Gad Elmaleh: Talking Funny in French and English
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Version 0 of 1. As stand-up comedy becomes an increasingly global phenomenon, international stars are starting to emerge, like the South African Trevor Noah, who played to huge audiences in Africa before taking over “The Daily Show.” Now Gad Elmaleh, a Moroccan-born stand-up comedian often called the Jerry Seinfeld of France, is hoping for crossover success here as well. He’s embarking on his first significant run of shows in English beginning Sunday at Joe’s Pub, part of a national tour and later New York residency. Although he regularly sold out arenas in France, here he will be playing to small rooms of Americans who may not be aware of his overseas fame, a change he seems to have embraced. “It’s like if a woman falls in love with you without knowing you have money or you’re famous,” he said, repeating a friend’s description. “I love that.” Over coffee in the lobby of the Greenwich Hotel on Tuesday, the 44-year-old Mr. Elmaleh, clad in a black shirt, jeans and a gray scarf, spoke thoughtfully and energetically about his “English project.” Though he slipped in the occasional French word, he was focused on expressing himself in English, occasionally pausing to ask about verb tenses and using hand gestures when lost for a word. The comedian (whose name is pronounced Gahd EL-mah-lay) learned the language as a child, along with his native French; he also speaks Arabic and Hebrew. He’s performed in a mix of French and Arabic in Morocco and sprinkled some Hebrew in shows in Israel. His English is fluent, but it’s a significant jump from speaking a language to understanding its nuances well enough to write jokes. (He continues to work with an English teacher.) Why even try to perform in English? It’s a question he gets so often that it’s now part of his act. “As a joke and as an exaggerated impression of Americans, I say” — here he adopted an American accent — “‘I need to challenge myself,’” he said. “But to be honest with you, it’s true.” He’s also interested in sharing his unique perspective, that of a “Moroccan, Jewish, French, Francophone, Anglophile, American observer,” as he put it. One major difference involves preparation. In French, he riffs from a basic set list onstage. “In English, everything is written,” he explained; otherwise, he might get lost when he tires. “When it’s your language, you play on it; it’s another wave, you surf on it. But if it’s not your language, there’s no more wave — it’s just a disaster.” And while he has translated some French material directly into English, he’s found that “the most efficient, inspired jokes are the ones I wrote here in New York by observing life.” He now discusses the Paris attacks in his act “because it’s really on the mind every day.” He was in Los Angeles at the time but his mother called to check on him. “My mom is so cute,” he said, adding: “She’s such a Jewish Moroccan mother. I said, ‘You’re the one, you’re in Paris.’” In a sold-out run of 10 workout shows at Joe’s Pub this fall, his most memorable material focused on the differences between France and the United States, playing up stereotypes of bubbly American shop assistants and blasé Parisian cabdrivers. Other jokes focused on universal themes like relationships and family, and had a broad observational tone that demonstrated his appeal as a mainstream performer. He first made a name for himself in France in 1990s with autobiographical one-man shows. When he began in Paris, there were no comedy clubs, and performers produced their own showcases, which tended toward cabaret, not straight stand-up. He cited Philippe Caubère, a French comedian and actor known for playing many characters, and Mr. Seinfeld, whose stand-up he found instantly appealing, as influences. When he first saw Mr. Seinfeld on TV, he said to himself, “This guy, I know him, and he knows me.” The two met in 2007, when Mr. Seinfeld’s animated “Bee Movie” was being dubbed in French with Mr. Elmaleh voicing his role. At their first Paris session, Mr. Seinfeld recalled in a phone interview last week, “There were about 20 people in the room and I just looked at him and went, ‘You’re the comedian.’ We hit it off immediately.” Both have mixed feelings about the “Seinfeld of France” comparison, with Mr. Elmaleh saying that while it’s never ideal to be measured against someone, “when you’re compared to someone you admire, it’s flattering.” Mr. Seinfeld dismissed the label out of hand — “Oh, that’s silly, I don’t know what that means” — but acknowledged that they approach comic premises in a similar way. “He’ll take an ordinary thing and do an exploded diagram of it,” Mr. Seinfeld explained. “That’s what I like to do.” Their friendship was clear in a 2013 episode of Mr. Seinfeld’s web series “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,” in which they poked fun at each other. Mr. Elmaleh mocked the host’s French-language skills and Mr. Seinfeld teased him for his ever-present scarf. For his new shows, Mr. Elmaleh is helped by an adoring Francophone crowd in New York. At a performance in September, he asked audience members about their home countries, with large groups from Morocco, France and Canada. (He lived for a time in Quebec.) Those fans, he said, have a part in this “English project.” “I need them,” he said, “because my story is their story and we’re telling this story to the Americans.” |