French news satire ‘Les Guignols’ may be spared the axe, for now

The French television show Les Guignols de l’info (The News Clowns) could be summed up as puppets reading the news. That description is nevertheless an affront to the technical and comedic talent that goes on display on TV screens almost nightly, and fails to convey what the show has come to represent in France after 27 seasons on the air.

Styled in the image and attitude of the UK’s hit TV show Spitting Image, the latex puppets that make up the cast of “Les Guignols”, as the programme is commonly referred to, hit the airwaves in 1988 and began exposing French politicians’ quirks and contradictions to the delight of audiences.

The show’s irreverent and searing wit – which also targets movie and sports idols – made it an instant success and was a major boon for the still nascent premium cable channel Canal+. Les Guignols became massively popular, shaping the image of countless public figures and sparking both amusement and indignation among those it lampooned.

A primetime TV fixture for almost a generation, Les Guignols has employed the country’s best comedy writers, puppeteers and impersonators. Today it is more than a household name, but a kind of marker of popular culture – having a Guignol double is proof that someone is socially relevant in France.

But all this may come to a sudden end in September. A spokesman for Vivendi, the media conglomerate that owns Canal+, and thus Les Guignols, on Friday denied widespread rumours that the programme was being shelved, but said its format and time slot could be revised.

Blame Bolloré

On June 30 the media industry news site PureMedias first reported that Les Guignols was in fact taping its last season. A day later, the free newspaper Métronews quoted an anonymous and indignant Canal+ executive who confirmed that the decision was final. A few hours later, Benjamin Morgaine, one of the show’s writers, sent a Twitter message calling on fans to help save Les Guignols, launching the hashtag #TouchePasAuxGuignols (#HandsOffTheGuignols).

Numerous articles in the French press then placed the blame squarely on Vivendi CEO Vincent Bolloré. Reports said he would announce his decision at a Vivendi shareholders meeting on Friday. Instead, Bollore’s spokesman said the Vivendi boss considered Les Guignols “part of the heritage and history of Canal+” and it was “unimaginable” to cancel it.

Bolloré, the 12th-richest man in France according to Forbes, has confessed that he has little patience for Les Guignols. Speaking to France Inter radio in February of this year, Bolloré said he regretted “a little too much ridiculing” of politicians on Canal+. “I prefer investigation to derision,” the media mogul added. “Sometimes it can hurt and offend others. Making fun of yourself is fine. Making fun of others, less so.”

Many suspect Bolloré was planning to pull the plug on the show as an offering to powerful friends. Radical-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon took to Twitter on July 2 to accuse Bolloré of singlehandedly censuring Les Guignols, implying the move had something to do with the CEO’s “friendship” with President François Hollande, a frequent fixture on les Guignols.

In the past, Bolloré has drawn attention for his close ties to former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who was infamously photographed vacationing on the executive’s yacht a few days after winning France’s 2007 presidential election. Sarkozy, who now heads the main opposition Les Républicains, is widely expected to run for a new presidential mandate in 2017.

Save Les Guignols

Morgaine’s cry for help two days ago prompted an avalanche of support, including from leading politicians across the political spectrum. They included the head of the centrist Union of Democrats and Independents Jean-Christophe Lagarde, an ally of Sarkozy’s, as well as Green Party figure Cécile Duflot and the Socialist Party’s Claude Bartolone, the president of France’s lower-house National Assembly.

Support has also poured in from celebrities. French actor Jean Dujardin, who shot to international fame in 2011 as the lead in the Oscar-winning film The Artist, posted a picture of himself on Friday holding a sign that read “I am a Guignol".

The massive show of support for the beloved programme this week appears to have extended it a lifeline. However, moving it to an obscure time slot next fall may in fact be the beginning of the end for Les Guignols. Will the puppets rise again? Stay tuned.

This article was translated from its original in French.