Sometimes, Thierry Ardisson, the inventive designer of so many French television shows, gives, at 74 years old, the impression of building his mausoleum of images: with the very gloomy “Hôtel du temps” (2022), where artificial intelligence reanimated the mummies of Dalida or Coluche (stopped after two issues on France 3); with his channel INA Arditube, where he has collected a vast anthology of his shows, from “Police Descent” (1985) to “Terriens du Samedi” (2018-2019), including “93, faubourg Saint-Honoré” ( 2003-2007), broadcast on Paris Première.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the creation of this latest program, Thierry Ardisson is offering, still on Paris Première, a memorial evening which looks back on certain moments from the show. This consisted of a real-false social dinner with cleverly colorful table plans, preceded by the arrival of the guests (intercom, elevator) and an aperitif in the pantry where chefs prepared the meal that followed, filmed by automated cameras.
We heard gossip, dirty talk, and very spicy jokes; some were in a state that ruled out getting behind the wheel to return (and even sometimes to arrive…). Revelations were also made there which, at the time, aroused misogynistic sneers but which then took on an unexpected value, such as the first testimony, in February 2007, of Tristane Banon about Dominique Strauss-Kahn, whose the name was then beeped.
Gossip and revelations
For those who already know the shows put online by Thierry Ardisson, the main interest of this “documentary” lies in the host’s comments which shed light behind the scenes of the show. We see the control truck parked at the bottom of the building and we discover some quite amusing new images shot in the elevator after dinner.
We also learn that Thierry Ardisson’s apartment, decorated in a neo-rococo style with striking colors, was designed for the very needs of “93, faubourg Saint-Honoré” and that personally he only likes the white walls. Finally, for those who mistake him for a lover of city dinners, Ardisson admits: “I don’t like them, in other people’s houses and especially in my own house: I hate cooking smells. »
However, he will have set the table again for a new anniversary episode of the show, renamed “214, rue de Rivoli”, his new address, which constitutes the first part of the evening before the broadcast of the documentary at 10:35 p.m. find old regulars (Gérard Darmon, Franz-Olivier Giesbert, Laurent Baffie…), a new kid (Bertrand Chameroy) as well as Muriel Robin and his wife, Anne Le Nen, and the journalist Audrey Crespo-Mara, wife of the man in black.
