Since 1986, many budding artists have been treading the boards of the Festival Humor et Eau Salée. They warm up in contact with the Charente public, the time of a summer evening, in Saint-Georges-de-Didonne, near Royan. Some of these artists are, today, headliners of the comic scene.
In Saint-Georges-de-Didonne, the humor of risk
Le Humor and Salt Water Festival was born a month after the death of Coluche, in July 1986, in Saint-Georges-de-Didonne. The creators of this cultural event did not anticipate this unfortunate coincidence. Nor did they predict the immense career promised to a young comic trio on the menu of the inaugural edition.
Indeed, Didier Bourdon (27), Bernard Campan (28), and Pascal Légitimus (27) appear in the cast of this first issue of Humor and Eau Salée. At the time, their notoriety was modest. They made themselves known, three years earlier, thanks to the television program “Le Théâtre de Bouvard”. The band is then just separated from a fourth member, Smaïn, gone to try his luck solo. They are already being called " The unknown " when they show up, almost incognito, at Saint-Georges-de-Didonne. Quite a symbol when you know that one of the prides of the Charente festival is, among others, to offer a window of visibility to promising young talents.
Humor et Eau Salée welcomes nuggets
In 1995, the comedy duo Shirley and Dino, interpreted by Corinne and Gilles Benizio, occurs in particular in the first part of Marc Jolivet. It was only in 2001 that television revealed them to the general public with “Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde”. In 1998, festival goers also discovered the face of Christophe Alévêque. He was known until then for his radio chronicles on France Inter, in Laurent Ruquier's program "Rien à Cirer".
In 2005, it was the turn of Florence Foresti, to go to Saint-Georges where she is a hit. At 31, the former member of the Taupe Models trio is no longer really anonymous. She has already gone from shadow to light thanks to a few "single-on-stage". She also made decisive appearances on the small screen with Stéphane Bern (20:10 p.m. sharp) and Laurent Ruquier (We tried everything). The tour that she began that year with her show “Florence Foresti makes sketches” was triumphant. It will also be extended until 2007, with seven appearances at the Olympia.
The list is long of celebrities who have come under the spotlight of Humor and Eau Salée, “HES” for friends, for example:
- Pierre Palmade,
- Jean-Marie Bigard
- Sylvie Joly,
- The Vamps,
- Laurent Gerra,
- Django Edwards,
- Jamel Debouzze, to name just a handful.
They have come to spice up a program which, moreover, has not stopped reinventing itself and broadening its horizons since 1986. All this with a perpetual concern for balance and openness and a skilful balance between street and stage performances.
A world sand climbing championship since 2018
At the helm from the outset, the Crea association begins a small turn in 2016. In fact, it requalifies the event of "festival of humor all over the place inside-outside". The festival brings together fewer "stars" on the plate, but a diversity of universes, practices and artistic registers. The objective is to federate, around a double theme, the locals and the tourists present on the spot. Let us quote for example “Sport and animals in 2018”, “Circus and Cooking in 2019”, “Music and DIY and… Covid 19” in 2020, “Dance and save your planet in 2021” or “Puppets and Weird Stuff” in 2022 .
In 2018, a horizontal mountaineering championship is also organized on the Saint-Georges-de-Didonne beach. It becomes the emblem of this new participative and poetic orientation. Every year, the public is invited to perform a small four-legged climbing exercise on a giant mountain drawn on the sand. In some years, this mountain takes on a different shape. Thanks to the work of thebeach art artist JBen, the public was able to climb the facade of Notre-Dame-de-Paris or the Cordouan lighthouse.
In 2023, Humor et Eau Salée returns to its roots
On the program, laughter and humor in all forms: stand-up, graffiti workshop, improvisation theatre, musical humour...
For his 38e edition, the Humor et Eau Salée festival is set up by the sea around a friendly village with refreshment bar and food trucks. A new editorial line sets the tone for the three evening shows. Among the 23 artists present, we find Thomas Marty, Tristan Lopin, Laurie Peret and Pierre Thevenoux.
Useful information
- Online ticketing or at the Relais de la Côte de Beauté
- Ticket office on site on show nights from 17 p.m.
- Opening of the village at 18 p.m.
- Entrance to the village next to the roundabout of the knots
- Prices from € 7 to € 59
How to get here
Great South Beach
17110 Saint-Georges-de-Didonne
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