
Pierre Desproges
Acting
Pierre Desproges (9 May 1939 – 18 April 1988) was a French humorist. He was born in Pantin, Seine-Saint-Denis. According to himself, he made no significant achievements before the age of 30. From 1967 to 1970, he worked as: life insurance salesman, opinion pool investigator, "lonely hearts" columnist, horse racing forecaster, and sales manager for a styrofoam beam company. From 1970 to 1976, he worked for the newspaper L'Aurore. Starting in 1975, he became a "reporter" on Le petit rapporteur (The Little Snitch), a satirical TV show hosted by Jacques Martin. He caught the public's attention with unconventional interviews of celebrities, among them novelists Françoise Sagan or Jean-Edern Hallier. He appeared for the first time on stage at the Olympia theater during a Thierry Le Luron show. Among other things, he became very famous for his Chroniques de la haine ordinaire (Chronicles of Ordinary Hatred), a 1986 radio show. In the 1980s, he appeared daily on Le tribunal des flagrants délires (a pun on the French term "flagrant délit" meaning red-handed), a comedy show where celebrities were judged in mock-trials. Desproges held the part of the prosecutor for more than two years, a part for which his verve, his scathing humour and his literary erudition were ideally suited. In 1982, he created La minute nécessaire de Monsieur Cyclopède, a series of shorts for TV, where he played an omniscient professor. He answered to metaphysical and nonsensical questions such as "How to make King Louis XVI fireproof?", proved that Beethoven was not deaf but stupid, and explained why the improbable encounter between the Venus de Milo and Saint Exupéry's 'Petit Prince' was a fiasco. Each episode ended with the catchphrase: "Étonnant, non?" ("Astonishing, isn't it?") In 1984, he had his first stand-up show at the Théâtre Fontaine. In 1986, his second stand-up, Pierre Desproges se donne en spectacle was presented at the Théâtre Grévin. He started work on a third stand-up, and the drafts were ultimately published in 2010. In 1987, doctors discovered he had inoperable lung cancer in an advanced stage, and his relatives, in agreement with the doctors, decided to hide the condition from him, so he could spend his final days quietly. He died in 1988, from a disease he had bitterly laughed at time and time again, often saying "I won't have cancer: I'm against it". He is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. His epitaph reads: "Pierre Desproges est mort d'un cancer, étonnant, non?" ("Pierre Desproges died of cancer, astonishing, isn't it?"). ... Source: Article "Pierre Desproges" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Known For

1982
Champs-Elysées
1982 · tv

1975
Midi Première
1975 · tv

1975
Apostrophes
1975 · tv

1975
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
1975 · tv

1975
Numéro un
1975 · tv

1976
30 millions d'amis
1976 · tv

1976
Les Jeux de 20 heures
1976 · tv

2022
Il était une fois Champs-Élysées
2022 · tv

1976
Minichronique
1976 · tv

1982
Merci Bernard
1982 · tv

1975
Le Petit Rapporteur
1975 · tv

2022
La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président
2022 · movie

2009
Comiques de toujours (Vol. 1 à 4)
2009 · movie

1981
Signé Furax
1981 · movie

2023
L'Âge d'or de la pub
2023 · movie

1981
Droit de Réponse
1981 · movie

1983
Procès de Jean Carmet
1983 · movie

2022
Feet in the Mayonnaise: The Irreverent Ones of the 70s
2022 · movie

2020
Les 60 ans du one-man-show
2020 · movie

1985
Pierre Desproges - Tout seul en Scène
1985 · movie

1977
Nazis dans le rétro
1977 · movie

1982
La minute nécessaire de monsieur Cyclopède
1982 · tv

1998
Desproges est vivant
1998 · movie

2009
Le Tribunal Des Flagrants Délires
2009 · movie

1986
Pierre Desproges au théâtre Grévin
1986 · movie

1984
Pierre Desproges au théâtre Fontaine
1984 · movie

2008
Pierre Desproges: Je ne suis pas n'importe qui...
2008 · movie

2018
Pierre Desproges Une plume dans le Culte
2018 · movie

1993
Pierre Desproges se donne en spectacle
1993 · movie

1982
L'indispensable encyclopédie de monsieur Cyclopède
1982 · movie