The comedic genius of Louis de Funes - France’s greatest comedian

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

Last edited Sat Mar 2, 2013, 08:24 PM - Edit history (1)

During the 60s he was extremely popular in France and throughout Europe, particularly in Germany and the USSR, but was virtually unknown in the United States except for one comedy distributed in the U.S. entitled The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob. He was a master of slapstick and his screen persona was that of an extremely angry, nervous old man.

[Blaukraut]

1. You made my day! I grew up on Louis :)

Don't forget this famous scene from Le Petit Beigneur

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I have all his movies on DVD except the Fantomas series, but that's next. My favorite one is La Soupe Aux Choux, his last film.




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[aint_no_life_nowhere]

2. Thank you - my favorite film by him is Oscar

for its non-stop hilarity. De Funes also performed in it when it was a stage play. Sylvester Stallone did a remake of Oscar and while it was funny, he just doesn't have the comedic timing or creative physical comedic style of the great Louis.

[Ron Obvious]

3. I loved him too...

I actually don't know why he wasn't more popular in the US. I admit I don't get much of French humour as a rule, but Louis de Funes has broad appeal. Most of his humour was in his physicality, gestures and slapstick after all.

We recently (re-)watched "Tea for Two" (the actual title escapes me at the moment) with subtitles, and and my wife, who had never heard of him before, laughed harder than I did.