1st July 2014, Soho Theatre, Soho, London
It's not that I hate the French, some of them are just effing annoying.
My rumoured disliking of the French is bit of a reoccurring joke in my circle of friends but I need to clarify this again; I don't hate the French and I happen to have quite a few friends from the land of cheese and wine whom I care for dearly. However, there has also been a few too many unpleasant and thematic run ins with people from said country of cheese and wine to be a coincidence - the percentage of self loving personalities completely lacking in the sense of humour department is higher there. And to make my case even clearer, most of my Frenchie friends actually agree with me on this one.
For example, this romanticised idea people have about Paris and its' greatness - just get over it. It is not a nice city in any way, shape or form, and I am yet to meet a single individual, originally from Paris, who has a normal level of manners and decency. Paris is the city where I'm convinced that waiting staff actually gets bonuses paid out for being rude, where asking someone for direction is an equal action to slapping someone in the face and where people continuously refuse to speak English, if they have even agreed to learn it in the first place. Yes, French was the on trend language in the 18th and 19th centuries and internationally accepted, but the world has moved on - so should you.
Since I have struggled with the French limitations to self distance for some time, I have been very keen to go check out Gad Elmaleh - French comedian who can actually laugh at himself and his national origin. Let's face it, nationalities and their quirks are hilarious and I can not for the life of me understand why it is such a big deal joking about them.
Me and Hell's Bells met up for Gad Elmaleh's first ever show in English, at Soho Theatre along with the entire French population of London.
This guy is really, really funny. It's been a long time since I spent 90 minutes laughing and even longer since I could get away with agreeing to statements at that level of political incorrectness. There were the digs at Canadians, Moroccans, French and Brits, some hugely eye opening statement as to women's response to pick up lines and the bizarreness behind many contradictory religious values. On top of his ability to pick up on engaging and entertaining topics, he has facial expressions and a body language that takes the hilarity of what he is saying to a whole new level.
I wish there had been nothing in the theatre to distract me from such a great show. Sadly, the benches at Soho Theatre are the most uncomfortable things ever built - why is there a bump in the middle of the seat making you spend 90 otherwise pleasant minutes squirming in your seat. I swear, there have been people in the electrical chair more comfortable with their seating arrangements.
Dearest Gad - please make sure your next performance is not at Soho Theatre, my ass can not survive another minute on that bench of death.
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