- Comedian Maxime Gasteuil, originally from Gironde, is confined to his parents' home in Saint-Emilion.
- The 30-year-old continues to post his hilarious videos on Instagram and has even joined the team of stars of Au secours, bonjour , the new humorous capsule from France 2.
- At 20 Minutes , he talks about his return "to teenage life" with his parents and his great desire to quickly go back on stage ... avoiding talking about epidemics and confinement.
On stage, he speaks at 100 an hour and runs on the Paris vs Province valve. Confined to his parents in Saint-Emilion, Maxime Gasteuil continues to post his hilarious videos on Instagram and has even joined the team of stars of Au secours, bonjour , the new humorous capsule from France 2. Between two passages of mower tractor and the bulgurs prepared by the brother, the hyperactive thirties, who “has just passed the rotofil”, talks about humor in times of crisis, post-May 11 projects, Parisians on the market and good news of confinement.
How is confinement at the parents' place?
Honestly, it's great. When I saw that this thing was starting to get serious, I went down to my parents' house in Saint-Emilion. As my job is a lot of concessions for friends and family, I thought it was an opportunity to get closer to them. I'm happy to live with them, to redo the market with my father. I resume my teen life at 32 years old with my parents and my little sister who is six years younger than me and with whom I have always lived offbeat. And then they can finally see how I work.
What is a day of confinement at Maxime Gasteuil?
At first, I was deregulated as in Paris and then I resumed the rhythm of Saint-Emilion. Red and candied wine, it's instinctive. Well, I also try the 30 minutes of sports in the morning. I found a cool app that allows breaks, because we're not going to lie, I'm not a great sportsman. And then there is gardening, DIY and videos to shoot for Instagram and France 2. I do four or five in advance. I write, I wait for the return of my producer, I shoot my sequence and I wait again for a return. If it's genius, we stop there. Otherwise, we rework again. Each video takes me an hour or two hours. Then we meet up with the family for dinner. My parents work a lot and go to bed early. I piss them off in the garden until one in the morning.
Have you developed passions?
I got a taste for gardening. I feel like I am 63 years old, drinking Ricqlés and smoking Gypsy corn while waiting for 5.30pm for the sun to set. But my real new passion is the lawn tractor. I am on the verge of buying cigarettes in a lawn tractor. I am so excited that I will put flashing lights on it and have it approved for the road. Otherwise, there is something that fucks my glands, it's the guy who invents a life as a sports coach to make "likes". I can't take it anymore. The guy was a plumber, 20 days ago and there he is a personal trainer. No, you stop. You lie. Do your sport in your garage and you piss nobody.
Rather candied than jogging, then?
The first fortnight, I drank but I drank. I ate well too. We are epicureans in the family and we tried to put a bandage on all this by drinking well and eating good. There, we resumed a better pace. We eat healthier things, like salads and juices in the morning. I really feel in good shape elsewhere. My sister, who has a "healthy" side to finish in the Marais, pushes me to eat bulgur and soy steaks. I can't take it anyway.
You are used to working as a family, with friends. Morale, how are you?
My two producers, Benjamin and Magalie, are cousins. I have them on the phone three to four times a day. The same goes for my press secretary and my director, Edouard Pluvieux. We do a lot of FaceTime, too. It is as if they were there. I'm not a loner so I start to miss everyone a lot. I miss the scene too. The other day, I said to myself that if we were condemned not to go out anymore, that if I couldn't go on stage anymore, well I would let myself go.
Apparently the end is not on the agenda and you do not even work a lot during this confinement…
It's quite odd, because this confinement is a bit of good news in series for me. From the start, Brut contacted me for Help, hello. I am next to Marina Fois, François Berléand or Manu Payet… it's madness. And then my videos on Instagram explode. We had time to refine a film and a book that we wrote with my team. The film is that of the show that we would like to call When it arrives in town . It is the story of a provincial trapped in Paris during the month of August and who discovers the Parisians. The book is the guide of the provincial who arrives in Paris.
Always the duel Paris-Province. What do you think of the Parisians who came to confine themselves on the Aquitaine coast?
It makes me laugh. I have never typed as fair with my subject as at this time. When we arrive in Paris, we are called bouseux. When they got here, it was war. It is a fight that will never stop. Parisians, you see them all smiling on the market. You put soil on vegetables and old-fashioned tomatoes that you sell them eight times the price, and that makes them dream.
Is it difficult to make people laugh in times of crisis?
What has worked since the start of my career is talking about the life I led in the provinces. So there I have something to do. My father is one of my biggest examples, my engine. Since he is there he is with me every day, I have a lot of resources. And then my sister told me that I had never been as funny as during this confinement ... I have caregivers who also tell me that they take a twenty minute break to laugh while watching my videos. This is where I tell myself that I did my job.
And you're going to be talking about coronavirus and Covid-19 on stage?
We will say what we want, but my humor is very light. I do what I can do and I don't want to go on land that I don't know. I've seen a lot of comedians talking about the disease, but I don't know it. If you watch the news, nobody knows anything, so I don't want to go and say bullshit on Instagram. I made a video at the start of confinement, joking that it was going to last a fortnight ... and then it was two months ago. The beautiful mistake.
So no skit on confinement in an upcoming show?
I don't think I want to tell people who come to my room about the news. My show, I want it to be Disneyland, an evening in a nightclub. I want them to die of laughter and want to go and have a drink when they leave. I want people to keep telling me at the end: "I want to go party with you". I want my future life to be spent on Eiffel 65.
So you can't wait to get back on stage?
We started more than five years ago in rooms for 20 people who were not filled. Today, I fill the Eiffel Tower theater five nights in a row. I do Zenith, Arkea in Bordeaux… We were sold out everywhere until July. In short, when my career finally starts, I have the confinement that comes. It's super cool, you see, I really have a huge chance [laughs]. So, yes, of course, I can't wait because the dream is not finished.
Read our file on the coronavirus
But before going back on stage there is the deconfinement on May 11, what are you going to do?
Already, on the 12th, I am in the hospital because I have an ethylic coma. Joking aside, everyone says "the 11 we go out", but as Macron said, there will be a lot of stages to follow before experiencing this. But, ideally, on the 11th, I take my friends in my arms, I touch them, I speak to them. I organize a fucking meal with aperitif and digestif, ten times. I go to bed at 10 am with an Armagnac, always trying to remake the world.
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