Yvon Deschamps

Yvon Deschamps born July 31 1935 in Montreal Quebec is a Quebec author actor comedian and producer best known for his monologues His socialcommentarytinged humour propelled him to prominence in Quebec popular culture in the 1970s and 1980s A long time comedian and still active Deschamps is now perceived as one of the greatest in Quebec history Yvon Deschamps was born in Montreals workingclass SaintHenri district He left school in 1951 after Grade 11 and in 1953 found work in the record library at RadioCanadas new television service It was at RadioCanada that Deschamps discovered the performing arts after attending a boulevard theatre piece starring Georges Groulx and Denise Pelletier he added a taste for the theatre and enrolled in acting classes with François Rozet and Paul Buissonneau He took the stage for the first time in 1957 at the Théâtre universitaire canadien playing Pylade in a production of Jean Racines Andromaque In 1959 Deschamps was part of La Roulotte Paul Buissonneaus travelling childrens theatre The following year he married Mireille Lachance the two would divorce in 1967 In 1961 he became friends with Claude Léveillée becoming his drummer even though the man had actually never played the drums before In 1963 he formed a company with Léveillée and several other artists at Buissonneaus Théâtre de QuatSous In 1965 he played his first film role in JeanClaude Lords Deliver Us from Evil Délivreznous du mal although the film was not released theatrically until 1969 That same year Deschamps left his short career as a musician behind and opened Le Fournil a restaurant in Old Montreal followed by SaintAmable in 1966 Both would end up bankrupt a few years later but while they were open Deschamps hosted his Boîte à Clémence a boîte à chanson hosted by Clémence DesRochers participating in the Le monde sont drôles People are Funny and Sois toimêmeBe Yourself shows which opened there in 1967 The latter played a special role in his career because that is where the Yvon Deschamps character and his good boss role appeared for the first time In the winter of 1968 finding himself broke and occasionally sleeping on friends couches with new girlfriend Judi Richards Deschamps took a job at the QuatSous offered by his friend Buissonneau Buissonneau had just lost Michel Tremblays celebrated play Les Bellessœurs to the Rideau Vert theatre and was looking for a play to finish the season with Deschamps proposed a musical review to Louise Forestier and Robert Charlebois with Mouffe on board and very little rehearsal time The result would be known as LOsstidcho Lhostie de show or The freaking show a show that would revolutionize Quebec song Inspired by Arlo Guthries Alices Restaurant Deschamps made his first real monologue part of the review when Robert Charlebois did not want to learn his lines for the dialogue he decided to strum the guitar instead In Les unions quossa donne Unions What are they Good For Deschamps played a naïve worker extolling the great generosity and goodheartedness of his boss making it clear that reality was not quite so rosy Source Article Yvon Deschamps from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30