Les flics take jokes in stride
Police’s patient and humorous response to being pranked by fake English tourist shows them in good light
THE FRENCH police do not necessarily have a reputation as being the friendliest bunch – but a series of joke videos puts them in another light.
Europe 1 radio presenter Cyril Hanouna took to making spoof distress calls to provincial police stations around France, claiming to be a dotty Englishwoman called Adelaide and asking if anyone speaks English.
The expectation is that the police will refuse to speak English and act dismissively - especially when Adelaide starts singing the Beatles song Help!...
But a surprising number of them take the query in their stride, calmly switching languages and asking the caller to describe the problem.
Even more surprisingly, when they finally realise that they are the victims of a practical joke, they seem to take the whole thing in good spirits, rather than bringing charges of wasting police time.
Hanouna claims he did it out of “love of foreign languages”, to “test out the police’s level of English”.
His programme Les Pieds dans le Plat, on weekdays from 16.00 to 18.30 on privately owned radio station Europe 1, is a chat show featuring a cast of guest commentators and comedians.
His joke calls known as Y a-t-il un flic qui parle anglais à... became a regular feature – and various examples can be found on the internet.
A typical exchange goes:
I am English. I am lost in La Rochelle. Can you help me please?
You lost what?
Me – I am lost in La Rochelle... Do you spik English or not?
Still not convinced the police have a sense of humour? Try this one where “Adelaide” is Lost in Briançon.
If you are wondering about the name the policeman eventually gives for himself - “Capitaine Flam” – he is a character from a Japanese animated series that was popular on French TV, showing that he has finally caught on to Hanouna’s antics.
Here is Adelaide in La Rochelle.
And in this one Hanouna calls the police station of Châtenay-Malabry, south-west of Paris – who quickly catch on to the joke: Châtenay-Malabry .
Hanouna was born in Paris in 1974, into a Jewish family originally from Tunisia. He is a popular television and radio host and has also worked as a producer, screenwriter, commentator and comedian. Europe 1 said he is not currently doing any more Y-a-t-il un flic... calls.
Photo: Screenshot from Europe 1 video
