RAYMOND DEVOS IS DEAD

Raymond Devos as he will be remember, on stage.

I have just learnt of the death of comedian Raymond Devos at 83. born in Belgium, he spent all his life in France and made a career as a stand up comedian, and an especially talented one at that. His incredible command of the French language allowed him to build extremely intricate stories. .His work was built around extremely clever and pertinent play-on-words around which wonderfully absurd, funny and often emotional stories would take shape.

I have always be in total awe of his talent and how, in his mouth, the French language could become so malleable, unpredictable and hillarious. He was like a cross between Tony Cooper and Ronnie Barker, and certainly shared with him a love for finely crafted texts.

‘Etaignez les lumières puisque le clown est mort’ (Turn off the lights since the clown is dead).