Do you want to laugh and learn French at the same time? You are at the right place! Please find my selection of French comedians on Netflix.
This is perfect to learn about French culture, French slang, and French humor thanks to those shows. French humor is pretty different from the British and American one using a lot of sarcasm.
All those French stand-uppers are not necessarily from Paris but all of them are playing in the capital during the year. It can be a great French gift idea if you are planning to travel with a friend or relative to Paris.
List of Popular French Stand-Up Comedians on Netflix
Let’s start this selection of French stand-up comedians on Netflix!
- Panayotis Pascot : Presque
The young comedian started as a teenager when he was 17 years old at two famous daily French TV shows: Le Petit Journal and then Quotidien. He was coming with funny and awkward weekly chronicles. If you dig further into his past, he actually started at the age of 12 with the creation with some friends of a platform that regroups funny videos from the internet: Cogitum-Cogitum. In 2014, he had a successful Vine account with 36k subscribers and 10 million views.
He played in some movies and series from 2016. You can see him, for example in the cool movie Le Daim by Quentin Dupieux in 2019. Recently he started his one-man show named Presque (= almost) in 2019 playing in Paris at the Grand Point-Virgule and the Théâtre Antoine.
In this project, you will see the French humorist expose his vulnerability in front of the audience. For example, he has trouble kissing a girl that he likes. He makes the connection by explaining and describing in a funny way his family life as a kid (how weird are his father and mother). He understood that adults are imperfect and will never be and that’s the beauty of existence.
- Haroun
Haroun grew up in the surrounding Parisian county of Essonne. I ended up discovering him on social media with his extracts from a French one-man show about the French election of 2017. Those videos worked well on social media and I guess were part of his actual regnoniation.
Haroun speaks about French politics, ecology, religion, and racism, touchy topics in French society. Those topics are almost always aborted by the French humoristic scene and I do not find it original anymore. This does not apply with Haroun, those themes are covered from his sharp observations with absolutely no hate and vulgarity.
Regarding his physical appearance, he has the look of an ideal son-in-law, clean on himself. It contrasts a lot with his dark humor that I appreciate. He is very discreet about these origins and does not wish to communicate about it. This is probably related to the fact that he makes fun of everyone in his shows.
- Gad Elmaleh : Part en Live / American dream
Gad Elmaleh is one of the biggest stars in France. He became famous thanks to his passion for stand-ups. Everybody knows in France his two stand-up shows ‘L’Autre c’est moi” and “Papa est en haut”. He released a beautiful French movie in 2022 “Reste un peu” about his spiritual path (I recommend it). On Netflix you will be able to watch two shows with “Gad Elmaleh Part en Live ” played in French and “Gad Elmaleh: American Dream” played in English.
In the first one, he is playing in Montreal in Quebec. He is comparing the different cultures of the different countries he has been living in. He is Moroccan but lived in France and Canada (He has the French and Canadian passport).
In this French stand up he is teasing a lot of Americans, you should watch it if you are from the USA. He does not do it with arrogance but with fine observations of the clichés that one can receive when one meets Americans as French or Moroccan. Why is he talking about the USA? The reason is that he tried a stand-up career in the USA as a non-native English speaker. Unfortunately, he did not make it.
The second stand-up “American dream” is a copy of the first one at 95% but in English. It was adapted for the American audience. This is the result of his work to become a stand up comedian in the USA. He also did a TV show on Netflix named Huge in France, which retraces his professional project in the United States.
- Kev Adams : Le vrai moi
Compared to most French stand-up comedians on Netflix (or in general) he became famous quite young, around the age of 18. He started with roles as an extra. His career took off when he participated in the TV show “On n’demande qu’en rire” which promotes emerging French stand up comedians. This TV show gave him a lot of visibility to the French general audience. Since then he has played as a French actor mainly in mediocre commercial movies (Les profs, Les prof 2, Les Nouvelle Aventures d’Aladin, Alad’2).
For “Le vrai moi”, the French artist played in the small northern city of Denain. In this French stand up he tells us his feeling on being 30 years old. He is not having a girlfriend, not getting married, and not having kids when the majority of his friends are in this step in their life. It deals with other topics, such as how difficult it is to be considered not cool anymore by youngsters, having haters on the internet, or simply getting older. He has simple humor but that appeals to most French people.
- Fary : Fary is the New Black / Hexagone
As Kev Adams, he received a huge spotlight thanks to the French TV show “On n’demande quà en rire” in 2010 and 2011. Then he managed to play at the Jamel comedy club in Paris where it met with great success from 2014 to 2016. In 2014 he played his first stand-up show that sold out at the Théâtre du Point-Virgule for two years (later he played at the Théâtre du Châtelet).
He produced two stand-up shows for Netflix with Fary is the New Black (2016/2017) and Hexagone (2018/2020).
In “Fary is the New Black”, the French comedian jokes about French society with a very manichean and simplistic vision (in my opinion). He really wants to educate people about racism and talk a lot about his origins from Cap Verde (his two parents are from this country). He tackles many subjects such as homosexuality, the place of men and women in society, the cognitive bias he suffered during his childhood.
Regarding “Hexagone” the French one-man show is divided on Netflix by two parts. Hexagone is one of the nicknames for France and the name chosen for the show is a reference to a famous French song from the French artist Renaud. He wanted the show as the song, a very harsh criticism of France, which he loves despite everything.
- Dany Boon: Dany de Boon: Des Hauts De France
Dany Boon is the French actor and producer of the most-seen French movie of all time with Welcome to the Sticks. He started his career with the famous sketch of the Kway (French waterproof jacket). He is good at emphasizing his northern French accent which makes him look silly and he is pretty good at it.
Dany Boon est le producteur et l’acteur du film français le plus vu de tous les temps avec Bienvenue chez les Chtis. Il a commencé sa carrière avec le célèbre sketch du Kway (veste imperméable française). Il sait accentuer son accent du nord de la France qui le fait passer pour un benêt et il le fait plutôt bien.
The famous French actor is back with a new French stand-up on Netflix to celebrate his 25 years of career. This is my favorite French one-man show on Netflix from this list. He compared jokingly his career with his time spend with her wife. He comes back throughout the show on his long career. He loves to be self-mocking about his “original” physique appearance, especially with his ears.
- Fadilly Camara: La plus drôle de tes copines
The French stand-up comedian started at the Paname Art Café before getting spotted by the Jamel Comedy Club in 2015. Her fist stand-up “ La plus drôle de tes copines” was bought over by Netflix in 2019. Fun fact, she got married to another rising French comedian: Hakim Jemili.
She is a real ball of energy on stage, mimicking, dancing, and moving around. In this stand-up she talked a lot about her origins (Senegalese, Guinean and Moroccan) and her admiration for the United States.
- (Bonus) One Night in Paris
This stand up was produced by Netflix, but this time it is a mix of small stand-ups made by many French stand-up comedians. The majority of those French stand-up comedians on Netflix are well-established comedians in France.
They all have to make jokes about the same theme: the coronavirus. You might feel related to their jokes since we all have been through this world event that impacted our daily life. Here is the list of the different French stand-up comedians on this Netflix show.
- Romain Frayssinet – Le Fridge Comedy Club
- Kyan Khojandi – Le Barbès Comedy Club
- Djimo – Jamel Comedy Club
- Kev Adams – Le Fridge Comedy Club
- Bun Hay Mean – Le Barbès Comedy Club
- Vérino – Unknown place (it is an unknown place)
- Hakim Jemili – Le Fridge Comedy Club
- Pierre-emmanuelle Barré – Le Barbès Comedy Club
- Fadily Camara – Le Fridge Comedy Club
- Shirley Souagnon – Le Barbès Comedy Club
- Tom Villa – Unknown place (it is an unknown place)
I hope you discover some French stand-up comedians on Netflix thanks to this blog post. Let me know if there is another French comedian on Netflix that should be on this list. I might update this article if so 🙂
If you want to watch more French content on Netflix, I recommend you past articles about French series on Netflix such as Standing Up, a French series about the stand-up Parisian scene, or the French movies on Netflix. Otherwise, I recommend learning about Paul Talyor a British stand-up comedian who mixes English and French.
Photo Credits
@Ali Goldstein/Netflix (cover picture)
@Abbot Genser