Coluche

Michel Gérard Joseph Colucci 28 October 1944 19 June 1986 better known under his stage name Coluche was a French standup comedian film actor activist and philanthropist He adopted Coluche as a stage name at age 26 as he began his entertainment career He became known for his irreverent attitude towards politics and the establishment and he incorporated this into much of his material Coluche was one of the first major comedians to regularly use profanities as a source of humor on French television Having become a bankable star of comedy films he also proved himself a capable dramatic performer by winning the César Award for Best Actor for his performance in So Long Stooge 1983 Coluche also founded in 1985 the charity Les Restaurants du Cœur which still provides free meals and other products to people in need Early life Colucci was born on 28 October 1944 in a hospital in the 14th arrondissement of Paris His mother Simone Bouyer called Monette worked as a florist in the Boulevard du Montparnasse His father Honorio Colucci an Italian immigrant from Casalvieri Lazio was a painter and decorator His father died in 1947 at age 31 from poliomyelitis his wife struggled thereafter to raise the young Michel and his sister Danièle 18 months older than Michel on a meagre salary Coluche showed little promise at school and left after completing his primary studies June 1958 He tried various temporary jobs and had several runins with authorities During this time his mother bought him a guitar which he taught himself to play In 1964 he joined the 60th Infantry Regiment de LonsleSaunier but was imprisoned for insubordination On his return to civilian life he worked in his mothers florist shop which she had been able to open on rue dAligre and later in a larger shop which she opened near la Gare de Lyon He found this work dull and suddenly quit which caused a longlasting breach with his mother At the end of the 1960s he tried his luck as a singer in cafes then turned to comedy In 1969 Coluche took part with Romain Bouteille to the founding of the Café de la Gare a Parisian caféthéâtre that would become the meeting place of a group of young comedic actors practically all of whom were to become famous Patrick Dewaere Henri Guybet MiouMiou Martin Lamotte etc Among the patrons of the Café de la Gare were Georges Moustaki Raymond Devos Jean Ferrat Jacques Brel Leny Escudero Pierre Perret and Jean Yanne Other actors who performed the Café de la Gare early in their careers include Gérard Lanvin Renaud Rufus Diane Kurys Coline Serreau Anémone Gérard Depardieu Thierry Lhermitte Josiane Balasko and Gérard Jugnot Coluches first sketch Cest lhistoire dun mec Its the story of a guy was about the difficulties of telling a funny story He quickly found success but his alcohol issues led to scuffles with Dewaere and Bouteille and eventually forced him to leave the Café de la Gare though he later returned to perform there Source Article Coluche from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA