Dany Boon returns to Montreal stage after seven years away

French comedian and film director Dany Boon is back on stage in Montreal this week, performing his new solo show Clown n'est pas un métier at the Just for Laughs festival. It's his first live performance in seven years.

The 56-year-old, known for his physical comedy and the hit film Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, stepped away from touring to focus on cinema and television, including a recent Netflix series filmed in northern France. But he missed the immediate energy of a live audience. "I wanted to make people laugh for real, to have the instant response," he said in an interview. "Conquering the public through humour and humanity—because laughter is great proof of humanity—there's nothing equal to it. It feeds me."

The show's title references a note a teacher left on his elementary school report card in red ink: "Clown is not a job." His mother recently found the report and sent it to him along with a photo of eight-year-old Dany. "When I saw that, I thought: the kid in that photo dreamed of performing on stage. I had betrayed that kid," he explained.

Boon has warm words for Quebec audiences, calling them "attentive, curious, generous, and quite fabulous." His previous one-man show, Hauts-de-France, closed at Montreal's Olympia in 2018. His new material touches on everyday frustrations with technology, self-diagnosis via the internet, and an homage to French comedian Raymond Devos, whom Boon calls his spiritual father. The show also includes guitar and piano songs.