Gad Elmaleh

My name, my origins, my background and my experiences are what leveraged my success. The angle of the immigrant, through which I examined the reality in France, distinguished me. ”

Morocco is completely alive for me because I spent about a third of my life there. The first few times I went back to Casablanca, I walked through the streets and remembered how years earlier I had walked those same streets and prayed that a miracle would happen and I would leave and become famous. ”

America is where standup comedy was born. It's the standard. So you want to go and do your job where this is the mecca of what you do. ”

I love coming to New York. I think I'm going to come really often here. I need to - for the show, for the comedy. I want to do the shows here and have a beer and hang out with the comedians. ”

I love the Comedy Cellar. The audience has no expectations because they don't know me. It's great. It's only winning - if I bomb, they just say, 'Oh, the French guy sucks.' But if I do well, then they remember me. ”

I don't feel any need to play the role of the clown. In my private life I take a break from humor. ”

There's so many funny things to say about being with Charlotte. I've worked on a few bits about it - not to be indiscreet but because the shock of culture and values is so interesting. ”

Americans don't like puns and plays on words, which is totally opposite in the comedy world to France or even Italy and Germany. ”

If you are not on TV, you don't really exist. I want to bring my comedy to the world and tell my story to a bigger audience. ”

My dream is not Hollywood, but to perform my act in English to 30 people in a Soho comedy club, to show New Yorkers what they look like from the French point of view. ”