A Review – “How to Become Parisian in One Hour”
Strategic Design and Management ’25
“How to Become Parisian in One Hour” is a comedy show by the French comedian Olivier Giraud. The show is 100% in English, perfect for tourists, newcomers in Paris and Parisians that want an afternoon of laughter. Giraud highlights Parisian stereotypes through impersonations, including phrases, facial expressions and body language.
It is impossible to sit through this comedy show without laughing every 5 minutes. Giraud knows how to grasp the public’s attention and keep it the whole time. What makes his show so entertaining is the way he interacts with the audience. Everyone feels included as if they were part of the show themselves, rather than just spectators. Pop music and special effects are used to emphasize what Olivier is saying, thus exaggerating the stereotypes and making the audience laugh even more.
Giraud exaggerates and makes fun of typical Parisian gestures that anyone that has been or lives in Paris has seen and can relate to. This creates a sense of familiarity between the audience and Giraud. He also improvises some of his jokes by using elements of the audience. The session I went to was full of American tourists and Giraud had fun exaggerating their accents which everyone laughed along. If I had to associate Giraud with a famous character I would definitely say that he reminds me of the unpredictable “Mr. Bean”. I recommend everyone to watch the play with friends and family.
The show will soon be celebrating its 1 million spectators and I was very surprised to find out that initially it was really difficult for the show to be approved by any theater due to being a one man show in Paris. It has been on for over a year and it is safe to say that it is a success.