The pleasant surprise En Terrasse, somewhere between Brief and How I Met (review)

A new French comedy on Prime Video, led by several star comedians from social networks.

They have hundreds of thousands of fans on TikTok or Instagram and each of their videos is a hit. David Voinson, Diane Segard And Florent All are young comedians who have used social networks to make a name for themselves. And for a few days, they have also been the pleasant surprise of the Prime Video streaming catalog. Terracethe original series created by David Voinson (with Bastien Dartois), looks like an old-fashioned buddy comedy, but in a short, scathing and hyper-effective form, in tune with its times.

Nothing spectacular basically: David, Flo and Cam are three best friends, who share everything and especially beers, on the terrace of course. Over a pint (or two), they tell each other about their evenings, their crushes, their struggles and support each other whatever happens. It is on the form that the concept works to its fullest. Terrace was imagined as a “shortcom” of 12 12-minute episodes, punctuated by short, paid flashbacks, which play with the codes of TikTok videos to transpose them to the television of yesteryear.

In her approach, she recalls at times Briefthe excellent shortcom by Kyan Khojandi, who knew how to dust off dad’s short program (version A boy a girl) to transform the joke into a real serial social comedy, with a confusing bittersweet tone.

Terrace follows this path, but changes your tone. It’s less about nostalgia and existentialism. At first funny and impeccably written, it rather seeks to have fun with the daily life (especially in love) of twenty-somethings current events and the dramas that go with them. The series thus focuses on the fantastic How I met your Mother. Firstly because the terrace of David, Cam and Flo, with their assigned table, inevitably reminds us of the MacLaren where the New York gang met each episode, to quaff beers and tell each other about their lives… suddenly flashbacks. Whether intentional or not, the reference is obvious to our greatest pleasure. Because David Voinson makes a perfect French Ted Mosby. Because Florent All And Malyka R. Johany look like Marshmallow and Lilypad. And because Diane Segard looks like a female version of Barney Stinson, as a fierce (Wo)Manizeuse.

But David Voinson isn’t about to tell his future children how he met their mother. He also finds his own style among these references. While he (already) fills the theaters, on tour to the four corners of France, this passage noticed by the small screen could well open doors other than those of the terrace.