Stéphane De Groodt (born 3 March 1966) is a Belgian comedian, humorist and former

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

Life and career

Early life and education

Stéphane De Groodt is the son of an engineer at

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Independ ...

and a housewife who takes care of handicapped children.

Dyslexic Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, writ ...

, he has a chaotic schooling, which soon translated his will towards comedy. He did not obtain any educational degree and decided to become a comedian as well as a

. His parents bought him a racing driver suit and a helmet. He then went through several small jobs, including as a barman, journalist, marketing assistant, editor and advertiser, while entering the field of the competition. He did stand-up comedy in the evenings on stage while dedicating the weekends to

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

Auto racing career

While cooking meals to sell at restaurants, De Groodt paid the auto racing school of La Châtre near

Châteauroux Châteauroux ( ; ; ) is the capital city of the French department of Indre, central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called ''Castelroussins'' () in French. Climate Châteauroux te ...

where he met the Belgian racing driver

Eric van de Poele Eric Francis Edouard Ghislain Thérèse van de Poele (; born 30 September 1961) is a Belgian racing driver and former Formula One driver. He participated in 29 Grands Prix, in 1991 and 1992. He is a three-times class winner at 24 Hours of Le M ...

. He was a professional racing driver from 1985 to 2000, and rose to fame especially with

Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to auto racing, motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before mov ...

Formula 3000 Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines. Formula 3000 championship ...

Porsche Supercup The Porsche Supercup (officially known as Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, known as Porsche Michelin Supercup prior to 2007 and often abbreviated as PSC) is an international One-design racing, one-make production stock car racing series supporting the ...

at the 2001 Spa 24 Hours, and at the Belgian Procar in which he received the title of Champion of Belgium in BMW Compact Cup. In 2000, he left the auto racing competition to become a full-time comedian.

Television and radio career

Stéphane De Groodt created the series ''File dans ta chambre'', broadcast since 14 January 2002 on channels

RTBF The ("Belgian Radio-television of the French Community"), shortened to RTBF (branded as rtbf.be), is a public broadcasting, public service broadcaster for the French Community of Belgium, French-speaking Community of Belgium. Its counterpart i ...

, Canal+ Belgique and

France 2 France 2 () is a French free-to-air public television channel. The flagship channel of France Télévisions, it broadcasts generalist programming including news, entertainment (such as dramas, films, and game shows), factual programmes, and sp ...

, and in which the texts are co-written by his wife Odile d'Oultremont. The series are small episodes in which he portrays Lucien, a totally uncultivated father attempting to answer the questions asked by his 10-year-old son Clovis about a definition or an expression. At the end of every episode, his son answers that he thought it meant something else, which is in fact the real sense of the definition or meaning of the expression. After that, the father does not believe his son and orders him to go to his room, which is the reference to the title of the series. In September 2012, Stéphane De Groodt features every Sunday on the program ''Le Supplément'' on Canal+ with Maïtena Biraben, in which he presents a

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

of a few minutes titled ''Retour vers le futur''. This column functions the same way than the one he presented until 2012 on the program ''La Matinale'' on Canal+ and also with Maïtena Biraben and Caroline Roux, where he talked about his meeting with famous characters with a humoristic tune and a mixture of

word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, ph ...

s and

pun A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from t ...

s. He also presented a ''courrier des téléspectateurs'' (French for "mail of the viewers"), imaginary and funny. He pursued this column weekly on RTL with Stéphane Bern on the radio program ''À la bonne heure'' where he comments a fake mail of improbable auditors. In September 2013, after having left RTL, he joined

France Inter France Inter () is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is the successor to Paris Inter, later known as France I, and created as a merger of the France I and France II networks, first as RTF Inter in October 1963, then ren ...

on the radio program ''Comme on nous parle'' with Pascale Clark every Thursday, where he presents a column of a few minutes titled ''Mes mails'', in which he comments a number of fake

E-mail Electronic mail (usually shortened to email; alternatively hyphenated e-mail) is a method of transmitting and receiving Digital media, digital messages using electronics, electronic devices over a computer network. It was conceived in the ...

s of auditors addressed to France Inter and Pascale Clark.

Acting career

Stéphane De Groodt began his acting career playing a number of roles in many television series such as ''Faux Contact'' and a recurring role in the French crime series ''Boulevard du Palais'' from 1999 to 2007. He then played supporting roles in a number of minor films, but also in well-known films like ''

Asterix at the Olympic Games ''Asterix at the Olympic Games'' is the 12th comic book album in the Asterix series. Serialized in Pilote issues 434–455 in 1968 (to coincide with the Mexico City Olympics), it was translated into English in 1972 (to coincide with the Muni ...

'' (2008) and '' Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia'' (2012). In 2010, he replaced Serge Hazanavicius for the role of the veterinary François Kleber in the series ''Mes amis, mes amours, mes emmerdes...'' at the beginning of the second season. In 2013, he played a guest role in the sixth and seventh season of series ''

Fais pas ci, fais pas ça ''Fais pas ci, fais pas ça'' (; 'Don't do this, don't do that') is a French television series created by Anne Giafferi and Thierry Bizot for France Télévisions, starring Valérie Bonneton, Isabelle Gélinas, Bruno Salomone and Guillaume ...

'', in which French actress Frédérique Bel also had a recurring role since the fourth season. He then played a more important role in the choral comedy ''

Barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to coo ...

'' (2014) alongside Franck Dubosc and

Florence Foresti Florence Foresti (; born 8 November 1973) is a French comedian and actress. Life and career Following her high school studies in literature, theatre and dramatic expression at Saint-Just de Lyon, Florence Foresti entered a school for cinemato ...

. In 2015, he played his first main role in the comedy-drama '' Paris-Willouby'' with Isabelle Carré. Two years later, he played one of the main roles in the romantic comedy '' L'Un das l'autre'' (2017) alongside Louise Bourgoin. In 2018, he returns playing in the team comedy '' Nothing to Hide'', which was one of the biggest film successes of the year with nearly 2 million viewers, and in which he played alongside Bérénice Bejo and the former Miss Météo Doria Tillier.

Personal life

Stéphane De Groodt married in 2014 the novelist and screenwriter Odile d'Oultremont, with whom he has been since 2000. They are now separated. After having co-written the series ''File dans ta chambre'' broadcast on

, they continue to collaborate professionally.

Style

Stéphane De Groodt and his very literary

surreal humour Surreal humour (also called surreal comedy, absurdist humour, or absurdist comedy) is a form of humour predicated on deliberate violations of causality, causal reasoning, thus producing events and behaviors that are obviously illogical. Portra ...

which include the unbridled rhythm of

s make him often think about other famous humorists such as

Raymond Devos Raymond Devos (; 9 November 1922 – 15 June 2006) was a French humorist, stand-up comedian and clown. He is best known for his sophisticated puns and surreal humour. Early life Devos was born in Mouscron, Belgium, close to the French border. ...

and

Pierre Desproges Pierre Desproges (; 9 May 1939 – 18 April 1988) was a French humorist. He was born in Pantin, Seine-Saint-Denis. According to himself, he made no significant achievements before the age of 30. From 1967 to 1970, he worked as: life insurance s ...

, which often causes the complete misunderstanding of some of his special guests.

Filmography

;Film *''Mauvais Genres'' (2001) ... Pryzuski *''Trois petites filles'' (2004) ... inspector *''Casablanca Driver'' (2004) ... patient *''Pour le plaisir'' (2004) ... café owner *''25 degrés en hiver'' (2004) ... working inspector *''Saint-Jacques... La Mecque'' (2005) ... priest of

Navarrenx Navarrenx (; ; , ) is a town and commune in the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The demonym is Navarre. Since 2014, the town has been in the association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France. It is ...

*''

'' (2008) ... Numéric *''Baby blues'' (2008) ... Sacha *''Une chaîne pour deux'' (2008) *''Le Siffleur'' (2010) ... Martial *''Sans laisser de traces'' (2010) ... Kazinski *'' Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia'' (2012) ... stadium decurion *''Chez nous c'est trois !'' (2013) ... Gabriel *''

'' (2014) ... Alexandre *'' Do Not Disturb'' (2014) ... Pavel *'' Les Gazelles'' (2014) ... M. Hublot *'' Paris-Willouby'' (2015) ... Maurice Guilby *''

Fanny's Journey ''Fanny's Journey'' (original title: ''Le Voyage de Fanny'') is a 2016 French-Belgian children's war drama film co-written and directed by Lola Doillon. The film is inspired by the autobiographical memoir ''Le journal de Fanny'' by Fanny Ben-Am ...

'' (2016) ... Jean *'' Chacun sa vie et son intime conviction'' (2017) *'' Nothing to Hide'' (2018) ... Vincent *'' The Butcher's Daughter'' (2021) ... Miguel Amestoy *'' Bigbug'' (2022) ... Max ;Television *''Faux Contact'' (1997–2000) ... adjutant Stéphane Coelenbier *''Boulevard du Palais'' (1999–2007) ... Pascal Jagot (season 1 to 9) *'' Joséphine, ange gardien'' (Episode : "La vérité en face") (2002) ... The receptionist *''Mon voisin du dessus'' (TV film) (2003) ... Rémi *''Mon vrai père'' (TV film) (2004) ... Alain Perini *''Petit Homme'' (TV film) (2005) ... Grégoire *''Je hais les vacances'' (TV film) (2007) ... Étienne *''Vive les vacances !'' (2009) ... Christophe *''Joséphine, ange gardien'' (Episode : "Police Blues") (2009) ... Commander Levasseur *''Tombé sur la tête'' (2010) ... Bertrand *''35 kilos d'espoir'' (2010) ... Marc *''Mes amis, mes amours, mes emmerdes...'' (2010) ... François Kleber *''Merci patron'' (TV film) (2011) ... François *''Le Sang de la vigne'' (2013) ... Cluzel (1 episode) *''

'' (2013) ... Pierre-Henri Delage (season 6)

Publications

* * * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:De Groodt, Stephane Belgian racing drivers International Formula 3000 drivers Porsche Supercup drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Belgian male actors Belgian male comedians 1966 births Male actors from Brussels Living people FIA GT Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Belgian male television actors Belgian male film actors 20th-century Belgian male actors 21st-century Belgian male actors Racing drivers from Brussels