France laughs at comedian Sarkozy

Like almost a million other radio listeners, I look forward every morning to hearing President Sarkozy announce his latest act of megalomania and his ministers making fools of themselves. I'm not talking about real Sarko, but the president's alter-ego, as performed by Nicolas Canteloup, a comic whose brilliant impersonations have made him part of the political landscape.

I've mentioned Canteloup and his daily sketches before and French-based commentators on this blog often quote him. It's hard to convey inside jokes across cultures but it's worth taking a look at Canteloup and his Europe 1 radio show because he has become a force as the licensed jester of the Sarkozy court.

Like other gifted impersonators -- Rory Bremner as Tony Blair comes to mind -- some of Canteloup's caricatures are so accurate that they have have taken on a life of their own, shaping the way people see the original. Canteloup's Sarkozy is insufferably slick, power mad and pleased with himself. The real president has had to tone down some of his verbal tics because the comedian has turned them into a running gag. These include Sarko's standard protests "c'est quand même remarquable!" and "c'est extraordinaire!".

When Sarko was in Washington the other day, his Canteloup version come on in English with a George Clooney drawl, to the theme of the TV commercials that star the US actor. Today, "Sarko" was crowing about "Chirac en prison" -- an allusion to yesterday's opening of a criminal case against Sarkozy's predecessor and adversary.

Read on below, but first' here's Canteloup doing Sarkozy on TV.

Nicolas Canteloup - 11 Novembre 2007

It may be an exaggeration, but Canteloup's skewering of Ségolène Royal as a hapless Joan of Arc must have cost her votes in her race as the Socialist candidate against Sarko last spring. The comedian, who is 42, comes from Bordeaux and discovered his talent working for Club Med, says that the key to Royal was the way that she pronounces politique as poulitique (sounds like pooolitik in English). When Royal arrived as guest for the station's morning interview in the campaign she refused to say bonjour because Canteloup's bonjoouurre had become his Ségolène's trademark.

Canteloup has a stable of characters who interact in his 8.45 am "Almost news review" (Revue de Presque). If you switch on in mid-show, it is hard to tell that you are not listening to the genuine article. His gems include Bernard Laporte, the eccentric national rugby manager who is now Sarko's sports minister, and Bernard Kouchner, the glamorous, always breathless humanitarian who is foreign minister.

François Hollande, the Socialist party leader and Royal's former partner, is mercilessly mocked by Canteloup as an ineffectual loser. Hollande told me during the election campaign that he made a point of not listening to the comedian's version of him.

One of his staples of the moment is Gérard Schivardi, an obscure village mayor from the southwest who ran for the presidency for a Trotskyite ticket. He won only 0.3 percent of the vote but he lives on as a celebrity, re-invented by Canteloup as a wine-sozzled, almost incomprehensible, commentator on current events. Now everyone arrives at the office imitating Canteloup's Schivardi.

Another of his stunts is a merciless pastiche of Jean-Pierre Elkabbach, the venerable broadcaster who is the boss of Europe 1. Sometimes the pair are both in the studio and it is impossble to tell the real one.  Elkabbach lets him get away with it because he scores such high ratings.

Canteloup began as an imitator on les Guignols, the satirical TV puppet show on Canal+. In addition to Europe 1, he has become a TV fixture, appearing on Michel Drucker's Sunday France 2 talk show (in the clips here). He confused Bernadette Chirac there during the election campaign by becoming "Ségolène" and asking the first lady if she could come and measure the Elysée Palace for curtains.

Canteloup is a sharp wit as well as a clever mimic. He steers a fine line between irreverence and cruelty. He also mocks everyone, without being too méchant, so he is not accused of being partisan.  "He can be tough," Marianne magazine said the other day. "His success stems from a subtle mix of sweet and sour.. very sour."  He sometimes goes too far, as he did today, imitating an announcement from the strike-bound railways that the only service that could be boarded was the Paris-Hilton.   

Canteloup refuses to hobnob with the political world, saying he likes to keep a distance. "They do their job as best they can. Theirs is a human theatre which I observe and try to reproduce," he told Marianne. He called Sarkozy a "good customer" who has not tried to tame him with threats or charm.

Nicolas Canteloup VDP 17/12/2006

Comments

[Lily]

Ce type est GENIAL! Merci!

I had wanted to suggest "agent provocateur" on the strike voc... So, Canteloupe is kind of an agent provocateur - one in a kind.

[John]

Although not bad himself, Canteloup is still nowhere near as good as Thierry Le Luron, who regretably left us so early. Probably you were not in France at that time Charles Bremner. To a French ear, Le Luron's imitations were far superior to Canteloup's. You have to hear Le Luron's famous mock of Giscard's interviews by the fire place. No one will ever equal the truer-than-life imitations of Le Luron, it's impossible.

[Yes John, I remember Thierry Le Luron. He was great. I was a young news agency reporter in Paris when he was doing his Giscard thing. CB]

[John]

Check this imitation of Michel Polnareff by Thierry Le Luron. The voice is nearly 100% perfect, it almost seems Polnareff himself dubbed the voice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZULxCY1RsR4&feature=related

Le Luron was much harsher than Canteloup in his imitations, more acid and sarcastic, and also much more witty I think.

[Bluemoon]

Canteloup is maybe not brilliant as a satirist, but he combines his gift for imitation well with a cheeky sense of humour that, as you say, does not really offend anyone.

[Sandrine]

Charles,

Couldn't you find a more recent video ? This one is funny, mais elle date un peu maintenant...

[Frank Schnittger]

"He sometimes goes too far, as he did today, imitating an announcement from the strike-bound railways that the only service that could be boarded was the Paris-Hilton"

How is this going too far?

PS who is the blond who keeps interrupting the sound track with her laughing - did they have to leave her mike on quite so loud?

[Frank: on Hilton, he went too far because the French for to board is "monter" (to mount), so boarding Paris-Hilton has a very sexual sense. The blonde is Sandrine Kiberlain, a film actress. CB]

[Maggie G]

Well, I am sorry I never heard this Thierry le Luron if you say that Canteloup is only 'not bad' in comparison. But was he as quick- witted as Canteloup?

For those who live elsewhere, one thing that CB did not explain is that Jean-Pierre Elkabbach does an interview every morning between 8:20 and 8:30, and fifteen minutes later when Canteloup comes on, he often starts out with a hilarious play on this interview. It shows just how many skills he has -- he can do the voice, he can come up with the comic situation, he can do it with only fifteen minutes to prepare, and then, what I think is the hardest of all, he manages to capture not just the voice but the entire manner of speaking of the person. I always wonder if he writes it down first to capture the manner and the choice of words of the person he's impersonating, or if he just does it off the top of his head.

Does he run through it a few times with Julie first? or does he just give her a list of questions to ask? because Julie always seems to be as surprised by what he says as the rest of us. They MUST run through it a few times. Julie's laughing must be from pleasure and anticipation.

All the ones shown on the Drucker clip I had already heard on the radio, so it shows that sometimes he has time to polish and prepare them. But the ones he does with Julie after the Elkabbach interview -- he must be practically making up as he goes along. This just totally blows my mind, how he knows instinctively what to SAY.

Not too long ago Elkabbach did an interview with Bernard Henri Levi, and the way BHL was talking I was thinking , boy this will be good when we get Canteloup's version. But he didn't do it. Is there a reason for this? I know he never does le Pen, but what reason would he have for passing up BHL?

Who does he do best? I think my all-time favourite is Alain Juppé, but there are so many it's almost impossible to choose. I love his Dominique de Villepin, his Bernard Laporte, Zidane, Schivardi, Kouchner, and Charles Aznavour. One week he did a different Charles Aznavour song five days in a row -- how he gets the voice so perfect just amazes me! And the words! Once, if I remember correctly, he was singing straight from a kitchen decorating catalogue, but the voice and the melody were superb!

[Ros]

Canteloup is very good but only in small doses I think (as in Vivement Dimanche), but I couldn't listen to him every morning while having my coffee! Quite off thread, I'm listening to the Today programme at that time which gives quite a few laughs too - this morning they were comparing the efficiency of the London Tube Map and the Plan de Metro in Paris & came to the conclusion that the London one was the best - quite wrong to my mind, in London you have to know in which direction are North, South, East & West, whereas in Paris both ends of the lines have specific NAMES;

[azloon]

[He sometimes goes too far, as he did today, imitating an announcement from the strike-bound railways that the only service that could be boarded was the Paris-Hilton. ] CB

ah, here they are, those old 'standards,' raising their 'ugly heads' again!

at least as translated into english, to my standard-less notion of humor ("say anything"), the paris-hilton 'bit' sounds quite funny (if un peu de crude).

it is cantaloup's good fortune that he's not posting here.

(tweak)

:)

[joelle]

Nicolas Canteloup was my riding instrutor at Club Med in 1992. He was a brilliant rider and instructor; terribly funny, but very kind and patient, which is a rare thing among French riding instructors, and we were really enjoying our week, and then, one evening, he did a one-man show...

[Yes, he is a passionate horseman. He is an instructor-rated rider and owns four horses which he keeps in stables at Maison Lafitte. CB]

[Robert Marchenoir]

The Paris-Hilton bit is very good and not overdone at all. It is the strikers who went too far.

I'll take sexual innuendo over sabotaging the coutry's high-speed trains anytime.

[Helen]

Really enjoy Canteloup's impersonations. I love his Francois Hollande: "en tant que....premiersecretairedupartisocialiste!!"
I also think his Sarko impression is way better than the one on Les Guignols (is it Yves Lecoq?) I remember switching on the radio the morning after the presidential debate last May and thinking I was hearing a re-run! But no...

[christopher muir]

Well, so far so good for Canteloup. He appears to be tolerated by Sarkozy, but it's worth recalling Dario Fo's words about such matters: "It is hard for power to enjoy or incorporate humour and satire in its system of control." A careful study of Vladimir Putin's face doesn't demolish Fo's theory..

[john o'doe]

I'm another immense Cantaloup fan who never misses him every morning.

[john o'doe]

Er, I meant Canteloup of course.

[Eric]

Hello Charles-
Could you translate just a few of the jokes in the video clip for those of us who do not speak French?
Thank you,
Eric

[paul]

Congratulations on always stimulating and challenging blog. But why is it the British people who appear on French television seem somehow very comic (very no sex please ...) - is it deliberate? - saw you Saturday at lunchtime. Perhaps I really have turned native.
Your key remarks it seems to me were did Canteloup's imitations add to the gaffitude of the elections? Did not Segolene sound priggish and Sarkozy like an irresistable second hand dealer.
The eternal teflon journalist 'El Kabbach' as he is known is like G Marchais endlessly self-parodying.
Many thanks for the strike glossary : movement social = social immobility?

[carole PDG]

He's brilliant and very sexy.I listen to him twice a day, the second at 18h30 On Europe 1 just for the pleasure of it .
Nobody has mentioned Ségolène's walk ...

[dot king]

Liane Foly also does a brilliant Ségo - I saw her do Shirley to Canteloup's Dino once when they were on the same show, it was hilarious.