Often referred to as the “French Seinfeld,” Gad Elmaleh (April 19, 1971) is one of the few stand-up comedians to achieve mainstream success in both the French-speaking world and in the United States. Throughout his career, he was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and was introduced into the National Order of Quebec. Born and raised in Casablanca, Morocco, Elmaleh emigrated to Montreal with his family at the age of 11, where he studied political science for four years before relocating to Paris to study drama at Cours Florent. Since his debut with the autobiographical one-man show Décalages in 1997, he has produced several award-winning stand-up shows such as La Vie normale (2001), L’Autre c’est moi (2005), and Papa est en haut (2007), and released the singles "J'ai la haine" (2000) with Dieudonné, "Its Kyz My Life" (2002) with the Bratisla Boys, and "Danse de la Joie" (2015). That same year, Gad Elmaleh moved to the US and successfully crossed over into the American market with the stand-up show Oh My Gad (2015) and the Netflix comedy series Huge in France (2019). His debut full-length arrived in 2021 with Dansez Sur Moi, a collection of Claude Nougaro standards that spawned the singles “Armstrong,” “Nougayork,” “Le Cinéma,” and “Bidonville.” A remix of the latter saw the light shortly after the album’s release, featuring DJ Abdel, Angélique Kidjo, and trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf.
