Stéphane Guillon, the famous comedian who doesn’t sugarcoat his words, has been under “Surveillance” since 2009. After performing his one-man show at the Théâtre Déjazet in Paris as well as around the country, he will take the stage at the Palais de la Méditerranée in Nice on November 5 and 6, 2010. With his signature dark humor, this show promises to be more ferocious than the others. From the very start of the show, the tone is set: spotlights on Nicolas Sarkozy. “On May 16, 2007 (editor’s note: Nicolas Sarkozy’s inauguration), the job of a comedian changed! (…) A President of the Republic attacking a comedian, I couldn’t believe it. As if he didn’t have other priorities: like the septic tank of Cap Nègre, for example.”
Under “Surveillance”
We were familiar with Guillon’s scathing commentaries during the morning shows on France Inter at 7:55 am. For two years, the “Dark Joker,” as he was nicknamed, was under “Surveillance.” Jean-Luc Hees, the CEO of Radio France, observed him very closely until the day he could no longer tolerate the satirical comedian who had been a hit by targeting DSK, Nicolas Sarkozy, or Éric Besson. He made the decision to fire him on June 23, 2010. “Humor must not be confiscated by small tyrants. I am making this decision not due to any political pressure but based on minimal values of education and public service. I consider this humor segment a failure. It demonstrated great intellectual poverty which I cannot tolerate,” he stated. A decision that sparked an outcry: two thousand people, according to Radio France unions, gathered on July 1, 2010, in front of the Maison de la Radio in Paris to denounce this injustice.
But Stéphane Guillon has already proven himself. He did not leave the two million France Inter listeners indifferent over two years. Next step: “Surveillance.”
