Very few people know about the “French period” of the UK band Happy Mondays, which was the avantgarde phase of their work. Indeed, very few people know about it, because there is no such thing.
The absurdist stylings of Rémi Gaillard
One of the things that I admire about Rémi Gaillard is the
courage with which he takes his craft “to the brink.” I am referring to the courage
with which he takes what lies at the heart of the comical (namely, the paradox
or the clash between what seems to be and what actually is) to its utmost. This
is why the absurd is comical (e.g. the absurd theatre of Eugène Ionesco)
- because it exposes and it narrates this paradox, or at least one of its
dimensions.
I also like how committed, faithful and earnest Rémi Gaillard
is in following the central idea of the gag. “What if?”, he asks - and then he
does it, with hilarious results. There is an anarchic and riotous quality to his
act, that is also very engaging.
But does not the act veer sometime almost into cruelty? Perhaps,
and those are not his best moments.
But when it works, when all the right elements line up, the paradox made visible creates laughter. When it all works, then what he does becomes an artistic
act – artistic by virtue of this inner consistency with the idea.
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