Un Américain au Québec
Host - Writer - DirectorProject Info
THE STORY
Audience
A 1-hour docu-comedy about an ex-New Yorker who moves to Quebec and learns how to speak French, without ever using a verb. To prove his new found French, he decides to try stand up comedy in his new language, in front of 1000 francophones. Tiguidou!
Canada China Film Festival – Documentary of the Year
Le Devoir – “Choix du Soir” (Premiere & repeat)
Cameras
Rehearsals
THE BACKSTORY
I was in the passenger seat, en route to Quebec City to perform stand-up comedy for the first time, in French, in front of 1000 people for a TV special. My partner was driving, I was rehearsing my act. She was not laughing. The longer she drove, the less she laughed. I felt like I was being driven to my execution.
Standing backstage, in the wings, in the dark, the MC revved up the crowd and my only thought was; “you actually chose to do this Matt Zimbel, you, sir, are an asshole”.
“Mesdames et messieurs Matt Ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimbeeeeeeeel”
When I finished my set, my first thought was ….Ah, bon, j’ai hâte de refaire ça! Tellement le fun!
Matt Zimbel est un musicien, auteur, animateur, réalisateur et, par goût du risque mais surtout pour amuser les copains, humoriste d’un soir, ce qui lui donne l’occasion de s’exercer à parler français. Et foi d’anglophone, apprendre le français à l’âge adulte n’est pas un travail aisé. Comment s’en sortira-t-il avec le mélange des genres et les temps de verbes? Et pourquoi un New-Yorkais s’embêterait-il avec l’imparfait du subjonctif quand il est si simple de tout mettre au passé?
Un Américain au Québec, le mardi 17 mai, 22h, au Canal D.