COMEDY
Alexis Dubus a.k.a. Marcel Lucont
Interview by James Burnside
On stage he delights and amuses with his darkly cynical persona of Marcel Lucont, the ultimate arrogant Frenchman looking down his nose at the people he sees as below him. Lucont is so perfectly performed — with his mean-spirited remarks and smug self-satisfaction — that it’s quite a shocking disconnect to discover that the man behind him is very modest and down to earth. While Marcel is restricted by his obvious superiority to his fans, Alexis is charming and lively, and all too happy to answer questions in his own voice.
Alexis Dubus gets his inspiration for Marcel from world-weary comics like Rich Hall, Daniel Kitson and Simon Amstell, as well as those who adopt a loftier persona, like Simon Evans and Miles Jupp.
“There’s something magical about an act reiterating how terrible modern life is and placing themselves above the audience they’re playing to, and getting away with it with aplomb,” Alexis explains. “When I ran an alternative comedy club in London, I wanted to experiment with hosting the show using all the traits a compere shouldn’t have: low energy, a disrespect for the audience and acts alike, placing his own amusement over anyone else’s. The French persona just suited this extremely well and, being part-French, my face fitted it too.’’
Dubus first brought Marcel Lucont to Australia in 2009, and Alexis admits that the heat and his costume, which included a thick suit and a rollneck, did not make things easier; neither did swigging an entire bottle of red every night. Despite that, the show was very well received. Marcel was apparently so believable to one drunk reviewer that it was hard to believe he was just a character.
“The Adelaide Advertiser sent a reviewer who seemed to be attempting to out-do me in terms of drinking,” Alexis recalls. “She came up to me pretty wasted, raving about the show in the few words she could muster. When I spoke to her in my English accent you could almost hear her brain trying to process it. In the end, in her review she decided I was a fraud. It was my first taste of being marked down for being too convincing at doing character comedy.”
But he draws a hard line between himself and Marcel. “I do try and keep me and ‘him’ distinct,” Alexis assured me. “That’s the joy of doing a character; it’s cathartic to come out with stuff you’re not supposed to say and don’t necessarily believe. In fact, comedy in general should be about that – a safe space to throw out often wildly inappropriate ideas in the knowledge that an intelligent audience can enjoy the verbal nod and wink from a (hopefully) equally intelligent performer revelling in the supposedly unsayable.”
However, they do have at least a few things in common. “I guess I have a certain affinity with Marcel in that the older I get, the less I tolerate idiots.”
Unlike other comics who might use a character like this to perform a strictly rehearsed routine, Dubus likes to use Marcel to directly address the audience with improvisation and banter. A huge part of Dubus’s act is comprised of an exchange between him and his audience. “It reminds everybody that they’re watching live comedy, not just sitting in front of a DVD. And it’s always fun when somebody tries to out-alpha-male Marcel. I like a challenge.”
The love of improvisation eventually led to the concept of his new show ‘Whine List’, which ends with a 10 minute Q&A session between himself and the audience “which soon became my favorite part of the show. I thought it would be fun to extend that but reframe it slightly, so the audience get even more say, but are still made very clear by Marcel that it’s his show.’’Ever the marketing genius, Dubus coins it“a self-help show, but where everybody just leaves more depressed.”
Dubus wraps up our interview with his opinions on the current state of Perth’s Fringe World Festival. While Marcel may chortle at the meagreness of Perth City, the man behind the persona speaks of Perth and his history with the festival very fondly.
“I’m lucky to have been doing Fringe World from the start, so I think I’ve built up a bit of a following here. Audiences seem to be pretty loyal in Perth, so I do get familiar faces every year. There’s always the pressure of giving them a show as good as the last one they saw, but that’s what makes it exciting.”
As both Fringe World and his local following grow, Alexis still feels confident. As big and wonderful as Perth is, it still isn’t the giant competitive field he would face back home in Edinburgh, where he feels truly humbled.
“It’s still a young festival and, compared to my local one, Edinburgh Fringe (over 3,500 shows) it’s pretty manageable. For performers here who feel pressure competing with 20-odd shows on at their time slot, try competing with 200 or so. Then you have to step up your game.”
So when you listen Marcel mock the crowds below him while casually sipping wine, take a moment to consider the man behind the persona. The charming man who loves working in Perth, loves his fans, and, most importantly, feels even more comfortable competing for butts on seats in Perth than he does on his home turf. Even the suave Marcel Lucont has a streak of humility — from time to time.
Marcel Lucont’s Whine List runs until February 17 at The Gold Digger in Northbridge. Tickets available here.
