‘Rude’ Parisians enjoy comedian’s teasing FEATURE 09/12/2010

‘Rude’ Parisians enjoy comedian’s teasing

FEATURE

09/12/2010
PARIS — The theater bosses said it would never work: A lone Frenchman on stage before a crowd of paying Parisians, trying to make them laugh for an hour at their own bad manners — in English.

Now a former waiter has proved the doubters wrong.

Comedian Olivier Giraud plays to a packed 200-seat theater in Paris, and the locals in the audience are laughing the loudest of all. Next stop: The United States and Canada.

“Even the small theaters thought I was really stupid,” Giraud told AFP, sweating after performing his one-man-show: “How to Become Parisian in One Hour.”

The 32-year-old’s comic guide to Parisian rudeness while eating, commuting and sleeping around in the French capital — performed in simple English easily comprehensible to non-native speakers — draws locals and visitors alike.

Giraud’s hour of risque capering and facial mugging runs through the Paris stereotypes: Rude waiters and taxi-drivers, pretentious nightclubs, and the many and varied meanings of the words “Oh la la.".... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100912com3.html