How To Become Parisian in One Hour

Be prepared to practice your best Parisian Pout when you see the popular comedy show “How To Become Parisian in One Hour!”

This one-man show plays into every cliché and stereotype that people all over the world have of Parisians; as envied for living in one of the most beautiful cities in the world; admired for being stylish and cultured; but also criticized for being rude, snobbish and grumpy.

And it’s true that tourists often say they feel that Paris is a city that they can embrace, but Parisians, not so much.

The Hit Show “How To Become Parisian in One Hour” was written and created by comedian Olivier Girard.

So, with heaps of material to choose from, French comedian Olivier Giraud has put together a show for tourists (in English) to help us exorcise our Parisian-phobia by learning instead how to emulate them.

Parisians pout, Giraud says,  because they simply have only one facial expression for every emotion.

Members of the audience get a chance to practice the POUT!

Sad? — they pout. Happy? — they pout. Skeptical? Well, for this they might raise their left eyebrow, because Parisians are skeptical of everything.

Giraud himself is not lacking in facial expressions to demonstrate. He has the 600-seat audience laughing out loud despite his exaggerated generalizations.

And some of his tips are useful.

If you want to dress like a Parisian woman — wear black. (This makes  packing easy.)

If you dream of living full-time in Paris — stop it! The average apartment is the size of your mud room, and costs as much as a three bedroom house with a swimming pool and acres of land where most of us come from, and probably doesn’t have an elevator.

If a waiter is rude to you — look like you don’t care, or better still, use the pout.

The pout is definitely worth practicing.

Giraud also has a book by the same name as his show! See below.

Footnote #1: This show is literally an hour long, which by the way has nothing to do with anything except that you can see it a 8 pm and still arrive on time for  your reservation for dinner afterwards. Because if you are Parisian, you would never dream of dining out before 9 pm!

Footnote #2: In 2013, the Paris Chamber of Commerce launched a campaign, to help overcome the reputation that Parisians are unfriendly (After all they noted, 10 percent of employment in the city comes from tourism), distributed 30,000 pamphlets with tips on tourists’ likes and dislikes, and lessons in visitor languages — skills that might help that French waiter be just a little nicer.

Footnote #3: My own experience with Parisians is that they are initially skeptical of outsiders, not prone to engage, and have a disdain for overt displays of enthusiasm, but overall, if you need help, they are very accommodating. And the waiters — they indeed seem much friendlier than in the past.

Click on the following link to find out more about How to Become Parisian in One Hour: Comedy Show.

Tickets are approx. $30 US and $38.50 CAD

See also Oliver Giraud’s Book “How To Become Parisian In An Hour!”

There is another version of this show from the French women’s perspective! On my list of to-dos. Looks like fun too!

Oh My God She’s Parisian!

Tickets are approx. $30 US/$40 CAD

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