Pierre Desproges (9 May 1939 – 18 April 1988) was a French
humorist
A humorist (American) or humourist (British spelling) is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughs. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business e ...
. He was born in
Pantin
Pantin () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. In 2019 its population was estimated to be 59,846. Pantin is located on the edge of the city of Paris and is mainly formed by a plai ...
,
Seine-Saint-Denis
() is a department of France located in the Grand Paris metropolis in the region. In French, it is often referred to colloquially as ' or ' ("ninety-three" or "nine three"), after its official administrative number, 93. Its prefecture is Bobig ...
. According to himself, he made no significant achievements before the age of 30. From 1967 to 1970, he worked as: life insurance salesman, opinion pool investigator, "lonely hearts"
columnist,
horse racing forecaster, and sales manager for a styrofoam beam company.
From 1970 to 1976, he worked for the newspaper ''
L'Aurore
''L’Aurore'' (; ) was a literary, liberal, and socialist newspaper published in Paris, France, from 1897 to 1914. Its most famous headline was Émile Zola's '' J'Accuse...!'' leading into his article on the Dreyfus Affair.
The newspaper was ...
''. Starting in 1975, he became a "reporter" on ''Le petit rapporteur'' (The Little Snitch), a satirical TV show hosted by
Jacques Martin. He caught the public's attention with unconventional interviews of celebrities, among them novelists
Françoise Sagan
Françoise Sagan (born Françoise Delphine Quoirez; 21 June 1935 – 24 September 2004) was a French playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. Sagan was known for works with strong romantic themes involving wealthy and disillusioned bourgeois chara ...
or
Jean-Edern Hallier.
He appeared for the first time on stage at the Olympia theater during a
Thierry Le Luron
Thierry Le Luron (; 2 April 1952 – 13 November 1986) was a French impressionist (entertainment), impressionist and humorist.
Early life
Born in Paris, France, to Francis Le Luron (1926-2012), and Huguette Gousserey (1922-2009).
Debut
In 1 ...
show. Among other things, he became very famous for his ''Chroniques de la haine ordinaire'' (Chronicles of Ordinary Hatred), a 1986 radio show.
In the 1980s, he appeared daily on ''Le tribunal des flagrants délires'' (a pun on the French term "flagrant délit" meaning red-handed), a comedy show where celebrities were judged in mock-trials. Desproges held the part of the prosecutor for more than two years, a part for which his verve, his scathing humour and his literary erudition were ideally suited.
In 1982, he created ''La minute nécessaire de Monsieur Cyclopède'', a series of shorts for TV, where he played an omniscient professor. He answered to metaphysical and nonsensical questions such as "How to make King Louis XVI fireproof?", proved that
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
was not deaf but stupid, and explained why the improbable encounter between the
Venus de Milo
The ''Venus de Milo'' (; el, Αφροδίτη της Μήλου, Afrodíti tis Mílou) is an ancient Greek sculpture that was created during the Hellenistic period, sometime between 150 and 125 BC. It is one of the most famous works of ancient ...
and
Saint Exupéry's '
Petit Prince' was a fiasco. Each episode ended with the catchphrase: ''"Étonnant, non ?"'' ("Astonishing, isn't it?")
In 1984, he had his first stand-up show at the Théâtre Fontaine. In 1986, his second stand-up, ''Pierre Desproges se donne en spectacle'' was presented at the
Théâtre Grévin. He started work on a third stand-up, and the drafts were ultimately published in 2010.
In 1987, doctors discovered he had inoperable lung cancer in an advanced stage, and his relatives, in agreement with the doctors, decided to hide the condition from him, so he could spend his final days quietly. He died in 1988, from a disease he had bitterly laughed at time and time again, often saying "I won't have cancer: I'm against it". He is buried in the
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figure ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. His epitaph reads: ''"Pierre Desproges est mort d'un cancer, étonnant, non ?"'' ("Pierre Desproges died of cancer, astonishing, isn't it?")
"We can laugh about everything, but not with everyone"
Pierre Desproges is the author of many memorable quotes, in particular "you can laugh about everything, but not with everyone". Although Pierre Desproges never actually wrote it in his texts, he did confirm that "I do think that we can laugh at everything, but not necessarily with everyone.".
The quote comes initially from an "indictment" that Desproges pronounced as "Prosecutor of the French Republic" against far-right
Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (, born 20 June 1928) is a French far-right politician who served as President of the National Front from 1972 to 2011. He also served as Honorary President of the National Front from 2011 to 2015.
Le Pen graduated fro ...
on 28 September 1982 at Tribunal des flagrants délires on
France Inter
France Inter () is a major French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is a " generalist" station, aiming to provide a wide national audience with a full service of news and spoken-word programming, both serious and entertaining, li ...
radio. In the first part of his speech, Desproges declares: "Two questions haunt me. First, can we laugh at everything? Secondly, can we laugh with anyone?". His answer to the first question is "yes, undoubtly". He adds that not only we "can" laugh at everything but that we "must" laugh at everything to "desacralize our stupidity, exorcise our true sorrows and beat our mortal anxieties". To the second question, he answers "it's difficult", in the sense that he, Pierre Desproges, does not want to laugh with anyone, especially the guest of that day, Jean-Marie Le Pen. Pierre Desproges later adds that laughing with "a practicing Stalinist", a "hysterical terrorist" or "far-right activist" is beyond his abilities.
The French magazine Télérama published an interview of Pierre Desproges on 24 November 1982, two months after the broadcast, where Pierre Desproges explains: "I think we have the right to laugh at everything. But to laugh with anyone, maybe not. (...) Laughter is an outlet and I do not understand why we should not laugh at what hurts. Things hurt less when we laugh".
Desproges reformulates his ideas the following year, in November 1983, in his book ''Vivons heureux en attendant la mort'' (Let us live happy while we wait to die): "It's better to laugh at Auschwitz with a Jew than to play Scrabble with
Klaus Barbie
Nikolaus "Klaus" Barbie (25 October 1913 – 25 September 1991) was a German operative of the SS and SD who worked in Vichy France during World War II. He became known as the "Butcher of Lyon" for having personally tortured prisoners—primar ...
".
Bernard Pivot
Bernard Pivot (; born 5 May 1935) is a French journalist, interviewer and host of cultural television programmes. He was chairman of the Académie Goncourt from 2014 to 2020.
Biography
Pivot was born in Lyon, the son of two grocers. During Worl ...
invites Pierre Desproges to Apostrophes, a French TV literary talk show on 30 December 1983, to promote his book. Pierre Desproges says "we can laugh at absolutely everything but not with anyone", and declares that when he prepared the speech about Jean-Marie Le Pen, he "did not want to laugh with him".
Books
* "Le petit rapporteur" (1999) (''The Little Snitch'')
* "La seule certitude que j'ai, c'est d'être dans le doute" (1998) (''The Only Certainty I Have, Is to Be in Doubt'')
* "Les bons conseils du professeur Corbiniou" (1997) (''The Good Advices of Professor Corbiniou'')
* "La minute nécessaire de Monsieur Cyclopède" (1995) (''The Necessary Minute of Mr Cyclopede'')
* "Les étrangers sont nuls" (1992) (''Foreigners Are Worthless'')
* "Fond de tiroir" (1990) (''Drawer Bottom'')
* "L'almanach" (1989) (''The Almanac'')
* "Textes de scène" (1988) (''Stand-up Texts'')
* "Des femmes qui tombent" (1985) (''Falling Women'')
* "Dictionnaire superflu à l'usage de l'élite et des biens-nantis" (1985) (''Superfluous Dictionary for the Elite and the Well-to-do'')
* "Vivons heureux en attendant la mort" (1983) (''Let Us Live Happily While We're Waiting for Death'')
* "Manuel de savoir-vivre à l'usage des rustres et des malpolis" (1981) (''Handbook of Good Manners for the Uncouth and the Impolite'')
References
External links
Official website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Desproges, Pierre
1939 births
1988 deaths
People from Pantin
Lycée Carnot alumni
French radio presenters
French television presenters
French comedians
French stand-up comedians
French satirists
Deaths from lung cancer in France
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery