Amy Perez’s advice to Karla Estrada as ‘Face 2 Face’ host: ‘Umpisahan mo ang show bilang ikaw, hindi ako’At the popular Bordel Comedy Club in Montreal, Charles Deschamps—with a microphone in hand and a staid brick wall as a backdrop—lets loose on a packed room with joke after joke, eliciting giggles and guffaws from the audience.
Building on its runaway success, the cabaret doubled its capacity by opening a second stage last year and expanded its bookings.At the Bordel, “the laughter is loud, people applaud a lot,” observes Certe Mathurin, contrasting Canadians’ outbursts with more muted Paris audiences. Founded in 1988, the school graduates about 30 comedians each year, including Roman Frayssinet who went on to great success in France—which current student Felix Wagner, 27, hopes to emulate.
There are also lessons in creativity, improvisation, and career management, and each week students are required to present in class a new five-minute stand-up routine.