© Florence Mendez (@mendez_florence) - Amandine Lourdel - Merwane Benlazar by Luca Devita.
Amidst the countless stars in the comedy sky, these comedians are delivering their latest shows right now. Get ready to laugh until you cry with our shortlist of the best comedy shows to book before they sell out!
Amandine Lourdel
Her Show: Renversée
Her Bio: How can you resist Amandine’s energy and voice? This fiercely sarcastic thirty-something doesn’t hold back, chronicling her life weekly on Vivre FM with a biting sense of humor.
On Stage: Amandine Lourdel offers a 100% honest show, hurling jokes at a dizzying pace. With surprising and (sometimes) delightfully trashy humor, she shares her life experiences, daily routine, and everything in between: the omnipresence of alcohol in her life, her unapologetically feminine identity, friends becoming parents, and her experiences as a comedian at alternative festivals (our favorite part) where she hilariously sketches audience members, her mother gifting her Breton bowls with each new boyfriend, deconstructed men, and just about everything that shapes our society. The result? Tons of festival awards and a show that sells out every Tuesday at Théâtre Bo Saint Martin.
Renversée until June 18 at Théâtre Bo Saint Martin, 19 boulevard Saint Martin, Paris 3rd.
© Amandine Lourdel.
Merwane Benlazar
His Show: Le Formidable
His Bio: No one is safe from Merwane Benlazar! After opening for Panayotis Pascot, Fary, and Gad Elmaleh, this native of Seine-Saint-Denis presents his first solo show where he takes no prisoners.
On Stage: Switching between improvisation and well-crafted sketches, Merwane Benlazar elicits roars of laughter, sparing no one. He sets the tone right from the start by announcing a “lecture on Islam” and picks an audience member as the “racist of the day”. His high-speed tempo never slows down, and the laughs keep coming, thanks to his infectious joy and radiant personality. When he’s not discussing systemic racism, he shares how he tried to lose weight by taking boxing classes, only to face the boxers of Saint-Denis. Oops! Another unforgettable moment? Discovering his parents are actually cousins (true story). Merwane Benlazar strings together laugh-out-loud anecdotes. While waiting for a certain media outlet to finally give him the three T’s he dreams of, we’re giving him Do It In Paris’s seal of approval!
Le Formidable until June 12 at Sacré, 142 rue Montmartre, Paris 2nd.
© Merwane Benlazar by Valentin Fougeray.
Florence Mendez
Her Show: Délicate
Her Bio: Autistic, HPI, hypersensitive, hypermetric, and above all, hyper funny, the former France Inter columnist leaves nothing unsaid. Diagnosed at 30, she turns her #FML experiences into a punchline-filled performance.
On Stage: Making people laugh about suicide, domestic violence, and losing custody of her child is Florence Mendez’s outrageous bet. And she nails it. This 37-year-old Belgian exorcises her past struggles in a show she’s been rewriting since 2017. From discovering her mental illness to a trial against her toxic ex or her past as an English teacher, she never suffers from writer’s block! Touching and funny, she addresses necessary topics, shattering norms along the way. The result? She enthralls us, tearing apart human stupidity and its standard-bearers, including her favorite targets: influencers getting vaginal rejuvenation and sexual abusers, of which she’s been a victim. With a sharp wit and a fast-moving mind, she leaves us in awe of her intelligence.
Délicate until June 25 at Métropole, 39 rue du Sentier, Paris 2nd.
© Florence Mendez.
Discover also the must-see powerful play at Théâtre de l'Atelier and Fanny Ardant’s solo performance in a heart-wrenching play.
