Paris (AFP)

Norman, one of the oldest hexagonal stars of YouTube, returns on stage for his second tour of France in stand-up, having tested his valves for months and "matured" his jokes.

"I do not play a character when I go on stage, the stand-up is like being in real life," says Norman, looking worried under his curls but pleased to present his new solo. "It's like telling a friend a story."

After a first successful show, Norman co-wrote this "Show of Maturity" for two years with Kader Aoun, the height of humor that accompanied Jamel, Fary or Eric and Ramzy.

To master this discipline where there is always a risk of "getting a wall one night, and tails between the legs", who was long n ° 1 youtubeurs testing its valves for several months on the tiny scene Paname Art Café facing a handful of spectators by night. Before going to much larger: about thirty dates are already planned at La Cigale in Paris, then in the Zénith de Nantes in Dijon, also passing by Geneva and Liège.

Norman, 32, keeps the tone that made the success of his pellets on YouTube. He laughs more or less gently about the "dictatorship of cool pictures", his role in the series "Ten Percent", his father, dyslexia or rappers SCH or Booba. Only taboo: no joke about giving birth, his companion being "black belt in shrieks".

"I'm talking about all of us," says Norman. "I'm talking about my generation, our times, what my daughter has changed in my life, technology, social networks, I do not feel like I'm clutching fashions, I'm always the mass, I prefer to observe, it makes me look a bit jaded, but I'm like that in real life. "

- Youtubers? "a little bit of clones" -

After the meteoric successes in the Middle Ages of French YouTube, in the early 2010s, Norman regrets that youtubers have become "a little all clones". He takes a stand in this old debate on the future of the platform, relaunched in mid-November by a critic of YouTube, the player of the attic (or "JDG").

YouTube "was a wasteland and we were the first to try things," he says. "Now, I see the kids who are eighteen, who have their studios, their production, their network (management network), it seems obvious.So much better if it became a job and it can explode people But it also removes the personality, we all do the same thing, "Norman regrets." I have the impression to see Pewdiepie (the Swedish star of the network) multiplied by a million, French version ".

"Small creators who do more artistic things, more worked, have to hang on ... if we do not want YouTube to become a big TV + cheap + reality show," Norman says.

For his part, the video maker has slowed down the pace. It still presents some pellets, sometimes tests new simple formulas, but focuses especially on more ambitious videos, longer and more expensive to produce.

His miniseries "The Talisman", written with Ludovik, will be released on YouTube in the coming weeks. "It's the story of a guy who finds a talisman inherited from his grandfather, which allows you to navigate in different dimensions," says Norman. "Three episodes have already been shot, the idea is then to invent the episodes as and when broadcast", with the ideas of the public.

© 2019 AFP