Before « Le Flambeau », « La Flamme » became so cult that we no longer count the diversions

THE FLAMME – The sentence is irrevocable. A year and a half later The flamethe emblematic Marc, camped by the brilliant Jonathan Cohen, returns this Monday, May 23 with The torch on Canal+ and MyCanal. No contenders this time, since this new salvo of nine episodes will parody, as its name suggests, Koh Lanta.

But the expectation around the program is still strong. Indeed, season 1, inspired by Burning Lovewhich made fun of The Bachelor, was hugely successful when it was released on the encrypted channel. Replies with absurd and irreverent humor – carried by a five-star cast notably composed of Leïla Bekhti, Florence Foresti, Pierre Niney or Adèle Exarchopoulos – which quickly hit the mark with the public. And above all, which were quickly immortalized in memes (viral image aimed at transmitting a message via social networks).

The phenomenon then very quickly gained momentum over the course of the season, and even beyond. It is indeed not uncommon, even today, to see certain references to the series circulating. The HuffPost invites you to come back to some of the most cult replicas of The flameaccompanied by their parodies.

“Valérie just farted, it stinks, she has to go”

Impossible to forget the affair of the fart of Valérie, embodied by Doria Tillier. As Marc prepares to designate the qualified candidates at the very start of the season, Alexandra challenges him and accuses his competitor of having farted.

The Jean Guile

Having become a real gimmick, the Jean-Guile party, celebrated every November 14, does not yet exist. It is only pure invention of The flame. This consists of dressing up and singing (without applauding) to pay homage to the baker of the same name, who had his arms too short to butter his sandwiches. An iconic passage from the program, which Canal+ cleverly used to promote the series.

“If the Jean-Guile could not be celebrated on its initial date, don’t panic, the CBT (Comité Baguettes et Traditions), responsible for organizing the Jean-Guile, has decreed that the 2020 edition will be postponed to the date of birth of the famous baker, that is, November 14”, decreed the encrypted channel.

“MAAAAAAAAAARC”

Probably the most devious replica of the program. It is indeed impossible to speak of The flame not to mention Alexandra’s obsession with Marc. Completely crazy about him, she never stopped calling him by his first name throughout the season. And often in a very virulent way as you can see in the compilation below.

« I think it’s still too early to make a choice, but my choice is made »

If it were necessary to quote the most absurd line of The flame, it is obvious that this one would win the first prize. More than the sentence, it is the entire dialogue between Marc and the presenter of the program (played by Vincent Dedienne), which is worth its weight in gold.

“All that olive oil”

“What a tragedy… All this olive oil going up in smoke… And Soraya, of course, dying. It’s too much ». This is another well-felt response from Marc, when his suitor endowed with the heart of a monkey had just lost his life after a cardiac arrest. The plane pilot had indeed entrusted a mission to the candidates still in the running, to save liters of olive oil from a burning cabin. Test in which the character played by Adèle Exarchopoulos did not survive, to the chagrin (or not) of the hero.

Faced with this anthology of parodies, The torch will it manage to equal or even exceed its elder? Canal+ has in any case put the odds on its side, in particular bringing back certain iconic characters from The flame like Alexandra, Chataléré (Camille Chamoux), Anne (Ana Girardot) or even Marina (Géraldine Nakache). The four actresses will be joined by a very promising cast composed, among others, of Jérôme Commandeur (the presenter), Gérard Darmon, Kad Merad, Mister V and Jonathan Lambert.

See also on The HuffPost: Before “Le Flambeau”, Jonathan Cohen embeds himself in the ads on Canal+