You have just been appointed Director of External Relations for GF Productions, the leading French-speaking comedy group. What are the activities of this group, which is planning to implement an ambitious development program in Africa?
The first major festival organized by the Grégoire Furrer Productions group was the Montreux Comedy Festival, which has been running for over thirty years. Today, it is a huge machine that shines throughout the French-speaking world thanks to comedy, and is the flagship of a fleet of other festivals spread across three continents.
Over the past four years, the group has significantly accelerated its development: we now produce eight festivals around the world, mainly in French-speaking countries. The group's development required it to clearly express the coherence of its strategy and acquire institutional visibility. It is a group that has quietly expanded by building festival after festival based on a genuine vision, that of Grégoire Furrer, for whom humor is a major art form, the fastest-growing art form, and one that touches our contemporaries in all their diversity, across all age groups. In particular, it is one of the few genres that appeals to younger generations. We have a universal audience ranging from 7 to 97 years old.
Hence the importance of Africa…?
Exactly. Africa is extremely important for our development because Africa is young and also extremely connected. The reality is that the telecom industry has grown exponentially across Africa. Today, to reach the African audience, we are more likely to succeed with a smartphone than through traditional media.
It's important to note that the group has been committed to digital development for several years. Today, we are the leading platform for distributing sketches, stand-up comedy, and comedy shows on the internet, with 50 million comedy downloads per month, and this number is constantly growing. We also offer African comedians this digital amplifier for their talent.
How do you see the group developing?
The group's development is based on two pillars: the historical pillar consisting of major festivals that provide visibility, a foothold in the region, the opportunity to recruit new talent, and the chance to scout for the next generation of comedians; and the second pillar of our development, is digital development, making the entire catalog of comedy that has been built up at each event for over 30 years available to the public.
An example of this two-pronged approach is that we recently revamped the "performance d'acteurs" festival, which has been running for over 30 years and takes place in late June/early July in Cannes. It is now called "Big Perf" and, in addition to large multi-artist galas "like in Montreux," it offers the discovery of new forms of comedy via
digital technology, such as holoshows, the Comedyverse experience, and the exploration of comedy on the Metaverse.Everything we are developing today in terms of technology allows us to offer humor without borders in a virtual space where everyone can circulate. We also produce master classes for young people in Cannes who see stand-up as their favorite means of expression. This allows us to make selections, to help the best comedians enter the profession and to tour them so that they can join the recognized talents already present at our festivals around the world.
How are you established in Africa today?
Africa is at the heart of the Group's development, which is largely inventing its future and growth in Africa, experimenting here with new dynamics in humor as well as new distribution solutions. We have been in Abidjan for more than four years thanks to the Dycoco festival, which is the comedy event for all of West Africa and also allows us to discover talent across the continent through a competition called "My First Montreux" that travels from country to country. For example, the last final took place at the end of October in Kinshasa. This allows us to discover the gems of African comedy and support them so that they can shine in all their glory. Today, something phenomenal is happening in comedy in Abidjan, and it's essential to be here, connected to this positive energy!
And the winner will go to the Montreux festival…
Of course! But above all, they will spend six months in an organization that we have been developing for three years called the African Comedy Academy, located in a stand-up venue, a comedy club created in Abidjan itself, in Cocody, called Dycoco. Each selected artist can then hone their skills with workshops in writing, directing, and performance, so they can make European audiences laugh. The aim is to enable them to highlight the universal aspect of their own talent and move away from overly local references: what makes people laugh in Côte d'Ivoire, Togo or Congo can make people laugh anywhere, but you have to achieve a universal dimension of humor and master the codes of the different audiences you want to reach. And the French-speaking world is a wonderful horizon for all these artists.
Are you going to develop other events in Africa?
Our idea is to then develop African humor from several areas where talent on the continent has been identified.
Quite naturally, we have identified three major areas, centered on Abidjan, of course, for West Africa, where the Dycoco, the African comedy academy, is located, but also Kinshasa for Central Africa and Algiers for North Africa.
Grégoire Furrer is convinced that Algeria is a wonderful country for comedy and that we need to promote Algerian talent outside the country and even outside the continent. Algeria has enormous potential, as we can see from all the Algerian, Franco-Algerian, and Algerian-French talents. It is a potential that we want to exploit to enable Algeria to shine. The Algerian hub should also serve as a unifying force for the Maghreb with a regional "my first Montreux," transcending borders.
Grégoire Furrer's "Francophone" vision is also what led the OIF to schedule a "pre-opening" evening for the Montreux Comedy Festival for the first time at the upcoming Djerba Summit: a way of recognizing the importance of humor as a major Francophone art form!
Was the final of "My First Montreux," which took place in Kinshasa, broadcast on African television channels?
The group concludes ad hoc agreements depending on the galas. We have an ongoing and very solid agreement with CANAL+, but we also have an agreement with RTS, for example, because we are in Switzerland, just as the Dycoco comedians work with all the Ivorian radio and television channels. Humor cannot be caged, it resists exclusivity, it circulates on social media and is all the more powerful because it is repeated, revisited and recognized. All other shows wear out fairly quickly, but the power of humor is that each new broadcast gives it a little more power. La Grande Vadrouille
, how many reruns? Africa is no exception to this rule: for example, the Pan-African gala of the Dycoco Festival in Abidjan was broadcast on Canal+ Afrique, and the Big Perf gala in Cannes was broadcast on the Comédie+ channel. Each time, there may be a specific agreement depending on the galas, the target audience, the venue, the talent, the artistic choices, etc.
We don't have an output deal
, as they say in the audiovisual industry, with a single broadcaster, but that may come, as some platforms now have a global editorial strategy that humor fits perfectly into. We may sign an output deal
with an international digital platform next year! Why not, if it means we can better finance the discovery, training, and promotion of comedians?
Three years ago, you also created the "Nouveaux Mondes club," of which you are the General Delegate. Are there any synergies between this club and
your new role at GF Productions
? Yes, of course! The Nouveaux Mondes club is a think tank that aims to foster dialogue between leaders from developed and emerging countries in the economic, political, and cultural spheres in Africa, America, France, and Europe. This dynamic intersects with the development of humor across the three continents where the group created by Grégoire Furrer is established! When we look at the Francophonie today, in all its richness and diversity, we are struck by its youth and its capacity for creativity. The Francophonie is not just about the grand gatherings of heads of state, it is also about the way in which we, as French-speaking peoples, talk and laugh together. Because at the heart of the values of the real Francophonie lie Voltaire's smile and Coluche's humor, which are perhaps the strongest weapons in today's world.
Is there an entertainment dimension to this club?
It is difficult to avoid, given that the cultural and creative industries are at the forefront of the globalized economy. The cultural industries are now an asset in terms of influence and a vector for economic development and employment, as Françoise Remarck, Minister of Culture and Francophonie of Côte d'Ivoire, brilliantly demonstrated. We must therefore adapt the training and funding of our cultures so that they meet the needs of new formats and distribution tools that are changing at a rapid pace. We must leverage the international dimension of cultural products originating in Africa and get used to thinking of the international market as our natural outlet. This is possible when we understand the situation in other markets and when we also understand the players in the rest of the world involved in this economic transformation, which is still in its infancy. Adaptability, agility, mutual understanding, and shared challenges: Club Nouveaux Mondes has been at the heart of the digital battle from the very beginning.
The World Cup, which will take place in a month's time, is already the subject of intense relations between Africa and Europe. Will you be offering anything special for this event?
We are focusing on what could be offered for the CAN in terms of cultural influence in the service of Ivorian, or even African, humor, since Abidjan is the hub of West African humor.
On the one hand, we will have athletes from all over the continent coming together, but on the other hand, on the cultural side of the CAN, we must ensure that comedians have their place. For a competition that is as fraternal and peaceful as possible: a gathering for laughter.