Arnaud Tsamere

Arnaud Tsedri (born 11 March 1975), better known by the stage name Arnaud Tsamere, is a French comedian, actor, television presenter and sports journalist.

Born in Bordeaux and raised in the Yvelines, he joined the Déclic Théâtre group after quitting his sales job.

There, he acted in plays and participated in improvisation events.

In 1998, he obtained a master's degree in business law and later got a job working in export sales.

However, he realised that he "could no longer live without the stage", and on the advice of his friend Arnaud Joyet and Déclic Théâtre co-founder Alain Degois, quit his job and launched his career as a comedian.

After quitting his previous job, Tsamere took part in the Déclic Théâtre improvisation group under its co-founder Alain "Papy" Degois, who he said "pushed me, gave me confidence, coddled me [and] got me to act in plays and improvisation matches".

He wrote his first one-man show, Réflexions profondes sur pas mal de trucs, in 2002 with Arnaud Joyet, and his second, Chose Promise, in 2007 with Joyet and François Rollin.

He began writing his first one-man show in 2002 with his friend Arnaud Joyet, inspired by a videotape of comedian François Rollin.

The show, entitled Réflexions profondes sur pas mal de trucs (Profound reflections on quite a few things), played on theatrical "flops", a form of humour that Tsamere said "can seem easy [but] is not when you really start to work on it".

Between 2003 and 2005, he played the baron Christian de Neuvillette in an adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac at the Château de Gizeux with the theatre group La Pastière, to which he was introduced by Degois.

It was performed at the Blancs Manteaux theatre from April 2005 to January 2006.

Tsamere met Rollin at the Dinard Comedy Festival, and he joined Tsamere and Joyet to write a second show, Chose Promise (Promised Thing).

In 2005, with the help of Frédéric Testot, whom he met at a Puy-Saint-Vincent comedy festival, Tsamere got the job of presenting the weather forecast in Le Grand Journal on Canal+.

Written in 2007, it stars Tsamere as an economics teacher named Patrice Valenton, performing as part of a promise made to a friend who died in a car accident.

He chose to perform as a character under Rollin's suggestion, so that he could depict failure under the guise of somebody who is not a comedian.

Regarding the show's theme of death, he said "It's a bit strange, but it has the virtue of attracting the public's attention".

Tsamere's performance was well received by critics; Le Parisien called the show a "masterpiece of the genre".

From 2010, he became well known for appearing on France 2's sketch comedy show On n'demande qu'à en rire—and its short-lived spin-off the ONDAR Show—after he was discovered by Laurent Ruquier; he often performed sketches with Jérémy Ferrari.

He also plays Captain Sport Extrême in the comedy science fiction programme Hero Corp.

On 25 June 2012 at the Européen theatre, Tsamere performed alongside the On n'demande qu'à en rire jury member Éric Métayer in Métamère en impro.

Tsamere has acted in several films, including the short Being Homer Simpson with Philippe Peythieu and Véronique Augereau, and Fonzy, a 2013 adaptation of StarBuck.

Tsamere's paternal grandparents are from Guipavas, and his father is Breton.

He was born in Bordeaux, but grew up in Versailles, Rocquencourt and Trappes, in the Yvelines department.

His father was a general in the French Air Force who was awarded the Legion of Honour, and his mother a housewife, whom he has described as "the best in her domain".

He has two brothers.

He describes himself as having had a "strict upbringing".

Speaking about his early life and its relation to his surreal comic style, Tsamere said:

"I grew up in a very comfortable environment. I wanted for nothing; serious things never happened to me in life. I have never been a victim of injustice, so I have nothing to protest. I don't have any particular origins which would be interesting to talk about. ... So, I do absurd stuff because I don't want to talk about other things."

After getting his baccalauréat, he studied law at university, where he discovered an improvisational match in his first year and "fell in love" with the performance.

Chose Promise was released on DVD on 6 March 2013 after being recorded at the Théâtre Sébastopol in Lille.

His third, Confidences sur pas mal de trucs plus ou moins confidentiels, has been performed since 2014.

He has attended numerous comedy festivals and is currently a member of the Ligue Majeure d'Improvisation.

Tsamere's television career began when he presented the weather forecast on Canal+.

In 2014, he hosted TMC's Canapé Quiz; he has also appeared on various French talk, sports and game shows.

Tsamere has done three tours of the show, and its final two performances were at the Olympia in February 2014.

Tsamere's third show, Confidences sur pas mal de trucs plus ou moins confidentiels (Secrets about quite a few more or less confidential things), also written with Rollin and Joyet, was performed on tour throughout France from November 2014, and at Le Splendid from January 2015.

Tsamere has said it is based on the principal that "society laughs too much", and will involve him talking about himself.

He performed La tournée du trio with his On n'demande qu'à en rire colleague Jérémy Ferrari, and Baptiste Lecaplain; after a tour of 12 performances in Zéniths, they did several special performances in February 2014.

Tsamere has attended comedy festivals such as the Montreux Comedy Festival, where he performed with Ferrari, and the Avignon Festival.

He is now part of the Ligue Majeure d'Improvisation.