A great source of entertainment and education for non-natives in France is Les Guignols de l’info. These satirical French puppets have been parodying politics and ‘les people’, as the French call the famous, as long as I can remember. They’re part of the free viewing offer on French pay TV Canal Plus.
Every night at 20:00 (that’s 8 pm for you non-Europeans), the puppet known to all as PPD (pron: ‘pay-pay-day’, an abbreviation of the name Patrick Poivre d’Arvor, who used to be the real-life anchorman on the TF1 evening news), welcomes viewers with the line:
“Nous sommes en 2014, vous regardez l’ancêtre d’internet, bonsoir.”
(It’s 2014, you’re watching the ancestor of the internet, good evening).
He used to introduce the show with this line, forever engraved in the French pysche: “Vous regardez trop la télévision” (You watch too much TV). Mais il faut changer avec son temps, n’est-ce pas? Times change.
Nothing and no one is safe from the Guignols. Even the host of the Grand Journal, the evening news and entertainment show in which the puppets make their nightly appearance, has been the target of their biting commentary.
And every French president, from Chirac to Hollande, has been caricatured, poked fun at, openly criticized and even ridiculed. International figures like the Pope, the Queen, Osama Bin Laden have all made regular appearances. Often the more frightening their real-life personas, the most endearing are their puppets.
Every American is portrayed as Sylvester Stallone. Sometimes there are multiple Stallones onscreen, explaining how they run the world to the French or ‘les fromages qui puent’ (stinky cheeses).
The Guignols have been going to town of late with two modern greats, both in the category I like to call ‘Oh how the mighty have fallen’. I’m talking about Dominique Strauss-Kahn (aka DSK) and Gérard Depardieu (affectionately known as Gégé).
Unless you’ve been living under a rock (maybe the one that he himself crawled out from), you’ve heard about DSK’s fall from grace (if grace can be a state for one so notoriously unable to keep it in his pants). Hint: it involved a chamber maid in a New York hotel, oh-so coincidentally on the eve of a presidential run. Now his story has been immortalized in a feature film called ‘Welcome to New York.’ Depardieu plays DSK in the film which premièred at the Cannes Festival, but out of competition, and is available via video on demand. Why? Because no one in this country would touch it with a ten-foot pole. Anne Sinclair, DSK’s ex, heads the French edition of the HuffPost and is a pillar of the media elite in this country. By the way, her character is played by Jacqueline Bisset.
DSK, of course, is suing the film’s producers for defamation of character. Which is funny when you consider what the Guignols get away with.
DSK’s puppet makes regular appearances on the show, always in an leopard-print peignoir and saying ‘Excuse my attire, I just got out of the shower.’ He is known to speak affectionately to his member, which he calls Francis.
While it’s already had millions of downloads, seems the flick is a bit of a turkey. ‘Un navet’ (a turnip) as they say in the lingo. Read the review here.
We don’t always agree, the Guignols and me. Their portrayal of Barack Obama as a stereotypical French idea of un Black (urban accent and all) offends me.
So, tune in if you can and discover the world according to the Guignols. I’m not sure the copyright laws will allow viewers from abroad to screen the episodes, but here’s the link anyway if you want to follow the shows: http://www.canalplus.fr/c-divertissement/pid1784-c-les-guignols.html
FranceSays 
We used to have a show like this in Britain. It was called Spitting Image and it was hilarious. I’ll certainly keep an eye out for this!
Do try and catch the show, it’s a great way to figure out the French!
Ah, If only I parlezed un Francais. I don’t know which programme came first but this looks very much like our Spitting Images used to during the days of Margaret Thatcher and Ronnie Reagan. A good way of letting our politicians know how they stood in the esteem of the voters.What a field day that would have had today.
xxx Massive Hugs xxx
David, I’m not sure which came first, but wouldn’t be surprised if Les Guignols were inspired by the Brits. I remember those puppets from back in the day, we used to see them in Canada as well. If only they provided subtitles, I’m sure you’d enjoy the humor. Bzzzz
Spitting images came first by far, and I violently admired it when I got the opportunity to watch a bit . By these times, no internet and very few glances on foreign TVs . The few I watched is what I prefer in English soul with the Monty Pythons Flying Circus .
About Obama there’s an unsaid thing you didn’t get . The childish idea that because a guy is Black will make a difference in the destructive politics of US billionaires towards their miserable citizens . Just as if the fact the British PM was once a woman made her a more human predator . The Guignols started this way with Obama . Everybody was praising his colour, forgetting who he was and who his bosses were . So to make fun of the general illusion (in French “official” medias too ) they chose to make a street junk of him . About Stallone, after his Rambos, at first he was only a high ranked official of the “World Company”, the archetype of absolutely soulless US trusts . Then he was used for every evil predator, a US general, a US marine, THE G.W.’s councellor, a bishop of US Church, and even not only American, like the close cardinals of the ex-Pope Ratzinger, the one who belonged to Hitlerian youths years ago .
Interesting analysis. It’s true that I had not seen the portrayal of Obama in those terms, but still not sure that the perpetuation of the racial stereotype is justified for the sake of satire. And I would argue that the fact that Thatcher was a woman made her all the more frightening! But thanks for sharing your always insightful point of view.
Don’t forget you find political correctness is the sign of the most unbearable hypocrisy, unless it goes along with an effective correctness in politics . The Guignols make fun of everyone, the dumb football player or cyclist is a stereotype too . The illiterate white suburban youngster too . The Hitlerian Le Pen’s fan, the power poodle famous journalist, everyone . Besides, Obama’s stereotyped puppet is more a social than a racist one ( there’s no race obsession in France, out of the far right morons ) . He speaks like any empty brain street trash, black, white or Beur . Carefully avoiding only anti-Black offenses, unlike every other category, would be racist . Precisely what I loathe in this so-called “political” correctness .