How did you come to do animation?
The animation happened a bit by chance when I went back to Booska-P. Basically I had to write but my arrival corresponded exactly to the moment when the site completely turned upside down putting unknown heads. They were looking for new formats incorporated to give it a twist and one day they asked me if I would like to make a video, I said “yes, definitely”. I wanted to see what it was like to be on camera. I said yes to what they offered me but, really, I didn’t have any medium or long-term plans. It was still pretty ideal because I like the humorous side. In fact, I just wanted to show that we can treat something serious by being a little more eccentric in form, but that we can still see that I don’t take it as a joke and that it is a culture that I respect, that listens, I know that too. This opportunity allowed me to combine these two sides.
How do you learn to be an animator?
Oh frankly, we don’t learn it, it’s just doing. At first it’s a bit hard, we don’t find the tone, we’re under pressure, we fail, we find ourselves useless, we don’t like looking at each other… then little by little, once the tone is set for each concept, you end up being comfortable.
Did you have any animator models?
I certainly have influences but it’s more comedy, comedians, more than real animators, things from youtubers not necessarily very well known. But otherwise, I saw so many things, I know Jamel’s programs by heart. I don’t think there is Jamel in what I do, maybe in small details, but I don’t really realize that. Unfortunately there is Franck Dubosc, Thomas Ngijol… What makes me laugh is taking it to the thousandth. Afterwards I took a lot of the head to try to have my own tone, although I know that it is always influenced. I said to myself: “it has to be my thing, it has to be a little unique, it doesn’t seem like something already known”. Obviously, when you do it, everyone tells you that it looks like this or that. But I try as much as possible to separate myself from what I perceive as influences.
Thomas Guisgand, the new presenter of Rap Jeu
© Apolline Cornuet
Did you imagine presenting Rap Jeu one day?
Not at all ! In fact, it is something that I would have liked to do and even before it came out, in the newsroom we were making games. No one invented the game, it’s universal, we don’t have a monopoly on the game, but we did it at lunch time, general culture quizzes on ringtone rapping. And one day, we saw Rap Jeu come out and we said to ourselves: “actually, it’s a really good idea, it’s so good! “. I was already a faithful viewer of the program but I really did not think that one day they would call me, I was very surprised. It was Mehdi himself who called me.
Did you directly say yes or did you think about it?
I have thought. I knew I had to go through Hamad’s approval anyway because I have an exclusive contract with Booska-P. So when I make a media appearance or whatever, I have to ask permission in quotes. Honestly, I thought that he would tell me no and also at first he told me: “really for me it was no, I really had the impression that they had stolen my boy”. And then, he thought to himself, we made an appointment and he told me: “If I don’t let you do this in real life, I know it frustrates you. You are young, you also have to have other experiences and the format suits you like crazy. So we will make sure that you can do it during your stay in Booska-P”.
How did you prepare for this role?
I just prepared myself, I said to myself, “I’m not pushing myself, I’m doing it.” If it doesn’t work after a season, it’s over, that’s all. I’d quit if people couldn’t take it. When the announcement came out, at first I didn’t want to pay much attention to the comments because I knew very well what I would find there. And finally, when they have mentioned you all night, you end up looking: there was everything, as expected. There are those who say: “we are not going to look because there is no Mehdi”. There are those who say: “OK, it’s sad that Mehdi is gone but the replacement can be good.” And there are those who say: “he is too good”. It was very divided.
For some, the fact that you replaced Mehdi seemed very logical.
It is true that it is a very specific niche and we are not much into it. And I was happy to see these reactions because I thought I only identified with Booska-P’s audience and realized it’s a little bit broader than that. And seeing people saying that it could be good and that there weren’t so many more people than me, that made me super happy, yes!
Have you had any indication from Red Bull?
They simply told me: “it has to be different, being the same” (laughs). In the sense that they obviously wanted to keep the gameplay for those who like the show and I also agreed because I didn’t want to distort the gameplay at all and it was already complicated enough to get behind Mehdi. And in the tone, on the other hand, they said: “you can go there on the valves”. In fact, they were expecting an even more eccentric tone and that suited me very well, it’s the same use as my RPG character, in the same spirit. They basically said, “You bring the personality that we see from you in RPG to Rap Jeu”.
Do you participate in writing?
How is the writing of a quartet going?
We have meetings, we take a whole day where we’re on lockdown, and then we develop. Although the games are preset, we did a whole session at the beginning to find new ones. We found them there and it’s not going to budge, unless we have crazy ideas by then. There’s the PDRG and the Flimbiz, to test guest referrals. And then in terms of writing, Ngiraan makes a lot of progress because there is a way to do it with all the methodology that he developed with Yérim throughout the episodes, so he goes very fast. We divide the work, for example, in a game like this, we have to find purist questions, we look for somewhat complicated questions.
Ngiraan, Thomas and Yérim on the set of Rap Jeu
© Apolline Cornuet
How was the first shoot?
What would you have improved afterwards?
You always say to yourself, “oh, I could have sent that valve, I could have been more in the moment”, because you are so into the game, Ngiraan is talking to you on the headset at the same time, you think of giving the instructions well of the game, you have the guys talking to each other that you have to fit in… So you actually think about a lot of things, you have a lot of information, and you always redo the game a little late. But for the first time I was happy with myself, I managed to release the floodgates outside of what was planned, I thought I was going to be a bit paralyzed facing all that. It’s something I do in my everyday life, so I was wondering if I could transpose it into a set, but it was fine. And that’s mainly because the guests were great. I have the impression that the guests do three quarters of the work.
Did you know the guests of the first episode?
I did not know anything about Nasdas and Samos, influencers. I think they brought them in because they’re all about the little ones and, on the other hand, they want to keep part of Mehdi’s audience with Heuss L’Enfoiré and Soolking.
Precisely, beyond the entertainment, there is a real knowledge of rap in the program.
Yes, that is clear. It would be necessary to review a bit, I have the impression of not worrying enough. I also saw many comments that said: “but how is Roland Gamos going to do, he does not have the culture of Mehdi”. So obviously no, I don’t have his culture at all, but it’s not something that worries me. I have my little culture, my own things and I have the support of Ngiraan. But he makes me want to cultivate more so I don’t fall behind.
Thomas and guests on the set of the first episode of Rap Jeu
© Apolline Cornuet
What is your star episode of Rap Jeu?
Do you have a dream cast that would make you happy?