"Too many men still make misogynistic jokes", laments Tania Dutel

• Since the beginning of February, Tania Dutel has been playing the show

  Les Autres

  on Tuesdays at L'Européen (Paris 18th).

• The 32-year-old comedian addresses, among other things, the subject of rape.

  “I don't want to traumatize people.

  But we need to talk about it more so that we realize all that this implies, so that we can move things forward, ”she explains to

  20 Minutes

  .

• "I think there's a responsibility in humor," she says.

  There are things I don't want to talk about.

  For me, the main thing, when you do stand up and want to talk about a delicate subject, is that it's funny.

  »

Her new one-on-stage, which she plays on Tuesdays in March at the European (Paris 18th) and throughout France is called

.

One thinks of Sartre's phrase on the "hell" that they represent.

And this is precisely the point of Tania Dutel.

“These others are ruining my life, I made a show of them,” writes the comedian in the press kit.

Her show approaches different registers, from the comic observation to the absurd – like this meeting in the catacombs not romantic for a penny – and is more serious when the thirty-something addresses, in particular, the theme of rape.

Tania Dutel reflects on the counter-productive impact that a good word can have, makes sure to be as inclusive as possible and knows that humor is not just about bursts of laughter.

met her.

In your writing, you play a lot with breaks in tone.

You evoke a seemingly banal subject and, suddenly, you breathe in triviality when you don't expect it.

Were you encouraged to cultivate this paw or are there still misogynistic reflexes believing that a woman cannot be in this register?

Just go see the comments under my videos.

One comedian in particular told me that I shouldn't talk about that.

It's funny because a few months later I saw him on stage talking about his dick.

"It's not beautiful in the mouth of a woman" is a recurring reflection.

A spectator told me in a private message: “It's a shame, you could be funny, but when you talk like that, it's not pretty.

It's still silly to say that.

I had the opportunity to discuss it with an anthropologist who explained to me that, as I talk about so-called taboo subjects - which is absurd because female subjects affect half the population and sexuality a large majority of people –, women, who are so conditioned not to express themselves on these subjects, seeing another woman dare to speak about it,

What was the starting point for writing this new solo performance?

As always, I wanted to talk about personal anecdotes that can speak to everyone.

With the exception of the date in the catacombs, which happened to very few people, I imagine, in principle, it is possible to recognize oneself in what I am telling.

I also really wanted to talk about the fact that we live permanently in relation to others.

In the middle of the show, you bring up the subject of rape, because it happened to you, and you tell the audience: "I apologize if this brings things up, but I'm not sorry to talk about it"...

Yes, because it's not an easy subject.

It's exhausting, even, to talk about it.

But I'm talking about it in a more general way because I know that in the room there are a lot of victims of that.

I've never received so many messages since I've been doing this show.

The day after the second performance, a woman wrote to me that she had come with her best friend, who realized that evening that a report she had experienced and believed about " normal” but which did not look good on her was in fact rape.

Is it to raise these awarenesses that you speak about it?

I don't want to traumatize people.

But we need to talk about it more so that we realize all that it implies, that we can move things forward and that people stop raping, in fact.

I'm talking about a reality.

There are women who complain.

The men always get away with it and it is the woman who is thought to be at fault.

Comedian Tristan Lopin, who also speaks in his new show about the rape he suffered as a child, told "20 Minutes" that it was difficult for him to rehash this at each performance, but that in the end, it was therapeutic for him.

Is it the same for you?

The first time I played it, it was violent for me.

As it had been the first time I broached the subject of eating disorders.

But then, when I'm on stage, it's as if I put a barrier between my “real” self and the person who is facing an audience.

On the eternal question of “Can we laugh at everything?

“How do you position yourself?

I find that there is a responsibility in humor.

You can laugh at anything if it's done intelligently.

There are things I don't want to talk about.

For me, the main thing, when you do stand up and want to talk about a delicate subject, is that it's funny.

I don't want to make the subject of rape funny.

In my positioning, I prefer to make fun of myself, which isn't a great thing to do, in real life… but I think about what I'm doing.

What you say echoes what New Zealand comedian Hanna Gadsby talks about in "Nanette", that is to say that self-mockery can, sometimes, harm self-esteem...

I used to make fun of myself much more before than today.

Besides, I don't feel like I do it in my show.

For me, the goal, and it's the same thing when I talk about eating disorders, is to help people realize that they have problems and can take care of them and solve them. .

There are comedians who believe that as long as a joke is funny, even if it hurts someone, if it makes the most people laugh, it should be done...

I have the impression, seeing a lot of comedians play that women are much more aware of the impact of valves.

I still hear too many men making hyper misogynistic jokes and for them, it's completely normal.

They say “Yes but it makes people laugh”.

Great !

It reminds me of this black comedian with whom I had exchanged.

On stage, he took on an accent from an African country and the audience laughed.

I was trying to make him understand that those laughs were racist.

It's great that he makes people laugh but it wasn't the right laugh.

He told me he hadn't thought of it before.

Do you hesitate, sometimes, to make certain valves?

I have a joke in my show that I'm having trouble with.

I was still thinking this morning to take it off because I'm not in adequacy with it.

It's when I talk about my old classmate who had cystic fibrosis and who ran faster than me – which was true – and I add that today he died… Actually, I don't know if he's dead or not I try to find him… People laugh so that's why I keep it but I get hurt every time I do it because it's someone I defended all the time in college.

The others laughed at him because he had mucus and it was driving me crazy.

I wonder why, me who took his defense, I laugh at him on stage twenty years later.

I don't agree with that at all.

I'm considering removing it from the show.

Culture

"You have to learn to laugh at what you have experienced", according to Tristan Lopin, back with "Irreproachable"

Television

The Bodin's, stars of decentralized humor, put on their show

• Rape

• Misogyny

• Humorist

• Feminism

• Interview

• Culture

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