Gad Elmaleh Biography, Age, Wife, Children, Videos, Movies, Awards, News

Gad Elmaleh biography

Elmaleh was born in Casablanca, Morocco to David and Régine Elmaleh. He has starred in several feature films, including Coco, Priceless, La Doublure and Midnight in Paris. He has been voted the funniest person in France and was named knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by France’s Minister of Culture and knight of the National Order of Quebec. He is often referred to as the “Seinfeld of France”. In 2015, Elmaleh moved to New York City embarking on an English national tour across the United States.

Gad Elmaleh age – Early life

Gad Elmaleh was born on 19 April 1971, he is a Moroccan French stand-up comedian and actor. Being a Moroccan Sephardic Jew, Gad Elmaleh was brought up in a culturally diverse environment, speaking Moroccan Arabic, Hebrew, English and French. As a child he would introduce his father, a mime, with a placard. He has a brother, Arié, actor and singer, and a sister, Judith, actress and stage director.

He studied at Lycée Maïmonide and Lycée Lyautey in Casablanca. He later studied political science at University of Montreal in Montreal for four years but did not graduate. In 1992, Elmaleh moved to Paris to study drama at Cours Florent under the tutelage of Isabelle Nanty.

Gad Elmaleh children – Gad Elmaleh son

Raphaël Elmaleh – Son
Noé Elmaleh – Son

Gad Elmaleh wife

Elmaleh lived with French actress Anne Brochet from 1998 to 2002. They have one son, Noé together. The story of their relationship and breakup was told in Brochet’s book Trajet d’une amoureuse éconduite.

From 2009 to 2010, his partner was the French journalist Marie Drucker.

He was in a relationship with Charlotte Casiraghi from December 2011 until June 2015. Their son, Raphaël, was born on 17 December 2013.

Gad Elmaleh film – Career

Comedy

Elmaleh’s first one-man show Décalages, performed at the “Palais des glaces” in 1997, was autobiographical. In the show he retraces his journey beginning with his departure from Morocco, continuing with his studies in Montreal and finishing in France where he studied drama at Cours Florent. His fame further increased with the success of his second one-man show, La Vie Normale which was his first time performing at the Olympia as well his first show of more than two hours. The show was released on DVD on January 23, 2001.

In contrast to his first two one-man shows, his L’autre c’est moi (2005) contains more improvisation and interaction with the public. He has been credited with bringing the American stand-up style to France and using it in his one-man shows. He came back to the stage with L’autre, c’est moi in September 2006 in Canada (Montreal) and in the U.S. (in Broadway, at the Beacon Theater in front of 3000 spectators); it was performed also in Casablanca, Morocco. Between April and August 2007 he played his successful show in France, Belgium, and Switzerland. The show attracted over 300,000 spectators. The show was later released on DVD and sold 1,500,000 copies.

On January 6, 2007, he was voted the “funniest man of the year” by TF1 viewers from a choice of 50 comedians. On 15 July 2007, Elmaleh premiered his fifth one-man show, Papa est en haut, in Montreal as part of the Just for Laughs festival. That year he sold out seven consecutive weeks at the iconic Olympia theater in Paris, a new record. After that Gad performed for another seven sold out weeks at Le Palais des Sports. In total, one million tickets were sold to this show.

In 2013, he appeared on Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

His sixth standup show was Sans Tambour (Drumless, “sans tambour ni trompette” (bugleless) = meaning making a big entrance unannounced).

In 2016, he appeared with Kev Adams in the M6 comedy special Tout est Possible. During the show, the two comedians performed a 10-minute sketch where they played Chinese men. The sketch was criticized for being racist and some publications dubbed it yellowface.

Elmaleh has performed in a mix of French and Arabic in Morocco and included some Hebrew in shows in Israel. Elmaleh is often called the “Seinfeld of France,” a label he called “flattering” and understandable, given that both he and Seinfeld are inspired to do comedy based on “everyday life.” Seinfeld dismissed it as silly and joked, according to Elmaleh, “He’s not that funny.”

One difference between his French shows and his English shows is that his English shows include no riffing, everything is scripted. In September 2016, an episode of This American Life highlighting challenging transitions included a segment about Elmaleh and his transition to American comedy.

On the December 15, 2016 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Elmaleh appeared as the show’s stand-up act.

In May 2017 Elmaleh performed pro bono for a local Chabad-Lubavitch center in Côte-Saint-Luc. The director’s father ran a Jewish summer camp and other Jewish activities in Elmaleh’s hometown of Casablanca and the appearance was dedicated to him.

Acting

Elmaleh’s first contact with cinema was the full-length film, Salut cousin ! by Merzak Allouache. He later appeared in L’homme est une femme comme les autres and Train de Vie. In 2000 he played the role of “Dov”, the seducer in La Vérité si je mens ! 2. The character of “Chouchou” in La Vie Normale was reproduced in the comedy Chouchou (2002), directed by Merzak Allouache and also starring Alain Chabat; the film drew large audiences. He then did his debut as a singer in “it’s kiz my life”, a popular song in a non-existing language. The music video was directed by J.G Biggs and shot in the famous Parisian Hôtel Costes.

Gad Elmaleh et kev adam

With his shabby clichés, his use of the “yellow face” and his pseudo-Asian mocking Michel Leeb-like, the skit “the Chinese” committed by Kev Adams and Gad Elmaleh had caused an uproar when it was broadcast on M6 in December 2016 While one would have thought it would be trapped later, it is in long version that it was rebroadcast on April 17 on W9, reviving illico the controversy. Especially since the comedians involved have not really opted for the strategy of discretion or mea culpa on this occasion, far from it.

Since then, Gad Elmaleh’s career has internationalized, the comedian is now not content with only the sixth French channel (or his cousins ​​TNT) to broadcast his jokes: in 2016, he signed a contract with Netflix which has offered its 125 million users in more than 190 countries, two new stand-up Gad Elmaleh – the latest, all in English and titled American Dream , landed on the streaming platform on March 6. What give a way of additional pressure to his detractors. The Asian Decolonial Collective (CAD) has urged Netflix to end the collaboration started with Gad Elmaleh by launching the hashtag #GadElmalehOutOfNetflix .

In addition to the remarks made in his skit, it is the attitude of Gad Elmaleh that provoked the ire of the associations for the defense of the rights of Asian people: Sacha Lin-Jung, founder of the collective Franco-Asian Movement (MDFA), considered it “provocative” . On his Instagram account as on Twitter, the comedian who made himself known by caricature “the Blond” directly challenged with sarcasm DJ Louise Chen and his “#bloggerstyle humor”. This daughter of an Alsatian mother and a Taiwanese father had published a tribune during the first broadcast of the incriminated sketch. She wrote that she had “fallen into violent disaffection with [her] French half” .

“We want at least excuses”
“Asians are too often seen as discrete people, who do not make trouble,” says Elodie Ye, vice president of the Association of Young Chinese People in France (AJCF). It was without counting, she adds, on “the second generation of immigrants who not only master French but are more and more aware of the stereotypes against Asians” . She is particularly outraged by the amalgam made by comedians between the Chinese and Asian community: “It’s annoying this way to erase the different Asian identities.”

The comedian was particularly challenged by the CAD, which launched two hashtags. The first, # M6grouperaciste, aimed to reproach the W9 channel for the rebroadcast of a skit that had already caused scandal. Through the use of the second, taken by thousands of Internet users, #GadElmalehOutOfNetflix, the collective seeks to cut short the “impunity it enjoys here” , and warn US viewers. A strategy that probably has little chance of achieving a real “break” between Elmaleh and the platform (remember that the original Netflix shows of Louis CK have not disappeared from its catalog, even if the company has broken its contract with the comic accused of sexual assault), but which could tarnish his image as ideal son-in-law across the Atlantic.The American site Buzzfeed echoed the scandal in an article written in English and widely shared.

“Our goal is to get at least an apology from Kev Adams or Gad Elmaleh,” said Brigitte, a member of the group. The silence of the two comics in the face of the many arrests of disaffected Internet users “shows a real contempt, corroborates Sacha Lin-Jung, it is a shame, for people of such high acrobatics in the entertainment world”. “They would not have dared to write such a sketch about another community,” says MDFA’s Sacha Lin-Jung. “Very often, comedians take sides to make fun of their own culture, their own community,” he adds, noting that neither Gad Elmaleh nor Kev Adams have Asian origins.

Despite the many arrests on Twitter, the W9 channel has not responded to calls from the associations. According to Elodie Ye, of the AJCF, “by rebroadcasting the skit, the channel has proved that it had nothing to do with the claims of the Asian minorities”. Asked by Liberation , the CSA indicates to have received a hundred reports of televiewers since the rebroadcast of the sketch problematic.

[update, 24/04/2018] Gad Elmaleh finally reacted to the controversy on the plateau of Touche not to my post , presented by his friend Cyril Hanouna, Monday, April 23. He apologized, saying that “there is a huge misunderstanding about what we wanted to do in this skit”. And to add, to justify his process of comic creation: ” We rely voluntarily on clichés, there is no malice, there is no intention to hurt a community.” Leaving to go a little far in the intellectualization of the thing, he explains that the skit is “a mise en abîme: it’s almost a skit on a skit about Asians” .

Gad Elmaleh YouTube

Gad Elmaleh netflix

Elmaleh’s French stand-up special Gad Gone Wild was filmed in Montreal, Canada and was released on Netflix on 24 January 2017. An English language special was released in March 2018.

Gad Elmaleh tour

In 2015 Elmaleh began an American tour entitled “Oh My Gad” and moved to New York City. He first appeared in Joe’s Pub in December following multiple workout shows in the fall. While Elmaleh speaks English fluently, he works with an English teacher to write his jokes while appreciating the nuances of the English language.

Gad Elmaleh awards – Honors

In 2004, Elmaleh received an award for the best one man show from SACEM in France. In 2006 he received a Crystal Globes Award. by the French Press Association, for best one man show for La Vie Normale.

In 2006 Elmaleh was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres.

He was made a Member of the National Order of Quebec by Quebec premier Philippe Couillard in 2017.

Gad Elmaleh american dream

Gad Elmaleh news

Gad Elmaleh Wins a Webby Award for his ‘Welcome To America’ Sketch

April 27, 2018

Following recent accusations of racism, Moroccan-French comedian Gad Elmaleh has won best in comedy Webby Award for his “Welcome to America” sketch published on the internet in 2017.

“Welcome to America,” which was in the category that rewards “less than 5 minutes of movies and videos created as a single episode in comedy or the art of making people laugh,” brings together the Moroccan comedian Gad Elmaleh and American actor Ron at the airport, as the comedian prepares to enter the United States.

The sketch is about a border policeman who pesters the humorist about his Moroccan nationality. Elmaleh is then arrested by an agent affiliated with the passport control as he enters the United States.

When border patrol asks him “Why were you born in Morocco?” the comedian answers: “I imagine that it is because my parents were in Morocco at the time of my birth.”

This skit was broadcasted in 2017 on the US comedy site “Funny or die.” In the end, the Moroccan humorist recovers his passport after an altercation that is quite unpleasant for him, but very funny for his audience.

The Webby Awards ceremony will be held on May 15, when the winners will have to give a five-word speech.

The award comes after recent accusations of racism against the Chinese community, which followed the rebroadcasting of a skit known as “The Chinese” from his show “Everything is Possible,” with French co-star Kev Adams.

The 47-year-old was quick to apologize for his portrayal of Chinese people on the “Touche Pas à Mon Poste” show and made amends to the French Asian DJ Louise Chen, whom he had previously satirized, on April 23.

The Webby Award is a tribute to quality on the Internet, including websites, interactive ads, online movies and videos, and mobile websites. Nominees and winners have been selected by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences since 1996.