Olivier Giraud

Olivier Giraud is a French stand-up comedian best known internationally as the creator and sole performer of "How to Become a Parisian in One Hour", the longest-running English-language comedy show in Paris. Born in western France, he worked for years in hospitality including a stint at a 5-star hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, before returning to Paris to write a comedy show entirely in English aimed at international visitors. His decision to perform stand-up in English in his own country, at the Theatre des Nouveautes on the Grands Boulevards, made him one of the most unusual figures in French stand-up: a French comic whose audience is mostly non-French and whose career is built almost entirely outside the French-language circuit.

Olivier Giraud premiered "How to Become a Parisian in One Hour" in 2009 at the Theatre des Nouveautes in Paris, the historic 600-seat venue founded in 1827. The show is a one-hour solo performance entirely in English in which Giraud teaches international visitors how to behave like a real Parisian in everyday situations: riding the metro, ordering coffee in a cafe, navigating relationships, dealing with waiters, dressing the part. The format mixes observational comedy, physical sketches and audience interaction, with crowd members from up to thirty different nationalities at every performance. Since 2009 the show has played continuously at the same theater, year-round, in front of more than 800,000 spectators and several thousand performances - one of the longest single-venue stand-up runs in Europe. The show has been featured in major international travel media and has become part of the Paris tourism circuit alongside the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. Giraud writes, directs and performs the entire piece, refreshing the material continuously to keep it current.

Olivier Giraud performs "How to Become a Parisian in One Hour" year-round at the Theatre des Nouveautes on the Boulevard Poissonniere in Paris, with around 180 performances per year and English-language audiences from over 30 nationalities at every show. Tickets are sold via oliviergiraud.com, Theatre In Paris, Paris Je t'aime and Sortir a Paris. Clips and trailers are available on his YouTube channel and TikTok.