Peak Comedy: English Language Stand-Up in the French Alps

Les Gets Comédie, a stand-up comedy festival held at the Haute-Savoie ski resort, holds English language acts as well as French ones, granting giggles to the large number of British skiers enjoying the French slopes.

Few art forms get quite so lost in translation as stand-up comedy. The rapid-fire language, the idioms, the word play, the timing and the cultural references rarely succeed in crossing national boundaries. Which is why Les Gets Comédie – a stand-up comedy festival in the French ski resort of the same name – insists on staging the English-language acts on a separate evening to the French acts.

First set up in 2019, the most recent edition ran from January 25th to 31st at the Salle de la Colombière in the centre of this alpine town. The opening evening’s acts were locals Gaëtan Roos and Julien Sonjon – the former a classic stand-up comedian, the latter offering a mix of magic tricks, illusions and audience manipulation. Throughout the rest of the week there were some fairly well-known names of French comedy, including Jason Brokerss, Thomas Angelvy, Pierre Thévenoux, Fanny Ruwet and Merwane Benlazar. The final night was reserved for the anglophone comedians, featuring three English (Maisie Adam, Pierre Novellie and Ian Smith) and an Irishwoman, Catherine Bohart. Just over 2,800 spectators attended over the week.

Maisie Adam, who hails from Harrogate, in North Yorkshire, pointed out how British audiences treat live comedy very differently to their French counterparts. The former tend to drink heavily throughout. “And there will always be a stag do in the crowd,” she told FranceToday.com. “Whereas I think the French come for a nice, civilised evening out.”

Ian Smith, who lives in Goole, in East Yorkshire, was only half-joking when he said these differing attitudes can be explained by national politics. “The French don’t have the anger of a British audience because they can express themselves through rioting. They are very good at rioting, in fact. They can set fire to a police van which we can’t do in the UK as much.”

Pierre Novellie, who grew up in Johannesburg before moving to London, stressed how British comedy is often based around social class and awkwardness (think of Blackadder, Fawlty Towers and Monty Python), whereas French comedy errs more towards slapstick and farce. All of which would explain why the most successful British comedians to cross the English Channel are arguably Benny Hill and Mr Bean, both of whom feature very little verbal comedy.

The manager of Les Gets Comédie is Bertrand Josué. “Stand-up comedy is a new way of consuming comedy,” he told FranceToday.com. “Ten or 15 years ago [in France], you would only see famous comedians in large arenas, with big crowds. The idea of seeing comedians who are little known in a small venue, and who are perhaps just launching their careers – that’s quite new.” The catalyst for this, he added, is the popularity of comedy clips on social media channels, especially YouTube, which enables minor acts to grow their audiences.

On the final night of the festival, when the English-speaking comedians took to the stage, much of the local British community in Les Gets had turned up at the Salle de la Colombière. The beer and the wine were flowing long before the curtains had been raised, ensuring that punters were well-oiled in advance.  

Charmingly self-deprecating, the four acts drew much of their comedy from their own inability to speak the French language. Pierre Novellie, especially, who grew up in South Africa with a French name, reminisced about the awkwardness of French lessons at school where all his classmates expected him to speak the lingo fluently. 

The lamentable state of British cuisine was well explored, too, as was the appalling British weather. And when it came to the French, their powers of seduction in the bedroom and their endless appetite for political protest were all lampooned.  

It seems that national stereotypes are one phenomena that never get lost in translation.

The dates of next year’s Les Gets Comédie festival have not yet been confirmed but you can follow this page to find out: www.lesgets.com/les-gets-comedie