Donel Jack'sman

Donel Jack'sman is a French stand-up comedian, actor, host and radio and television commentator of Cameroonian origin. He trained at Cours Florent for three years after earning a degree in communication, then moved into comedy in the mid-2000s. Today he is one of the recognisable faces of French observational stand-up, with a comedy style built around cultural difference, race, family and everyday life in France.

Donel Jack'sman won the first edition of La Route du Rire in 2007, an open competition sponsored by Volkswagen and the radio station Rire et Chansons - a victory that also won him a car and his first national exposure. He wrote and staged his first one-man show, J'raconte ma life, in 2008. From 2011 to 2014 he became known to the French general public as one of the long-running cast members of the France 2 prime-time competition On n'demande qu'a en rire, with 55 appearances on the show and a win in season 3 (2013). He has performed regularly at Jamel Debbouze's Marrakech du Rire festival, where his sketch Racisme decomplexe became one of his most-shared routines on YouTube and social media, and where he appears on the Wall of Fame. In December 2018, he was the target of repeated racist insults during a performance at the Theatre de la Cite in Nice, an incident that drew over a hundred public messages of support, including from then-Interior Minister Christophe Castaner and President Emmanuel Macron. In July 2018 he taped a 30-minute set at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, released on Netflix from January 2019. His work has continued through tour shows, festival appearances and his own YouTube channel.

Donel Jack'sman tours regularly across France with his stand-up shows, with dates in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Lille, Nice and other major cities, and frequent appearances at Marrakech du Rire and other Francophone festivals. His Netflix Just for Laughs set (Montreal 2018, released January 2019), Marrakech du Rire performances and full sketches are available on his YouTube channel. Tickets for current dates are typically sold via Fnac Spectacles and Agenda Culturel.