Laughing is one of the best feelings in the world. A sure way to crack a few smiles and even maybe laugh enough to forget your worries is to go see a stand-up comedian (or watch one on television). Stand up comedy is a real art. We’ve compiled a list of the 12 best Francophone stand up comedians so you can learn French, and laugh at the same time. Even if you don’t understand everything, we’re sure you’ll still enjoy a few laughs.
Gad Elmaleh
Gad Elmaleh is known as the French Jerry Seinfeld. He is the most recognized and popular stand-up comedian in France. He is also credited to have brought the American stand up comedy style in France. This Moroccan French has also appeared in numerous French and American films like The Dictator, Priceless, La Doublure and Midnight in Paris. He was born in Morocco and moved to France at 21 and started studying drama. He speaks French, English, Hebrew and Moroccan Arabic. After taking over the French comedy scene, he decided to move to the United States in 2015 and began an English tour.
Samia Orosemane
Samia Orosemane is from Clichy-sous-Bois, a region close to Paris. In school, she fell in love with Molière and the theatre and that’s where her love for comedy started. She attends the Conservatoire national supérieur d’art dramatique in Paris to learn even more. She got her first big break with her stand up show Samia et les 40 comiques and since then, her popularity has greatly increased. Her shows often discuss questions about wearing a headscarf, communitarianism and mixed marriages. She loves to do different accents and even has a YouTube channel with hilarious weekly videos.
Adib Alkhalidey
This Quebec stand up comedian is pretty new on the scene but has quickly made his marks. He graduated from the École nationale de l’humour in 2010 and since then, he has racked up many awards and two one-man-shows as well as playing in a few television shows like Like-moi and Code G. Abid has recently announced that he and Julien Lacroix (another great young stand up comedian from Quebec) will direct their first movie which they have written.
Florence Foresti
Florence Foresti is a French comedian and actress. She started her career in 1998 when she started an all women trio called Les Taupes Models (a play on words of Top Models) with Céline Ianucci and Cécile Giroud. Anne Roumanoff, another stand-up comedian, noticed the group and asked them to perform as her first act. Florence’s career launched from there. Her first one-woman-show, Manquerait plus qu’elle soit drôle, was a hit and she gained more and more popularity with her second and third shows Florence Foresti fait des sketchs and MotherFucker. Since then, she has created other shows, she has appeared in movies, television shows and in plays. Clearly, she is one of the most famous francophone stand up comedians.
Verino
Verino is a French stand up comedian and producer, who wrote his first stand up show in 2009. Since then, he took part in many humour festivals like Juste Pour Rire in Montreal, Festival du rire de Montreux in Switzerland, Festival Youhumour in Belgium… In 2015, Verino launched a new segment on Youtube : Dis donc Internet… Every week, he takes a few minutes to talk about the recent news on stage, and record it for his Youtube followers.
Fary
This Franco-Cape Verdean stand-up comedian is known as the Dandy of humour and is only 26 years old. His teacher urges him to start doing stand up comedy and she even helps him write his first show. His first taste of fame came when he appeared on the French television show On n’demande qu’à en rire, which he appears on a few times. After that, his success really starts when he performs at the Jamel Comedy Club show. Even if he’s young, Fary is on his way to becoming a big name in the francophone comedy scene. You can find his one-man-show Fary is the New Black on Netflix.
Rachid Badouri
Rachid Badouri is from Quebec, and he is one of the most popular stand up comedians in Canada and in France. He started doing improvisation at his Cégep (a two-year pre-university college which is part of the Quebec educational system) but does not really pursue his career until he’s completed 5 years as a flight attendant. He sends videos of himself to television and radio stations and gets an answer from Juste pour Rire (the biggest comedy festival in Canada) and gets his big break. His two one-man-shows were huge hits in Quebec and in France. He’s made quite a few appearances on television shows and movies.
Malik Bentalha
This Algerian-Moroccan-French stand-up comedian studied at the same comedy school as Gad Elmaleh but only stayed there a year. Afterwards, he performed sketches at the café-théâtre Théâtre du Point-Virgule. Jamel Debbouze, a famous French comedian, noticed him and got him to appear on his show the Jamel Comedy Club and was Debbouze’s opening act for his one-man-show. He’s only produced one one-man-show but has appeared in a few movies and television shows since his debut.
Mariana Mazza
Mariana Mazza is one of the most famous female stand-up comedians in Quebec. She has tons of energy and she’s all a real fireball on stage. She has appeared in numerous television shows and her first one-woman-show Femme ta gueule was a huge hit and she was awarded an Olivier (a Quebec award for comedians) for her show in 2016. What makes her very interesting is the numerous cultures from her family background: she has a Lebanese mother, an Uruguayan father, Italian, Brazilian and Quebec roots. She first started animating local television shows but realized she was meant to be on stage, telling jokes so she stopped her studies in Communications and worked hard to write her first show.
Haroun
After studying in business school, Haroun travelled all around the world and then decided to create a company focused on corporate training through theatrical improvisation. But his true passion was stand-up comedy! In 2013, he plays his first show in Toulouse, before going to Paris two years later. He wrote two other shows, one about the presidential elections and one about Internet and new technologies. Both can be seen for free online, o onrigolebien.com. You can also give a small fee to encourage the comedian. Be careful, his humour can be dark and cynical! But we promise you’ll laugh…
Louis-Josée Houde
This French-Canadian stand-up comedian is one of the most known and loved comics in Quebec. He is known for his greats texts, for his perfect timing and for how quickly he speaks (if you watch videos of him on YouTube, you might not be able to understand what he says sometimes). He presented his first one-man-show 500 times in Quebec and his second 412 times in just two years and a half. He’s won more than 30 awards for his shows. He has also appeared in numerous critically-acclaimed (comedic) Quebec movies like Bon Cop, Bad Cop, Le Grand Départ, De père en flic, Ça sent la coupe.
Éric Blanc
Éric Blanc is a Franco-Beninese stand-up comedian. He was born in Benin and fled the country during the 1975 coup d’état by the general Kérékou. He transferred to the movie scene and appeared in L’invité surprise, Le gorille and L’un contre l’autre. He is known for his imitations of famous French people like the President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, the TV host Frédéric Mitterrand, and the French tennis player Yannick Noah. His imitation of the film critic Henry Chapier forced him to stop appearing on television for numerous years.
Whate are your favorite francophone stand up comedians?
