Élie Semoun

Élie Semoun was born in France, to a Sephardic Jewish family of Moroccan-Jewish and Algerian-Jewish descent. In 1980 at the age of 17, Semoun wrote two collections of poems and two plays. Beginning in 1988, he had regular appearances on the television series Vivement lundi! on TF1, where he played a horse mounted on rollers.

His comedy career began in 1990 with his partner Dieudonné M'bala M'bala, with whom he wrote and performed daring, skits with scathing takes generally taboo subjects such as racism and poverty, often playing up contrasts between himself and his partner in terms of origin, color, and religion.

Their first show was held at Café de la Gare in 1991. The duo acquired a certain notoriety in 1992 after several appearances on their fellow comedian Arthur's show Emission Impossible, where they were noticed for their particularly corrosive sketches. They followed this up with one success after another at Le Splendid Theater, Paris's Palais des glaces, and at Casino de Paris. Élie and Dieudonné formed one of the most popular comic duos of the 1990s.

In 1997 the duo split due to artistic and financial differences. Élie resented how Dieudonné handled their relations with the media and admitted that he was unhappy that his friend had turned towards film (and that he left to appear in the United States) and antisemitism. Dieudonné managed the financial aspects of their career, and Semoun felt their money was not divided equitably.[1]

Breaking out on his own, Semoun continued his success with Petites Annonces d'Élie (which had been at first intended to be a show with Dieudonné) alongside his friend the actor Franck Dubosc. Once again his performance was promoted by his friend on the show Les Enfants de la télé (France) Inspired by actual classified ads recorded by them in a van, the "Petites Annonces d'Élie" (Élie's Classified Ads) are seen through the character of Cyprian, a repulsive looking man searching for a "busty blond".

Semoun went back on stage with a one-man show, Élie and Semoun. He supported Bertrand Delanoë during Paris's municipal elections of 2001 and Lionel Jospin during the presidential election of 2002. In 2003, he released an album of French songs called simply "Chansons". In early 2005, he performed in a show (co-authored with Franck Dubosc and Muriel Robin entitled Élie Semoun se prend pour qui?

Élie Semoun maintained in the years following his separation with Dieudonné a complex and strained relationship with his former partner. First strained, then reconciled, they have again grown apart during the public controversy aroused by the political stances of Dieudonné.[2] "Some have speculated on the reunion of our duo, but I must tell you that this is clearly out of the question! It's over."[3] In 2012, he declared that "the Dieudonné he knew and the Dieudonné of today appear to him like two completely different people, and he is unable to reconcile them in his mind".[1]

An album entitled Sur le fil (On the Edge), was released on 19 March 2007. He brought in new guest stars, such as Alexandre Astier and Bérénice Bejo. The skits are always written by Élie Semoun and Franck Dubosc, but this time assisted by comedian Manu Payet.

Élie performed his show Élie Semoun se prend pour qui? for the last time on 16 June 2007 in Doué-la-Fontaine at the Festival d'Anjou.

In 2007, he signed a petition disagreeing with Ségolène Royal and participated in several meetings against the Socialist candidate with his friend Bertrand Delanoë.

His father, Paul Semhoun, is from the Moroccan city of Taza, and worked for the French Postal Service. His mother, Denise Malka, born in Tlemcen in Algeria, was a French teacher. She died of hepatitis at age 36 when Élie was 11 years old. He has a younger brother, Laurent, who died of AIDS in 2002, also age 36, and a sister, Anne-Judith, a marketing director.[4]

He has a son, Antoine, born in 1995 in Rennes. He shares custody with his ex-wife, Annie Florence Jeannesson, whom he divorced in 2002[5] · [6]

Semoun is the second cousin of singer and actor Patrick Bruel, the grandfather of Bruel being the brother of Semoun's grandmother.

• 1991: Élie Semoun et Dieudonné au Théâtre du Splendid Saint-Martin, directed by Pascal Légitimus
• 1996: Élie Semoun et Dieudonné en garde à vue
• 1999: Élie et Semoun au Palais des Glaces, directed by Muriel Robin
• 2002: Élie Semoun à l'Olympia, directed by Roger Louret
• 2005–2006: Élie Semoun se prend pour qui ?, directed by Roger Louret
• 2008–2009: Merki…, directed by Roger Louret
• 2012: Tranches de Vies, directed by Muriel Robin

• 2012: Tartarin de Tarascon by Jérôme Savary, directed by the author, Théâtre André Malraux
• 2012: Inconnu à cette adresse by Kressmann Taylor, directed by Delphine de Malherbe, théâtre Antoine-Simone Berriau
• 2014: Le Placard by Francis Veber, directed by the author, Théâtre des Nouveautés

• 2003 : Chansons
• 2007 : Sur le fil

• Les Annonces en BD, bande dessinée, Jungle :
  • Tome I, Si tu es blonde…, 2004.
  • Tome II, J'suis choooquée, 2005.
  • Best of 2009.
• Élie Semoun se prend pour qui ?, graphic novel, Jungle, 2006.
• Kévina, Mikeline, Toufik et les autres…, Fetjaine, 2008.
• Je grandirai plus tard, Flammarion, 2013.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Élie Semoun.

• Élie Semoun at IMDb
• Official website