Line #11 Creator/Coluche


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/coluche.jpg]]
2
3	->''"I would tell politicians who think I'm a funnyman that it's not me who started."''
4
5	Michel Gérard Joseph Colucci (October 28, 1944 – June 19, 1986), better known as "Coluche", was a UsefulNotes/{{Fr\|ance}}ench [[RecordedAndStandUpComedy stage and television comedian]], film actor and charity patron of French and Italian descent.
6
7	He started his career in DinnerTheatre shows at the Café de la Gare in UsefulNotes/{{Paris}} in the late [[The60s 1960s]] alongside the likes of Creator/HenriGuybet and Miou-Miou and adopted his {{stage name\|s}} at age 26, when his stage career took off. He became famous for his irreverent attitude towards [[UsefulNotes/FrenchPoliticalSystem French politicians]] and establishment of TheSeventies and the early [[TheEighties '80s]], incorporating this into much of his material. He was one of the first major comedians to regularly use profanities for humorous effect on French television ("I'm coarse but not vulgar", as he said). While it started as a joke, he even considered running for the [[UsefulNotes/ThePresidentsOfFrance Presidency]] in 1981, then opted out under political pressure.
8
9	He also had success in comedies on the big screen, such as with ''Film/TheWingOrTheThigh'' alongside the legendary Creator/LouisDeFunes. He ended up PlayingAgainstType in 1983 with ''Tchao Pantin'', which earned him a number of awards. Upon seeing that many people living on French soil could not afford food, he created the charity association "Les Restaurants du Cœur" in 1985 (literally "Restaurants of the Heart" but meaning "Restaurants of Love"), commonly and familiarly known as "Les Restos du Cœur".
10
11	A fan of motorcycling, Coluche died in a road accident (he crashed into a truck) on June 19, 1986 in Opio, near Grasse, in the South-Eastern French UsefulNotes/{{departement\|al Issues}} of Alpes-Maritimes, at the age of 41. For many French people, he remains a gone-too-soon icon of TheEighties.
12
13	A {{biopic}} about him was released in 2008 in which he was portrayed by François-Xavier Demaison, titled ''Coluche: L'Histoire d'un mec''.
14	----
15	!!Films on this wiki:
16
17	* ''Film/TheWingOrTheThigh'' (1976) as Gérard Duchemin
18	* ''Film/InspectorBlunder'' (1980) as inspecteur Michel Clément
19	* ''Film/DeuxHeuresMoinsLeQuartAvantJesusChrist'' (1982) as Ben-Hur Marcel
20
21	!!Tropes & trivia about him, his acts and his works:
22
23	* CatchPhrase: Started many of his stand-up comedy acts with "C'est l'histoire d'un mec..." ("It's the story of a dude...").
24	* DisguisedInDrag:
25	** In ''Film/InspectorBlunder'', the goofy police inspector protagonist played by Coluche has to [[DirtyHarriet dress as a prostitute]] to get out of a cemetery incognito.
26	** He famously got "married" to fellow comedian Thierry Le Luron for a joke in [[UsefulNotes/{{Paris}} Montmartre]] on September 25, 1985. With a wedding dress, makeup and all.
27	* DoubleEdgedAnswer: "I am neither for it neither against it, on the contrary!"
28	* [[invoked]]FunnyCharacterBoringActor: Rather "unhappy" than "boring", as Coluche's close ones said about him outside of his stage and screen acts. He was chronically depressed (particularly after his friend, actor Creator/PatrickDewaere, committed suicide in 1982, with a gun that Coluche gifted him no less) and sought escapism in alcohol, drugs, food, motorcycling and other things. Very much a RealLife example of SadClown.
29	* HeAlsoDid: In 1981, he temporarily [[TheOtherDarrin replaced]] a sick Jacques Delaporte as Belzebuth (a [[SuccubiAndIncubi horny demon]]) in performances of the song [[https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6cuc4 "La Salsa du Démon"]] by L'Orchestre du Splendid'.
30	* InsaneTrollLogic: One of his jokes went like this: "30 per cent of road accidents are due to alcohol. Means 70 per cent of road accidents are due to drinking water."
31	* [[invoked]]PlayingAgainstType: The French equivalent is often called "Faire son ''Tchao Pantin''", as Coluche played against type in this film, as an alcoholic and depressed gas station attendant who sets out to avenge the death of his young misfit friend. He had only played comedic roles on the big screen up to this point.

Context Creator / Coluche