Fans of Call My Agent! (Dix Pour Cent for those who prefer the original French title) are in luck. Fanny Herrero, the creator of Call My Agent! and its showrunner for its first three seasons, is back with a new series. Her latest, called Standing Up, is a dramedy that focuses on the lives of struggling stand-up comedians living in Paris. Considering the number of stand-up specials available on Netflix, a scripted series about stand-up comics seems like a natural fit and could be perfect for fans of Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
When Was Standing Up Released?
Standing Up was created for Netflix and its first season is now on the streaming giant, having been released on March 18, 2022. It’s rated MA, so this might not be the show for younger viewers.
Fanny Herrero’s willingness to use humor to examine topics of gender, class, race, and nationalism in French society could make Standing Up a hit with both critics and viewers. We’re looking forward to seeing what this talented writer and her cast of up-and-coming young actors have to say and if they can keep us laughing while they say it.
Watch the Standing Up Trailer
Netflix released a trailer for Standing Up in mid-February. The trailer shows the young protagonists using humor to cope with their personal and financial insecurities, mining their lives for material for their shows. Bling makes jokes about his insecurities about being passed by younger, funnier comedians, and Nezir finds humor in his financial hardship, workshopping material while delivering food. Aissatou shares risqué jokes about her sex life, finally achieving the viral success she'd been working towards but damaging her relationship with her boyfriend in the process.
In addition to giving a glimpse at some plot points in the series, the trailer also makes it clear that another star of the series will be Paris’s 11th arrondissement itself. The bustling neighborhood and its beautiful landmarks are on full display. Don’t say we didn’t warn you if watching this show causes you to start planning a French getaway.
Standing Up Episode Guide
The first season of Standing Up consists of six episodes. As with most Netflix series, all the episodes in the season have been released at the same time. Here are the episode details:
Episode 1: "Give Us a Laugh!" - March 18, 2022
Episode 2: "A Successful Touch" - March 18, 2022
Episode 3: "Black Goes with Everything" - March 18, 2022
Episode 4: "Go, Pistachio!" - March 18, 2022
Episode 5: "A Streetcar Named Nezir" - March 18, 2022
Episode 6: "Good Evening, Olympia..." - March 18, 2022
What Is Standing Up About?
Standing Up is a French dramedy about the Paris comedy scene and the struggles of young up-and-coming comedians. The characters try to balance finances, love, and comedy while pursuing their dreams. Nezir struggles to support himself and his father, working in food delivery by day and doing comedy by night. Apolline, a college student feeling uninspired in her regular life, has just started doing stand-up and can barely even manage to get on stage. Bling feels like his friends and his chances of making it big are passing him by. And Aissatou is finally having her big break and seeing her act go viral, but at what cost?
The club in Standing Up, the Drole (also the name of the series in France), has a real-life counterpart in the Parisian comedy club Le Paname. Both the real and fictional versions of the club are located in Paris’s 11th arrondissement, a hip multicultural neighborhood with vibrant immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities.
One topic Herrero specifically wanted to address with the series is how national identity and immigration are treated and discussed in France. She told the Financial Times, “It’s about my feeling of what is happening in France right now, where the debate on identity is a little stinky. I don’t like it and this is my way of answering that. I wanted to show these kids being the sons or grandsons of immigrants and that they have their part in the national story and cultural expression.”
Who Are the Cast and Crew of Standing Up?
Standing Up’s biggest draw is its creator herself: Fanny Herrero. Herrero’s series Call My Agent! became a huge hit, not just in its native France, but also in America after it was picked up by Netflix. Herrero stepped away from Call My Agent! after its third season to focus on other projects, so we’re excited that this project has now been released. And don’t worry fans of Call My Agent!, the series is in capable hands and a fifth season and a movie are in the works.
The cast is made up primarily of actors who are relatively unknown both in the United States and in France. When speaking with the Financial Times Herrero explained, “It was really important for me to have unknown actors who we could immediately believe were the characters.”
Younes Boucif, who plays Nezir, is an actor and rapper who often performs under the name Younes or Yoon on the Moon. We’ll have to wait and see if he gets the opportunity to use his rapping skills in Standing Up.
Jean Siuen, the actor playing Bling, has played Brigadier N'Guyen in the French TV movie Stella and Serveur Jean-Luc in the series Le Grand Bazar. English-speaking audiences may recognize him as “The World’s Best Belayer” in a commercial for Petzl rock climbing gear.
Aissatou is played by Mariama Gueye. Gueye played Clarisse in the French miniseries Gloria and played Amina in the series Crossroads.
Apolline is played by Elsa Guedj. Guedj played Marthe in last year’s A Radiant Girl and was also in Roaring 20’s.
Pascale Arbillot will also star in several episodes as the character Petra. Arbillot has a long resume of acting roles including Salome in 2022’s Murder Party.
Behind the camera, Herrero is joined by directors Farid Bentoumi and Bryan Marciano. Bentoumi has acted in and directed a variety of films in France. Most recently, he directed 2020’s Red Soil. Marciano has worked as a writer, producer, and director on the series Vingt-cinq.
Herrero shares writing credit for the series with Lison Daniel, Camille de Castelnau, Judith Havas, Herve Lassince, and Elaine Montane.