{"id":45956,"date":"2026-04-22T14:18:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=45956"},"modified":"2026-04-22T14:18:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:18:30","slug":"an-american-comedian-in-paris","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/articles\/an-american-comedian-in-paris\/","title":{"rendered":"An American Comedian in Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin bu-blocks-block-editorial-leadin is-style-side-by-side has-media has-wider has-box has-media-focus-center-middle\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"\/com\/files\/2026\/04\/visuel-rodage-banner.jpg\" class=\"\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2026\/04\/visuel-rodage-banner.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2026\/04\/visuel-rodage-banner-636x424.jpg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2026\/04\/visuel-rodage-banner-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2026\/04\/visuel-rodage-banner-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2026\/04\/visuel-rodage-banner-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2026\/04\/visuel-rodage-banner-1500x1000.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2026\/04\/visuel-rodage-banner-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2026\/04\/visuel-rodage-banner-450x300.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2026\/04\/visuel-rodage-banner-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAn American Comedian in Paris\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\">What\u2019s the deal with French airline food? Sebastian Marx knows\u2014and he\u2019ll tell you in two languages<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-categories\">\n\t\t\t<ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/category\/alumni\/\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlumni\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/category\/film-television\/\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFilm &amp; TV\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">April 22, 2026<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/authors\/sophie-yarin\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSophie Yarin\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<div style=\"display:none;\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools-inner js-prepress-component-share-tools\">\n\t\t<h4>Share<\/h4>\n\t\t<p class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools-article-title\">An American Comedian in Paris<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools-article-link\">\n\t\t\t<div>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" value=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/articles\/an-american-comedian-in-paris\/\" readonly>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<label>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Copy URL:<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"js-prepress-component-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>Copy<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/label>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Fifteen years ago, American comedy was taking a more embittered, caustic turn thanks to comedians like Louis C.K., Marc Maron (CAS\u201986), and Bill Burr. Old tropes were dying, and darker themes\u2014addiction, self-loathing, and fear of aging\u2014emerged in their place. But across the Atlantic, a sense of possibility was blooming. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sebmarx.com\/en\/\">Sebastian Marx<\/a> had recently moved to Paris and was working on creating something fresh: a comedy scene for English-speaking expats living in the City of Light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere was hardly anything [for non-French speakers], so I started a weekly English comedy night,\u201d says Marx (CGS\u201999, COM\u201901). \u201cNow in Paris, there\u2019s a comedy show in English pretty much every night of the week in pubs or bars or theaters. Every major city in Europe has some English comedy going on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marx studied in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/programs\/film-television\/\">Film &amp; Television<\/a> program at COM, but spent his evenings bartending, and occasionally performing, at the <a href=\"https:\/\/comedyconnection.net\/\">Comedy Connection<\/a> in its former Faneuil Hall location. He\u2019d gotten the bug in high school back in Manhattan, where he had taken a stand-up class his senior year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was a weekly class where we\u2019d work on developing a five minute set, and then, at the end, we\u2019d present at an open mic with all the other students,\u201d he says. \u201cIt went well\u2014partly because I invited half of my high school class and they were very supportive. But it also gave me the taste of what it feels like to be on stage and tell jokes. I was hooked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the comedy nights he hosted and performed in Paris, Marx was bolstered by the fact that the audience and talent could be from anywhere\u2014France, the United States, England, Guatemala, Hong Kong\u2014and still be likely to know a little English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-teal-background-left\"><p>Comedy is so fickle; it\u2019s so dependent on who is in the audience. That\u2019s also part of why I try to stay personal. In that way, when you talk about yourself, it also becomes universal.<\/p><cite>Sebastian Marx<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI would have 60 percent French people and 40 percent Americans, Spanish people, or Polish people\u2014and they may not know enough French to follow a French comedy show, but they do know enough English to follow an English comedy night,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the unofficial <em>lingua franca<\/em> of the world, English is a safe bet for performers anywhere. But that didn\u2019t stop Marx from launching a comedy career <em>en Fran\u00e7ais.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>Le Com\u00e9dien Bilingue<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTo be honest, my English comedy has never earned me much of a living,\u201d Marx admits. \u201cIt\u2019s more the French stuff that I do that\u2019s been the reason I\u2019m able to live off of stand up comedy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/com\/files\/2026\/04\/SebMarx.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-45999\" width=\"332\" height=\"498\"\/><figcaption>Marx performing on stage. Photo courtesy of Sebastian Marx. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In his early days as an English-language performer, he says he got a sense that his French audience wanted to watch him \u201cstruggle with their language,\u201d <em>New-Yorkais <\/em>accent and all. Maybe it was a bit of schadenfreude, maybe pure fascination, but these Parisians were transfixed by the prospect of hearing words and culture refracted through an American perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe French just want to hear an American talk about them\u2014I guess that we\u2019re all egocentric in that way,\u201d Marx says. \u201cThe foreign point of view on the way French people are seems to be the material that works best. If I stay on the cusp of the major strokes of American culture, they\u2019ll be on board.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marx still performs in English, typically for a tourist and expat crowd. Some of his material works in both languages\u2014but rarely gets an identical reaction.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m with a French woman. I have one joke where I say, and she smokes a lot by American standards, but by French standards, she\u2019s just breathing,\u201d he says. \u201cThat one works better in English\u2026it [plays on] that American clich\u00e9 of French people smoking, but the French don\u2019t necessarily see themselves as big smokers. They\u2019re comparing themselves to other European countries, and [they see] people smoking more in Italy or Spain. The joke still kind of works in French, but not as much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>Culture Study<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As an American, there are some bog-standard jokes Marx <em>could<\/em> be making to his French audience: about big cars, cheeseburgers, politics, or guns. It\u2019s not his shtick, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI like shows that are timeless, and I try to stay relatively personal,\u201d he says. \u201cI talk about my experience as an American living in France.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio is-style-background-full-width\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"responsive-video responsive-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_b-FN_IT5fU?si=FfbY7iVblJu6PPhv\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n<p>His first touring show, <em>Un New Yorkais a Paris<\/em> (<em>A New Yorker in Paris)<\/em>, was all about his experiences with cultural dissonance, getting his footing in a new country, and learning a finicky, frustrating language. The second show, <em>On Est Bien L\u00e0 (We\u2019re Good Here)<\/em>, was more personal, more autobiographical. At its heart is the familiar parable of the Ant and Grasshopper, the industrious worker and the idler. In France, the tale is known as <em>La Cigale et La Fourmi<\/em> (the cicada and the ant) and is standard fare for children under 10. For Marx, they\u2019re stand-ins for the hyperproductive Americans and the work-shy French.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was about how we\u2019re split into two categories,\u201d says Marx. \u201cThe people who think ahead and the people who are really spontaneous. I felt this was a parallel between America and France.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marx doesn\u2019t just comment on the French as a whole. He tours nationally, and as he moves through the different regions in France, he\u2019ll make sure to include some area-specific humor for the benefit of the local audience. On the way into town, he\u2019ll look up local attractions, sample local food, and research regional languages\u2014Occitan, Breton, Basque, Alsatian\u2014and fold his observations into his set. He\u2019ll often take out a list of peculiar local words and run through them onstage, asking the audience\u2019s help in understanding them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEven a New Yorker performing in Dallas is going to have to see what material works in that city,\u201d he says. \u201cComedy is so fickle; it\u2019s so dependent on who is in the audience. That\u2019s also part of why I try to stay personal. In that way, when you talk about yourself, it also becomes universal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marx will occasionally perform outside of France, often in Francophone countries like Switzerland, Belgium, and Canada. He\u2019s even been back on the American stage once or twice\u2014speaking French. In 2023, he performed on the West Coast through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.frenchtalentusa.org\/\">French Talent USA<\/a>, an organization whose mission is to bring French culture and language stateside through live performances and film screenings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-end-of-article\">\u201cI was very happy to have an excuse to go back to the States, but I kind of laughed on the inside, because I never thought I would be invited to perform on the West Coast\u2014in San Francisco\u2014but in French,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s really strange. But I think it\u2019s also pretty funny.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fifteen years ago, American comedy was taking a more embittered, caustic turn thanks to comedians like Louis C.K., Marc Maron&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25826,"featured_media":45997,"template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"categories":[962,9],"tags":[1606,1833],"bu-publication":[],"discipline-type":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/45956"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25826"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/45956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46011,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/45956\/revisions\/46011"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45956"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=45956"},{"taxonomy":"discipline-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/discipline-type?post=45956"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=45956"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=45956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}