Rémi Gaillard
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Rémi Gaillard (born 7 February 1975 in Montpellier, France) is a French humorist who uploads videos on YouTube. After losing his job at a shoe store, Rémi began to use his free time to have fun and run pranks on the public. He is the seventeenth most subscribed comedian on YouTube.
Gaillard gained attention in the French media after performing a series of well-documented pranks, including an appearance disguised as a Lorient football player in the 2002 Coupe de France final match, during which he took part in the winners' celebrations and was greeted by the then president of the French Republic, Jacques Chirac. He plays football and has posted videos showing his skills. Gaillard has appeared in several sport events, TV game shows and political rallies.
Concept
Rémi Gaillard became famous for his videos where he displays an "outrageous" style of humour, challenging public norms. Recurring themes include dressing up as and interpreting the behaviour of various animals in public, racing unsuspecting car-drivers whilst dressed up as Mario à la Mario Kart, and numerous provocative interactions with parking enforcement officers and the police.
Through his various stunts and pranks Rémi is involved in Culture jamming. In his videos, he is often found mocking the law and induces his viewers to think twice about the norms in today's society.
Gaillard's satirical motto is C'est en faisant n'importe quoi qu'on devient n'importe qui (metaphoric translation, "It's by doing whatever, that one becomes whoever").
Sketches
The majority of Gaillard's sketches are of the hidden camera type, often disguising himself in outlandish costumes for his pranks. In some videos, Gaillard is accompanied by a crowd of friends, giving the action a flashmob-like nature.
Gaillard shot his first sketch in 1999 with a friend in Montpellier, and in 2001, he launched his website nimportequi.com.
He gained notoriety in 2002 at the finals of the Coupe de France. Disguised as an FC Lorient player, he celebrated the team's victory with the players, shook the hand of the then French President Jacques Chirac and signed autographs, without anyone realizing that he was not a player on the team.
He achieved further YouTube notoriety through his Rocky Balboa parodies, Pac Man costume prank, Mario Kart prank, and his football videos. His recent pranks often entail dressing up in large animal costumes; including a pig, dog, cat, turtle, snail, bee, shark, kangaroo, spider, beaver, fly, gorilla, chicken, penguin, giraffe, rabbit, butterfly, bat and a sheep.
In 2007, he gained the attention of journalists from Le Monde and made occasional television appearances. Gaillard also appeared in Orangina, Pepsi, Durex and LG commercials.
On his official site, Gaillard claims over 1.43 billion views on his videos on the web, His most popular youtube video, "Mario Kart", has over 51 million views.
