TWO sell-out seasons at the Edinburgh Fringe have established that Jean-Francois and
Didier, the young stand-up double act known as Prioritie a Gauche, are funny in any language, but especially in the pair's own mangled Anglo-French.
Zut alors, there will be universal laughter this weekend for those Scottish comedy-lovers who suivez the fractured Franglish route to mutual incomprehension with surly chauvinistic crooner Jean-Francois and suave jockey-du-disques Didier. Comprenez en Glasgow et Ancien Reekie that these hilarious musical nephews of Inspector Clouseau are two tres jolie self-deluding Anglo-French cloons - sorry, ''clowns''.'
In reality, of course, Didier and Jean-Francois are the naive alter egos of Arnold Widdowson and Ben Willbond. Further testament to the pair's mirth-making skills comes from the fact that French people exiled in Britain seem most to appreciate the duo's international brand of comedy.
Widdowson is much relieved about this. For he is aware that Prioritie a Gauche's comic mispronunciation of sundry English words is a schtick previously done - very poorly, and in the service of base Francophobia - by TV's ghastly 'Allo 'Allo. ''We're aware that mistranslation is always an easy gag,'' says Widdowson during a lull in filming Le Hip Parade, Prioritie a Gauche's debut TV series for BBC digital channel Play UK.
''So yes, we cringe a little at cheap jokes which involve us mispronouncing 'pub' as 'pube'. Nevertheless, audiences do laugh when we say: 'We love the feeling of your English pubes.' But 'Allo 'Allo
simply drew on crass French stereotypes, whereas I'd hope Jean-Francois and Didier are well-rounded characters who'd be funny whatever their nationality.
''I also hope that we buffer the easy gags with more cerebral humour. Because what we're keenest to do is look askance at British cultural behaviour. The question we're always asking is: 'Why do Britons do such and such a thing in this particular way?' ''
For Oxford graduates Widdowson and Willbond both have a touch of the globetrotting outsider about them. ''Ben's dad was in the RAF, and so his childhood was spent in lots of different places. I was born in Edinburgh to an English father and a French mother, and at the age of five I went away to live in the French Alps, losing all my English.
''French people in our audiences always seem to enjoy the show more than most. They're intrigued by my unaccented French for one thing, and come up afterwards to share their bafflement about British society.''
Audiences should not be baffled to see Jean-Francois and Didier selling CDs - for a bargain (pounds) 12 - in theatre foyers after their shows. ''It's a genuine album with 11 of our songs on it, plus interviews.
''Sometimes people drift straight past us on their way out, reckoning the CDs are just part of the stage act. In fact, the songs always come first, followed by the material around them.''
In summary, Prioritie a Gauche are a boundary-busting exercise in a range of classic comedy situations: witless incomprehension, preening male stupidity, craven impulses to one-upmanship, over-ambition, under-achievement.
The duo also successfully locate comedy's holy grail: a splendidly hilarious new variant on the old knock-knock joke.
Jean-Francois et Didier; Widdowson and Willbond. They are - 'ow you say? - vair, vair foonnee. Embracez les Gauches maintenant, comme une matter de comedique prioritie!
Garcons tres amusantes Prioritie a Gauche visit the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, on Sunday night and The Stand, Edinburgh, on Monday. The duo's UK tour concludes in Kirkcaldy at the Adam Smith Theatre on November 16.
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