Artus: "I make the same jokes on stage that I would make with my friends at a party," confides the comedian before his show at La Défense Arena in March 2026.

He has become one of the most popular French comedians, notably with the success of his film on disability, Un p'tit truc en plus , presented on the Croisette in 2024 and nominated for the César 2025: Artus is the guest of "20 Heures" Thursday September 4. The opportunity for Léa Salamé to discuss the comedian 's next challenge, which has two dates, March 27 and 28, 2026, at La Défense Arena.

This text is a portion of the transcript of the interview above. Click on the video to watch it in full.

Léa Salamé: You come after the Prime Minister, that's not bad, right? You once said that it would be good to have a president with "a little something extra." What did that mean?

Artus: A president with a little something extra because my actors, for example, have a simplicity in the good sense of the word that, I think, we lack a little. And I don't think they would do things less well.

You scored the phenomenal cinema success last year with A Little Something Extra , 11 million spectators, it's the biggest success of the last 10 years. But that's not enough for you. You've taken the biggest gamble of your career, and of your life: La Défense Arena, the largest venue in Europe. It's where the Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift perform, and no comedian has ever done it two nights in a row.

Even just one evening...

Even just one night: 80,000 people at La Défense Arena, on March 27 and 28. You actually think you're Taylor Swift, is that the story?

Yes, but we wanted to end the show with a truly spectacular side. My wife and I like performing, because we work together, we like to do big shows, do big things, and so we needed a big venue. And now we hope it will work and that it will be good. But in any case, we did everything we could to make it an unforgettable show.

Unforgettable, what does that mean? Does that mean guests? Are you going to arrive by helicopter like Johnny?

There will be Yvan Cassar with sixty musicians on stage, my actors from Un p'tit truc en plus ... There will be lots of guests, lots of surprises, and I can assure you that it will be a pretty crazy show.

Children love A Little Something Extra , but what do you say tonight to people who are thinking of taking their seats to see Artus and dying of laughter... Because you are hilarious and I saw it, you go very far on the disabled, sex, women, your weight, etc. Can we say that it is not too much for children?

No, and at the same time, I think that today, they have TikTok, they have worse things than my show. So yes, I say bad words, but in itself, I think it won't traumatize them. After that, I think it's good for children 10 and up. Under 10, it's at your own risk.

You said a few months ago that people are tired of being told which jokes they should laugh at and which they shouldn't. Is that what works with you? Is that because you go so far?

I think we're made to believe that we can't laugh at anything anymore, and I think that people want to laugh at everything, to laugh at differences, to laugh at our religions. When we do it with kindness and people are convinced that there is no negative thought behind it, I think we want to laugh at that. Because among friends, we do it. Among friends, everyone makes hardcore jokes on all subjects. And as soon as it's filmed, as soon as it's in public, we're supposed to soften all that. No, I make the same jokes on stage that I would make with my friends at a party.

And how are they going to get people to hear you, the 40,000 people, the one at the back of the room, to understand the joke or hear it?

There's a sound in this room that's very good. We also add some so that no one misses a single crumb. Afterwards, it's true that there's a rhythm thing, of course, because by the time the sound arrives and I pick it up, it's going to be a different rhythm of the show. But we really made sure that from the smallest seat, the one furthest away, everyone enjoys the show in the same way.

France is tense at the moment, as you know, with a political and economic crisis... Do you have the impression that you are also contributing to bringing people together, that we can still bring people together, create France?

I don't know, maybe it's pretentious to think that we contribute to that, but I hope that I manage to make people think about something else for a little while. I hope, like the film, which brought a bubble of other things, and I hope that the people who come to see the show, at least for two hours, will have something else in their minds.

How did you personally experience the phenomenal success, keeping your feet on the ground, but also all the actors in the film who became stars overnight?

It's mainly for them that I'm happy about the success, because when we made the film, they were so convinced that it was going to make them stars, that if the film hadn't worked, I think the fall would have been very violent. And there, Mayane (Mayane-Sarah El Baze) who made Fort Boyard , Dancing with the Stars , Soso who has just released a short film... I love it when I connect to Arnaud's (Toupense) Instagram and I always see him with his t-shirt, Un p'tit truc en plus , his cap, because he wants us to recognize him and take photos with him. I think that's great.