Канадалық сатирик, актер және продюсер Ивон Дешам

Canadian actor, author, and entertainment producer

Yvon Deschamps (born July 31, 1935, in Montreal, Quebec) is a Quebec author, actor, comedian and producer best known for his monologues. His social commentary tinged humour propelled him to prominence in Quebec popular culture in the 1970s and 1980s. A long time comedian and still active, Deschamps is now perceived the greatest in Quebec history.

Yvon Deschamps was born in Montreal's working class Saint Henri district. He left school in 1951, after Grade 11, and in 1953 found work in the record library at Radio Canada's new television service. It was at Radio Canada that Deschamps discovered the performing arts; after attending a boulevard theatre piece starring Georges Groulx and Denise Pelletier, he added a taste for the theatre, and enrolled in acting classes with François Rozet and Paul Buissonneau. He took the stage for the first time in 1957 at the Théâtre universitaire canadien, playing Pylade in a production of Jean Racine's Andromaque. In 1959, Deschamps was part of La Roulotte, Paul Buissonneau's travelling children's theatre. The following year he married Mireille Lachance (the two would divorce in 1967). In 1961 he became friends with Claude Léveillée, becoming his drummer, even though the man had actually never played the drums before. In 1963 he formed a company with Léveillée and several other artists at Buissonneau's Théâtre de Quat'Sous. In 1965 he played his first film role in Jean Claude Lord's Deliver Us from Evil (Délivrez nous du mal), although the film was not released theatrically until 1969. That same year Deschamps left his short career as a musician behind and opened Le Fournil, a restaurant in Old Montreal, followed by Saint Amable in 1966. Both would end up bankrupt a few years later, but while they were open Deschamps hosted his Boîte à Clémence, a boîte à chanson hosted by Clémence DesRochers, participating in the Le monde sont drôles (People are Funny) and Sois toi même(Be Yourself) shows which opened there in 1967. The latter played a special role in his career, because that is where the Yvon Deschamps "character" and his "good boss" role appeared for the first time:)

Following the success of Osstidcho, Yvon Deschamps' career skyrocketed. In 1969 he presented L'argent (Money) as the opening act for singer Marie Laforêt's tour, then Le bonheur (Happiness) at the Théâtre du Canada; these two monologues would become his second album. Deschamps put on his first solo show at the Patriot, where he would go on to appear some 310 times. In 1970 Deschamps released his third album, Le p'tit Jésus/Le fœtus (Baby Jesus/The Foetus) and appeared more than 240 times at the Place des Arts's Théâtre Maisonneuve, where he launched monologues like Dans ma cour (In My Yard) and Cable TV. The following year another 180 performances were held, including five consecutive weeks sold out. In 1971 he had a film role in Jean Bissonnette's Hold on to Daddy's Ears (Tiens toi bien après les oreilles à papa). Deschamps presented his shows On va s'en sortir (We'll Manage) at the Théâtre Saint Denis in 1972 and La libération de la femme (Women's Lib) at the Patriote in 1973 and 1974, giving some 150 performances of the latter show. In 1975, he toured for nine months to put on L'histoire sainte (History of the Sacred). In 1977, Deschamps returned with a new, untitled show which would headline for 16 weeks at the Place des Arts and show 102 times over that period. His first daughter with now wife Judi Richards, Annie, was born. For a brief period he attempted to pierce the English language market with a California tour, and appeared three times on Peter Gzowski's popular CBC programme (one of these appearances is archived in the first volume of his DVD collection), further appearing on the CBC's Let's Save Canada Hour. He soon reconsidered moving his new family to the United States to essentially 'start over' and went home to Montreal. In 1979, he headed back yet again to the Place des Arts, with a difficult show which included his La petite mentale (the retarded girl) and La manipulation monologues. Deschamps himself called the show a "catastrophe" and would later recall that "they ended up writing off my career." He had a second daughter, Karine, and came back in 1982 with C'est tout seul qu'on est l'plus nombreux (We are the biggest crowd alone). Although the public hesitated at first—only 5000 tickets had sold a week before the show opened—the show was very well received; as Deschamps put it, "I got wise and, ten days later, began selling out a room a day." The following year Deschamps headlined two weeks at the Théâtre de la Ville de Paris. It would be the swan song of the most fruitful period of his career: seeing a new generation of Québécois comedians like Ding et Dong growing up around him, and troubled by what he saw as a political correctness movement in the 1980s, Deschamps chose 1983 to bow out as a monologuist with his farewell show, Un voyage dans le temps (A Journey Through Time).