Fabien Cloutier confronts our comfort in his new comedy show

Because the man of the theater is never far away, Fabien Cloutier likes to create images when he writes. 

“I like it, telling, and people seeing things. I like that they are staging in their head. I like to tell a story of the guy with the goat and that they see the goat. » 

When he thought of a title for his show, Fabien Cloutier was looking for something that people would not associate it at first glance. The Delicate title also gave it “full permissions”. “After that, are people going to say it's second degree?”

More comfortable

While approximately 50,000 tickets had been sold for the complete 130-date tour of Assume, Fabien Cloutier has already sold 50,000 tickets even before the premiere of Delicat . “There's quite a difference,” he remarks. back on the boards for the break-in of Délicat. “I found my pleasure faster,” he says.

The gap of more than six years between his two one-man shows can be explained by one word: Léo (see other text below). The series monopolized the author for five good years. And because he is the father of two teenagers, he does not want to spread himself too thin in different simultaneous projects.

“I don't want to run. It's one of the choices. There, I'm touring, I'm not going to do two series at the same time. My quiet days are often Mondays and Tuesdays. I try not to add things to myself at these times. My life is also the gang with whom I decide to spend it. » 

► The show Délicat, by Fabien Cloutier, will be presented March 21-22, at Club Soda in Montreal. It will also pass through the Salle Albert-Rousseau in Québec, on April 17-18. fabiencloutier.com.

The Touching End of the series Léo after five seasons

Last November, Fabien Cloutier bade farewell to the Leo series team. The fifth and final season, which will be released in winter 2024 on Club illico, will end on a positive note that should please viewers, according to the author.

“We have come full circle. I think the fifth season, the world is going to like it. We take a small step back. We're going to see the characters we've seen in the previous four seasons. I think it's going to be a very nice candy, a very nice dessert. Yes, there are going to be emotions, but I wanted to leave it positively. 

Did he find it difficult to leave his colleagues with whom he had just worked for five years? < /p>

“It has been several small bereavements, he replies. During filming, we began to see actors who were coming for the last time. The more it progressed, the more there were. We felt the final coming. It was a very, very nice gang. It's a big piece to leave behind, a very nice project. I haven't often given five years to something. »

New fame

The success of Léo , at Club illico and on TVA, has also ensured that Fabien Cloutier has become a personality known to the general public. Even if he had been part of the Beaux malaises adventure, it was really Léo who changed his celebrity.

“There is definitely a difference. There is still someone, once in a while, who says to me “Martin Matte’s brother!”. But I'm almost told “Leo” every day. I know there are people who have really embraced it. There are people who would like to have him as a friend. 

“Fiction can really be extraordinary. During the first season, I had people who wrote to me that the character of Leo was them, that I had made them want to wake up, to kick themselves in the behind. Some even told me that Leo had saved their lives. […] People recognized themselves in the series. They felt respected in their faults, in their contradictions and in their hopes. his recent stardom.

“I'm glad I experienced it at my age [he's 47]. […] I worked in the shadows for quite a long time. I was not unhappy. I'm glad to be on the cover [of the Journal weekend section], but that wasn't my goal in life. My goal was to do my job, to write, to play all that. I am always creating. If the recognition of the public and the environment gives me the means to create, that's what makes me happy. 

► The fourth season of Léo is nominated at the Gala Les Olivier, presented on Sunday evening, in the category Series of humorous fiction of the year. 

A happy family life with his lover and his two teenagers

Fabien Cloutier has been happily in love for almost 20 years with the author-composer Maude Audet. Since their respective jobs include touring numerous shows, how do they manage to combine family life with their 14 and 16-year-old children?

“We have a well-managed schedule, replies Fabien smiling . Our young people are capable of being independent. It's easier than before. They make lunch, they take the bus. »  

Fabien adds that since he leaves home sometimes for three consecutive days, he makes sure to be fully present, in body and mind, when he returns to his family.

“There are people who do 8 to 5, but they don't spend the evening with their children. They each have supper on their own. They are in the same house, but they are not together. When I'm at home, I discuss, we question each other. I have a relationship in the opening. »

Even if their two professions are unstable, Fabien Cloutier indicates that he has never experienced any questioning. “We have always been in the creation. We always said we were going to do what we loved. We made children [by not being] not rich. We always got by.” 

Quebec-Montreal

Their family life changed a lot the day they decided to leave Quebec City to settle in Montreal eight years ago. “I was starting to work more and more in Montreal and was wasting so much time on the road,” says Fabien. When you do the 20 two or three times a week, those hours are lost. 

Do their children have the same artistic streak as their parents? 

< p>“Perhaps, but I'm not forcing it,” replies Fabien. Myself, it took me a while to tell myself that I might be able to do that [in life]. It is sure that they have a base, that they see things. But if they decide to do that, they will start by being “the child of”, which Maude and I did not have. It has to be done very quietly. They will do what they want! »