Mme Chirac, les Guignols d'info, et les pièces jaunes

Last night I happened to catch the Guignols d'info on Canal+. Canal+ is like HBO over here, except non-subscribers can watch it during certain periods of the day as well, around lunch time and in the evening until about 9 pm. I don't usually watch the Guignols: it's a 5 minute puppet show poking fun at various politicians and current events, and you have to be very up-to-date on the news and have a good understanding of politics in general (which I don't) to get most of the jokes. Sometimes, however, I "get" something and actually laugh out loud. The parodies of George Bush are always amusing, as are the sketches featuring the "typical" American as personified by Sylvester Stallone (ie, there is a group of the president's advisors, all of them clones of Slyvester Stallone; he is the typical businessman, director of "World Company, Inc", and all the American soldiers are always Sylverster Stallone twins).

So, last night I caught a parody of "Who wants to be a millionaire?" ("Qui veut gagner des millions?"), with Bernadette Chirac answering questions about her husband's dodgy finances as Mayor of Paris. (The link to watch it yourself is here ). I thought it was pretty funny, but I didn't get half of the joke until I realized that on the same night there would be a special edition of "Qui veut gagner des millions?" WITH Bernadette,with all proceeds going to her charity Pièces Jaunes. This I couldn't miss. There were some people on there who I like, such as Corneille and
Pierre Palmade, a few I had never heard of, and of course dear Bernadette, watching over the festivities like a queen. She was so funny, she was wearing these ginormous glasses the entire time. I did a Getty Images search and she's been wearing the same pair for DECADES people. I can totally see her sporting those while driving the old 500SL that I imagine her to have. (More likely, a brand spankin' new black limo with a driver, but in my mind I see her with those glasses and the top down). I was so disappointed to find out that she didn't actually play the game! Especially after having missed the Sound of Music (dubbed in French!) to watch it!


Here is a picture of her with the host of the show:

Enjoy the old clips of the Guignols on the official site, they're pretty funny.