The 3Cat platform has just launched Madhouses, a space that tries to delve into the soul of comedians when they are not working. We do not fully give ourselves over to a new monologue format, but this timestand-up comedy is mixed with interviews of a more personal nature with seven protagonists of Catalan humor. Through a conversation with Ignasi Taltavull (co-author of The Ruin, deputy director of theIt's happening and screenwriter of Crackòvia), each comic reflects on a theme that obsesses him and that forms the backbone of the entire episode. Òscar Andreu analyses the situation of Catalans, Eva Soriano addresses the inevitable process of ageing, Tomàs Fuentes talks about pets, Irene Minovas deals with the feeling of frustration, Magí Garcia delves into the mysteries of death, Charlie Pee carries out a cathartic exercise on sex and Andrés Fajngold. Madhouses It also incorporates occasional interventions by anonymous people linked to the topic of the episode to fill out the programme. An eighth final episode offers a mishmash of previously unseen moments from the seven monologues that have been recorded for the programme.
The originality of the format lies in the possibility of having a serious conversation with the comedians. It is not that the dialogues with Taltavull are transcendental or dramatic. On the contrary, an informal and friendly tone is sought. But what is involved is to relieve the protagonists of the imperative need to make people laugh in order to simply express themselves without the mask they wear when they go on stage. The attempt is to find the other side of comics or a more intimate facet with the subtle intention of demonstrating how, often, the humorous resources and the mood of comedy have to do with biographical and character aspects.
Madhouses It is for die-hard fans of humor, and it is recommended that each person choose the episodes based on their favorite comic. The order is irrelevant. The connection with the registers of humor and with the mechanisms that stimulate laughter are always very personal; therefore, the satisfaction that the program can provoke is very much related to the protagonist. The world of humor is a very self-satisfied and corporatist guild. Comics tend to give their profession a certain transcendence and capacity to enlighten. In the case of monologuists, this is usually accompanied by an ego development above average. Madhouses reveals some of these aspects, honoring the subtlety of the title of the program.
By the way, in the program The eclipse, from the same 3Cat platform, you will find an interview by Roger Escapa with Ignasi Taltavull, the host of the format, in which the comedian makes very interesting reflections and achieves, in a fuller way, the ability to approach the soul of the comic through less explored paths.
