur (Happiness) at the Théâtre du Canada; these two monologues would become his second album. Deschamps put on his first solo show at the Patriot, where he would go on to appear some 310 times.
In 1970 Deschamps released his third album, Le p'tit Jésus/Le fœtus (Baby Jesus/The Foetus) and appeared more than 240 times at the Place des Arts
's Théâtre Maisonneuve, where he launched monologues like Dans ma cour (In My Yard) and Cable TV. The following year another 180 performances were held, including five consecutive weeks sold out.
Deschamps presented his shows On va s'en sortir (We'll Manage) at the Théâtre Saint-Denis
in 1972 and (Women's Lib) at the Patriote in 1973 and 1974, giving some 150 performances of the latter show. In 1975, he toured for nine months to put on (History of the Sacred).
In 1977, Deschamps returned with a new, untitled show which would headline for 16 weeks at the Place des Arts and show 102 times over that period. His first daughter with now-wife Judi Richards, Annie, was born. For a brief period he attempted to pierce the English-language market with a California
tour, and appeared three times on Peter Gzowski
's popular CBC
programme (one of these appearances is archived in the first volume of his DVD collection), further appearing on the CBC's Let's Save Canada Hour. He soon reconsidered moving his new family to the United States to essentially 'start over' and went home to Montreal.
In 1979, he headed back yet again to the Place des Arts, with a difficult show which included his La petite mentale (the retarded girl) and La manipulation monologues. Deschamps himself called the show a "catastrophe" and would later recall that "they ended up writing off my career." He had a second daughter, Karine, and came back in1982 with (We are the biggest crowd alone). Although the public hesitated at first—only 5000 tickets had sold a week before the show opened—the show was very well-received; as Deschamps put it, "I got wise and, ten days later, began selling out a room a day."
The following year Deschamps headlined two weeks at the Théâtre de la Ville de Paris. It would be the swan song of the most fruitful period of his career: seeing a new generation of Québécois comedians like Ding et Dong growing up around him, and troubled by what he saw as a political correctness
movement in the 1980s, Deschamps chose 1983 to bow out as a monologuist with his farewell show, Un voyage dans le temps (A Journey Through Time).
(Saturday Laughs), a one-hour variety show with comedic skits and a special guest (musical or other) carried on Saturday nights at 7 p.m. on Radio-Canada. Yvon Deschamps was the host, and appeared alongside Normand Chouinard, Normand Brathwaite
, Pauline Martin and Michèle Deslauriers
. Among the characters he developed there was the famous storyteller persona of Ti-Blanc Lebrun who would swallow his harmonica before the end of every story and be unable to continue. Seventy-eight episodes and two "best of" recaps would air between 1985 and 1989. Judi Richards
and Yvon Deschamps welcomed their 3rd and last daughter, Sarah-Émilie in 1986.
The experience of weekly television allowed Deschamps, now in his 50s, to keep a hand in the comedy business and stay in touch with Quebec audiences, but with a much lower level of stress than his one-man shows had involved. That said, he has presented occasional monologues in between two skits. Deschamps then launched CTYvon (ITSYvon) on the heels of Samedi de rires success. CTVon was a daily program filmed in a television studio, half sitcom and half parody
of other television programs. But the show did not have a chance to find an audience as the at-first-unpopular Samedi de Rire did, with Radio-Canada yanking it off the air after a few months for low ratings(1989–1990).
After eight years away from the stage, Deschamps decided to wade back in one last time with a new show, U.S. qu'on s'en va? (What's Next for U.S.?), performed live 140 times in 1992 and 1993, and broadcast on Radio-Canada television. Following the show's success he moved into semi-retirement, purchasing in 1996 the Manoir Rouville-Campbell, a historic hotel property, a Tudor Manor, in Mont-Saint-Hilaire in Quebec's Montérégie
region. He helped keep the hotel running during the off-season by opening a small nightclub there called Boîte à Yvon (Yvon's Club) in which he would perform some of his classic and more recent material to the 300-capacity crowd. An album, Yvon Deschamps au Manoir Rouville-Campbell, was issued in 1999. Yvon then built a bigger hall called l'Orangeraie in the Manoir with a scenic view of the manoir grounds and the Richelieu river.
The semi-retirement did not last, either, however. Following pressure from contemporaries and friends, such as wife Judi Richards and Normand Brathwaite, who were adamant that his newer material should be shared with larger audiences, Deschamps got back to work. The result, Comment ça, 2000? (2000 Already?), was performed in front of sold-out houses in the Manoir, at Montreal's Théâtre Corona and Quebec City
's Palais Montcalm, then hit the road for a cross-Quebec tour in 2001 and 2002, culminating in the Comment ca, 2000... 2001... 2002?
Since 2000, the Boîte à Yvon has regularly presented emerging Quebec comedians. In 2001 Deschamps was named a Knight of the National Order of Quebec
by Quebec's premier, Bernard Landry
.http://www.premier.gouv.qc.ca/general/communiques/archives_commumiques/2001/juin/com20010605.htm
In 2006, Deschamps toured with his wife of 35 years in the show 'Judi et Yvon font une scène' where they shared the stage equally for the first time. It was a sold-out success.
The Manoir was sold in 2006, but in his 70s Deschamps shows no sign of stopping. As one of the most prolific hosts and performers the 'Festival Juste pour rire' has ever had, he presented one new or re-worked monologue for each gala show for the festival's 25th anniversary in the summer of 2007. They paid homage to him with a special gala.
He now has 4 grandchildren he finds time to babysit.
Through his daughter Annie and her husband Rodrigo: Antoine, Charles-Yvon, and a Camille and through his daughter Karine's husband Reidel: Kevin
, and often buried a message that was completely opposite to what the stage character was saying literally. For Deschamps' first monologue, Les unions, qu'ossa donne?, he created an exploited worker who incarnated the Québécois self-image of a historic past as water-carriers and hewers of wood, and who remained resolutely blind to his exploitation at the hands of his "good" boss.
In the beginning, Yvon Deschamps' never-named "character" was distinguished by his spectacular naïvete, which served as a vehicle for Deschamps to tackle delicate subjects such as racism
. In Nigger Black, for instance, the character recalled boyhood surprise upon learning that "Nègres" were no more nor less than human beings like him, neither better nor worse:
But, very quickly, Deschamps felt the need to go further outside the usual boundaries. His character began to be more self-assured, his remarks more pointed:
In L'intolérance, Deschamps tried something riskier: going beyond what his audience could possibly accept. The monologue started quietly, after a long introduction and a song (On va s'en sortir, We'll Manage), with the character warning the public against the dangers of intolerance, which had caused wars, massacres, genocides and other human follies—all that, punctuated with a diatribe against "faggots". Deschamps' character cited as an example the Biafra
genocide, where intolerance had resulted in "millions of little niggers dying of hunger", adding that it didn't bother him too much since, after all, these were only "niggers". At the same time, Deschamps would hasten to add, intolerance had also killed "real people" -- the "almost Whites", which were the "Light Greys", by which he meant Jews
.
The monologue continued to unwind, and the character would explain how he had kicked a Jewish family out of their neighbourhood as a teenager, punctuated by exclamations of "damn dirty Jews". He would push and push until a member of the audience showed some sign of disgust. The character would at that point turn to the audience member and accuse him of showing the same intolerance he'd been warning the public about for the last twenty minutes. Deschamps' character would add that an army should really be mounted against the intolerants, ending the monologue with the sounds of a regiment marching, fading into a reprise of the opening song, On va s'en sortir.
Deschamps always admitted being a little bit frightened when he performed this monologue.
(1972, Polydor, 2424.062)
(1975, Kébec-Disc, KD-904)
(1982, Bo-Mon, BM-562/563)
National Order of Quebec
The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as l'Ordre national du Québec, and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec...
(born July 31, 1935 in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
) is a Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
and producer best known for his monologues. His social-commentary-tinged humour
Humour
Humour or humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement...
propelled him to prominence in Quebec popular culture in the 1970s and 1980s. A long time comedian and still active, Deschamps is now perceived as one of the greatest of Quebec history.
Beginnings
Yvon Deschamps was born in MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
's working-class Saint-Henri district. He left school in 1951, after Grade 11, and in 1953 found work in the record library at Radio-Canada's new television service. It was at Radio-Canada that Deschamps discovered the performing arts; after attending a boulevard theatre
Boulevard theatre
Boulevard theatre is a theatrical aesthetic which emerged from the boulevards of Paris's old city.-Origin:Starting from the second half of the 18th century, popular and bourgeois theatre alike took up residence on the boulevard du Temple, then nicknamed Boulevard of Crime due to the many...
piece starring Georges Groulx
Georges Groulx
George Groulx is an actor born in Quebec, Montreal on June 22nd, 1922 and died on February 9th, 1997 in Montreal, Canada.-Filmography:* 1954: 14, rue de Galais* 1957: Opération-mystère* 1958: Le Courrier du roy* 1962: Les Enquêtes Jobidon...
and Denise Pelletier
Denise Pelletier
Denise Pelletier, OC was a Canadian actress.- Early life :Denise Pelletier was born on May 22, 1923 was born in Saint-Jovite, Quebec to father Albert Pelletier, a literary critic, and mother Marie-Reine Vaugeois. Her mother was very cultured and helped Denise's love of theatre flourish...
, he added a taste for the theatre, and enrolled in acting classes with François Rozet
François Rozet
François Rozet, was a French Canadian actor.In 1971, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for his contribution to French theatre". -External links:...
and Paul Buissonneau
Paul Buissonneau
Paul Georges Buissonneau, CM is a leading francophone theatre director.He started his career as a singer with the French chorus Les Compagnons de la chanson, alongside Édith Piaf who was also singing with the group at the time...
.http://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Deschamps%2C%20Yvon He took the stage for the first time in 1957 at the , playing Pylade in a production of Jean Racine
Jean Racine
Jean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...
's Andromaque.
In 1959, Deschamps was part of La Roulotte, Paul Buissonneau's travelling children's theatre. The following year he married Mireille Lachance (the two would divorce in 1967). In 1961 he became friends with Claude Léveillée, becoming his drummer, even though the man had actually never played the drums before. In 1963 he formed a company with Léveillée and several other artists at Buissonneau's Théâtre de Quat'Sous
Théâtre de Quat'Sous
The Théâtre de Quat'Sous is a Canadian theatre located on Pine Avenue in the borough of Le Plateau-Mont-Royal in the city of Montreal, Quebec. Established in 1955, it is the third oldest theatre company in Montreal after Théâtre du Rideau Vert and Théâtre du Nouveau Monde.-External links:*...
. In 1964 he played his first film role in Jean-Claude Lord
Jean-Claude Lord
Jean-Claude Lord is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. He was one of the most commercial of the Quebecois directors in the 1970s and aimed his feature films at a mass audience and dealt with political themes in a mainstream, Hollywood style.-Biography:Jean-Claude Lord began his career as...
's .
That same year Deschamps left his short career as a musician behind and opened Le Fournil, a restaurant in Old Montreal, followed by Saint-Amable in 1966. Both would end up bankrupt a few years later, but while they were open Deschamps hosted his Boîte à Clémence, a boîte à chanson hosted by Clémence Desrochers, participating in the (People are Funny) and (Be Yourself) shows which opened there in 1967. The latter played a special role in his career, because that is where the Yvon Deschamps "character" and his "good boss" role appeared for the first time.
L'Ostidshow
In the winter of 1968, finding himself broke and occasionally sleeping on friends couches with new girlfriend Judi Richards, Deschamps took a job at the Quat'Sous offered by his friend Buissonneau. Buissonneau had just lost Michel TremblayMichel Tremblay
Michel Tremblay, CQ is a Canadian novelist and playwright.Tremblay grew up in the Plateau Mont-Royal, a French-speaking neighbourhood of Montreal, at the time of his birth a neighbourhood with a working-class character and joual dialect, something that would heavily influence his work...
's celebrated play Les Belles-sœurs to the Rideau Vert theatre, and was looking for a play to finish the season with.
Deschamps proposed a musical review to Louise Forestier
Louise Forestier
Louise Forestier is a singer, songwriter and actor.-Biography:Forestier was trained in acting at the National Theatre School in Montreal, but it was as a singer that she first became known in 1966, when she received the Renée Claude Trophy from Le Patriote, a boîte à chansons in east-end...
and Robert Charlebois
Robert Charlebois
Robert Charlebois, OC, OQ is a Quebec author, composer, musician, performer and actor. He is an important figure in French language song....
with Mouffe on board, and very little rehearsal time. The result would be known as L'Osstidcho (L'hostie de show or "The freaking show"), a show that would revolutionize Quebec song. Inspired by Arlo Guthrie
Arlo Guthrie
Arlo Davy Guthrie is an American folk singer. Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Arlo often sings songs of protest against social injustice...
's Alice's Restaurant, Deschamps made his first real monologue part of the review when Robert Charlebois did not want to learn his lines for the dialogue (he decided to strum the guitar instead). In Les unions, qu'ossa donne? (Unions, What are they Good For?), Deschamps played a naïve worker extolling the great generosity and good-heartedness of his boss, making it clear that reality was not quite so rosy:
- One time, my wife falls sick real bad, so the hospital phoned. It was a quarter past two, the boss answers. He comes to see me, and says, "Your wife is in the emergency ward."
- He says, "Look, don't make yourself crazy about this! Just make like nothing's happened, keep on working. If anything does happen, I'll let you know."
- "Not just any boss that would've done something like that!"
Deschamps would write a number of other monologues, including (People are Crazy), (That's Really Something), and La Saint-Jean (June 24), as well as Nigger Black and Pépère (Grandpa), both of which went back to the character's childhood.
Glory
Following the success of Osstidcho, Yvon Deschamps' career sky rocketed. In 1969 he presented L'argent (Money) as the opening act for singer Marie LaforêtMarie Laforêt
Marie Laforêt is a French singer and actress, .In 1978 she moved to Geneva, Switzerland and took out Swiss nationality.-The sources of her birth name:...
's tour, then Le bonheur (Happiness) at the Théâtre du Canada; these two monologues would become his second album. Deschamps put on his first solo show at the Patriot, where he would go on to appear some 310 times.
In 1970 Deschamps released his third album, Le p'tit Jésus/Le fœtus (Baby Jesus/The Foetus) and appeared more than 240 times at the Place des Arts
Place des Arts
right|frame|View of the Place des Arts esplanade. The Musée d'art contemporain is on the left; behind it is the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, with the Théâtre Maisonneuve on the rightPlace des Arts is a major performing arts centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada....
's Théâtre Maisonneuve, where he launched monologues like Dans ma cour (In My Yard) and Cable TV. The following year another 180 performances were held, including five consecutive weeks sold out.
Deschamps presented his shows On va s'en sortir (We'll Manage) at the Théâtre Saint-Denis
Théâtre Saint-Denis
The Théâtre Saint-Denis is a theatre venue located on Saint Denis Street in Montreal, Quebec.A movie theatre built in 1915, the Théâtre Saint-Denis' mission changed in the 1980s and has since focused exclusively on performing arts...
in 1972 and (Women's Lib) at the Patriote in 1973 and 1974, giving some 150 performances of the latter show. In 1975, he toured for nine months to put on (History of the Sacred).
In 1977, Deschamps returned with a new, untitled show which would headline for 16 weeks at the Place des Arts and show 102 times over that period. His first daughter with now-wife Judi Richards, Annie, was born. For a brief period he attempted to pierce the English-language market with a California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
tour, and appeared three times on Peter Gzowski
Peter Gzowski
Peter Gzowski, was a Canadian broadcaster, writer and reporter, most famous for his work on the CBC radio show Morningside. His first biographer argued that Gzowski's contribution to Canadian media must be considered in the context of efforts by a generation of Canadian nationalists to understand...
's popular CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
programme (one of these appearances is archived in the first volume of his DVD collection), further appearing on the CBC's Let's Save Canada Hour. He soon reconsidered moving his new family to the United States to essentially 'start over' and went home to Montreal.
In 1979, he headed back yet again to the Place des Arts, with a difficult show which included his La petite mentale (the retarded girl) and La manipulation monologues. Deschamps himself called the show a "catastrophe" and would later recall that "they ended up writing off my career." He had a second daughter, Karine, and came back in1982 with (We are the biggest crowd alone). Although the public hesitated at first—only 5000 tickets had sold a week before the show opened—the show was very well-received; as Deschamps put it, "I got wise and, ten days later, began selling out a room a day."
The following year Deschamps headlined two weeks at the Théâtre de la Ville de Paris. It would be the swan song of the most fruitful period of his career: seeing a new generation of Québécois comedians like Ding et Dong growing up around him, and troubled by what he saw as a political correctness
Political correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
movement in the 1980s, Deschamps chose 1983 to bow out as a monologuist with his farewell show, Un voyage dans le temps (A Journey Through Time).
Departure and Return
In 1985, Samedi de rireSamedi de rire
Samedi de rire was a sketch comedy show in Quebec that aired from 1985 to 1989. It is similar to the American Saturday Night Live. The acting roster included Yvon Deschamps and Normand Brathwaite...
(Saturday Laughs), a one-hour variety show with comedic skits and a special guest (musical or other) carried on Saturday nights at 7 p.m. on Radio-Canada. Yvon Deschamps was the host, and appeared alongside Normand Chouinard, Normand Brathwaite
Normand Brathwaite
Normand Brathwaite is a Quebec comedian, movie and television actor, radio and television host and musician. He is known for hosting variety televisions shows for over 10 years, including Piment Fort as well as the Montreal radio morning show Yé trop de bonne heure on CKOI-FM for 15 years...
, Pauline Martin and Michèle Deslauriers
Michèle Deslauriers
Michèle Deslauriers is a Canadian actress. She is the wife of actor Sébastien Dhavernas and the mother of actress Caroline Dhavernas and voice actress Gabrielle Dhavernas. She also provides the voice, announcing the stops, for the Montreal Metro.- Filmography :* Nic et Pic * Y'a pas de problème ......
. Among the characters he developed there was the famous storyteller persona of Ti-Blanc Lebrun who would swallow his harmonica before the end of every story and be unable to continue. Seventy-eight episodes and two "best of" recaps would air between 1985 and 1989. Judi Richards
Judi Richards
Judi Richards is a Canadian pop singer and songwriter.Born in Toronto, Richards is the daughter of musician Bill Richards and actress Billie Mae Richards . She has sung numerous jingles for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Montreal and has performed in concert and on record with a variety...
and Yvon Deschamps welcomed their 3rd and last daughter, Sarah-Émilie in 1986.
The experience of weekly television allowed Deschamps, now in his 50s, to keep a hand in the comedy business and stay in touch with Quebec audiences, but with a much lower level of stress than his one-man shows had involved. That said, he has presented occasional monologues in between two skits. Deschamps then launched CTYvon (ITSYvon) on the heels of Samedi de rires success. CTVon was a daily program filmed in a television studio, half sitcom and half parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of other television programs. But the show did not have a chance to find an audience as the at-first-unpopular Samedi de Rire did, with Radio-Canada yanking it off the air after a few months for low ratings(1989–1990).
After eight years away from the stage, Deschamps decided to wade back in one last time with a new show, U.S. qu'on s'en va? (What's Next for U.S.?), performed live 140 times in 1992 and 1993, and broadcast on Radio-Canada television. Following the show's success he moved into semi-retirement, purchasing in 1996 the Manoir Rouville-Campbell, a historic hotel property, a Tudor Manor, in Mont-Saint-Hilaire in Quebec's Montérégie
Montérégie
Montérégie is an administrative region in southwest Québec. It includes the cities of Boucherville, Brossard, Granby, Longueuil, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Saint-Hyacinthe, Sorel-Tracy, and Vaudreuil-Dorion....
region. He helped keep the hotel running during the off-season by opening a small nightclub there called Boîte à Yvon (Yvon's Club) in which he would perform some of his classic and more recent material to the 300-capacity crowd. An album, Yvon Deschamps au Manoir Rouville-Campbell, was issued in 1999. Yvon then built a bigger hall called l'Orangeraie in the Manoir with a scenic view of the manoir grounds and the Richelieu river.
The semi-retirement did not last, either, however. Following pressure from contemporaries and friends, such as wife Judi Richards and Normand Brathwaite, who were adamant that his newer material should be shared with larger audiences, Deschamps got back to work. The result, Comment ça, 2000? (2000 Already?), was performed in front of sold-out houses in the Manoir, at Montreal's Théâtre Corona and Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
's Palais Montcalm, then hit the road for a cross-Quebec tour in 2001 and 2002, culminating in the Comment ca, 2000... 2001... 2002?
Since 2000, the Boîte à Yvon has regularly presented emerging Quebec comedians. In 2001 Deschamps was named a Knight of the National Order of Quebec
National Order of Quebec
The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as l'Ordre national du Québec, and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec...
by Quebec's premier, Bernard Landry
Bernard Landry
Bernard Landry, is a Quebec lawyer, teacher, politician, who served as the 28th Premier of Quebec , leader of the Opposition and leader of the Parti Québécois .-Personal:...
.http://www.premier.gouv.qc.ca/general/communiques/archives_commumiques/2001/juin/com20010605.htm
In 2006, Deschamps toured with his wife of 35 years in the show 'Judi et Yvon font une scène' where they shared the stage equally for the first time. It was a sold-out success.
The Manoir was sold in 2006, but in his 70s Deschamps shows no sign of stopping. As one of the most prolific hosts and performers the 'Festival Juste pour rire' has ever had, he presented one new or re-worked monologue for each gala show for the festival's 25th anniversary in the summer of 2007. They paid homage to him with a special gala.
He now has 4 grandchildren he finds time to babysit.
Through his daughter Annie and her husband Rodrigo: Antoine, Charles-Yvon, and a Camille and through his daughter Karine's husband Reidel: Kevin
Style
Yvon Deschamps' monologues were known for their unrelenting ironyIrony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
, and often buried a message that was completely opposite to what the stage character was saying literally. For Deschamps' first monologue, Les unions, qu'ossa donne?, he created an exploited worker who incarnated the Québécois self-image of a historic past as water-carriers and hewers of wood, and who remained resolutely blind to his exploitation at the hands of his "good" boss.
In the beginning, Yvon Deschamps' never-named "character" was distinguished by his spectacular naïvete, which served as a vehicle for Deschamps to tackle delicate subjects such as racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
. In Nigger Black, for instance, the character recalled boyhood surprise upon learning that "Nègres" were no more nor less than human beings like him, neither better nor worse:
- Us, we had some on our street; they lived in the same houses we did, went to the same schools. Hey, even some of us had some, there were French-Canadian "nègres". One of 'em was in my class, his name was Robert. Hey, that was the first time I'd seen a "nègre" named Robert!
But, very quickly, Deschamps felt the need to go further outside the usual boundaries. His character began to be more self-assured, his remarks more pointed:
- In 1972, I decided to write differently and to stage my theatrical shows. It was all about evoking different emotions in the audiences. Discomfort, too. I yelled at my musicians. I pretended to forget things for five minutes. I once even had the sprinklers go off during a show. Until the beginning of the 1980s, I figured I had to go as far as possible in my live shows. My audiences had seen everything. They left the show with their heads between their legs.
In L'intolérance, Deschamps tried something riskier: going beyond what his audience could possibly accept. The monologue started quietly, after a long introduction and a song (On va s'en sortir, We'll Manage), with the character warning the public against the dangers of intolerance, which had caused wars, massacres, genocides and other human follies—all that, punctuated with a diatribe against "faggots". Deschamps' character cited as an example the Biafra
Biafra
Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 15 January 1970, taking its name from the Bight of Biafra . The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo people who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious...
genocide, where intolerance had resulted in "millions of little niggers dying of hunger", adding that it didn't bother him too much since, after all, these were only "niggers". At the same time, Deschamps would hasten to add, intolerance had also killed "real people" -- the "almost Whites", which were the "Light Greys", by which he meant Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
.
- Six million Jews died because Hitler, he did some of that intolerance. He was nuts, a goddamn maniac, you know? Yeah, that guy, Hitler, he said that the Jews didn't smell right or dress right, and they had those braids, and they stunk and they didn't wash and they bought everything...
- I happen to know they're like that, but you can't kill them for that! Jews, you just make sure you don't have any around you have to deal with, that's all.
The monologue continued to unwind, and the character would explain how he had kicked a Jewish family out of their neighbourhood as a teenager, punctuated by exclamations of "damn dirty Jews". He would push and push until a member of the audience showed some sign of disgust. The character would at that point turn to the audience member and accuse him of showing the same intolerance he'd been warning the public about for the last twenty minutes. Deschamps' character would add that an army should really be mounted against the intolerants, ending the monologue with the sounds of a regiment marching, fading into a reprise of the opening song, On va s'en sortir.
Deschamps always admitted being a little bit frightened when he performed this monologue.
Influence on Quebec Society
- "From Martin Matte to Patrick HuardPatrick HuardPatrick Huard is a Quebecer actor and comedian.-Feature films:* 1997: J’en suis* 1997: Les Boys* 1998: Les Boys II* 2000: La vie après l’amour* 2000: Stardom* 2001: Les Boys III...
, all of today's live comedians owe Yvon Deschamps."http://www.voir.ca/artsdelascene/artsdelascene.aspx?iIDArticle=8764
- "From Martin Matte to Patrick HuardPatrick HuardPatrick Huard is a Quebecer actor and comedian.-Feature films:* 1997: J’en suis* 1997: Les Boys* 1998: Les Boys II* 2000: La vie après l’amour* 2000: Stardom* 2001: Les Boys III...
, many young comedians today see Deschamps as their spiritual father, the man who opened the doors to today's comedy movement. A little bit like Michel TremblayMichel TremblayMichel Tremblay, CQ is a Canadian novelist and playwright.Tremblay grew up in the Plateau Mont-Royal, a French-speaking neighbourhood of Montreal, at the time of his birth a neighbourhood with a working-class character and joual dialect, something that would heavily influence his work...
in the theatre, who brought a new generation of playwrights into the world, Yvon Deschamps gave Quebec comedy its stamp of approval."http://www.voir.ca/artsdelascene/artsdelascene.aspx?iIDArticle=22987
- "He's a guy who could paint a wicked satirical portrait of our society, then laugh cruelly about our shortcomings. Deschamps said some outrageous things, and they went over because it was him, and we knew that coming from him, there was nothing mean or cruel about it." — Gilles LatulippeGilles LatulippeGilles Latulippe is a Québécois actor, comedian and theatre director and manager. Latulippe is a central figure in the history of comic theatre in Quebec. In 1998, he was named Quebec's favorite actor by the daily tabloid Le Journal de Montréal.-Career:In the late 1950s, Latulippe joined Yvon...
Quotes
- "The real Québécois knows what he's after, and that's an independent Quebec in a strong Canada" (
[...] ),
- "Better to be healthy and wealthy than penniless and sick" (Vaut mieux être riche et en santé que pauvre et malade), L'Argent
- "We don' wanna know it, we wanna SEE it!" (On veut pas l'sawoère
[...] on veut le woère!), Cable TV
- "Which means that a real Québécois has the heart of a communist, the brain of a socialist, and the pockets of a capitalist ,
- "Happiness is important, because without happiness, you are NOT happy!" , Le Bonheur
Albums
(1969, Polydor, 542-503)-
- Nigger Black
- (1969, Polydor, 542-508)
- (1970, Polydor, 2424.017)
- Cable TV (1971, Polydor, 2424.033)
- Cable TV
(1972, Polydor, 2424.062)
-
- (1972, Polydor, 2424.072)
- (1973, Kébec-Disc, KD-700)
- (1974, Kébec-Disc, KD-701)
(1975, Kébec-Disc, KD-904)
-
- (1976, Direction, 10001)
- I don't know how, I don't know why
- Backyard
- Fetus
- Cable TV
- Grandpa (1977, Kébec-Disc, 956/957)
- (1979, Yvon-Deschamps, YD-984)
(1982, Bo-Mon, BM-562/563)
-
- (1987, Bo-Mon, BM-564)
- (1993, GSI Musique, BMCD 566)
- (Le grand tarla)
- (1999, GSI Musique, BMCD 567)
- (version améliorée) (2003, GSI Musique, BMCD 2568)