Coluche employer Charlie Hebdo
1980s
Presidential bid
In a 30 October 1980 press conference at the theatre of his one-man show, Coluche announced his candidacy for the French presidential election. He was not taken seriously until the Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche published a poll on 14 December 1980 showing Coluche supported by 16% of potential voters. His "campaign" was supported and organized by Parisian publisher Charlie Hebdo, with slogans such as "Before me, France was divided in two; now it will be folded in four" (more idiomatically "être plié en quatre" could be translated as "doubled over laughing"), and "Coluche - the only candidate who has no reason to lie". However, he withdrew after pressure from serious politicians - including François Mitterrand who saw him as a menace for his own candidacy - and the murder of his manager René Gorlin.
boss supervisor manager chief director