Coluche (1944–1986)

Coluche (real name: Michel Colucci) was a well-known French comedian and actor. There are many videos out there of his performances on stage and on screen. One of my first experiences with him in a leading role was the film 'L'Aile ou la Cuisse' (1976), in which he played the son of Charles Duchemin (Louis de Funès). Great stuff!

On stage, Coluche had an opinion about almost anything, but foremost politics and alike. At some point, he even ran for president (1981), as you can read here. I didn't know that. But what started as a joke, soon became serious business. Until he had to renounce his candidacy for certain reasons. LCI wrote an article on the political man behind the comedian: see here.

This book here, 'Et vous trouvez ça drôle?' (And you think it's funny? - roughly translated) is largely a compilation of quotes on several themes, flowing nicely from one into the other, though without any form of separation via chapters or titles. The themes are sports, politics, life, animals, and so on, and so forth. You can just open a page and read a quote, if you're in need of a laugh.

The last 70 pages are a transcript, in Q&A-form, of a conference:
Conférence de Coluche
Le 27 février 1986
à la loge "Locarno 72"
au siège du Grand Orient de France

In this Q&A, visitors/the public are asking Coluche questions about certain political events, his own political career (however short), his humanitarian actions (mainly the founding of Restos du Cœur and the idea/philosophy behind it, and more. But it's thus about politics and society. A very interesting way to find out more about the man's view on life and society and how he was more for redistribution of food, out of respect for everyone and against capitalism. If you extrapolate this to today, and read the various articles about overflowing stocks, how they are treated (export to far-away countries, in a certain order, or simply destruction), .... it makes you think, look at the world in a different way. And still be baffled about it all, why it is there are still so many people without proper access to good and nutritious food.

In short: Entertaining, but also eye-opening. One of the several books out there which help you to review your view on life, on society, on politics, ...… (más)