2025 BIOGRAPHIES

​RENÉ BAZINET

The 2025 Montreal Clown Festival is thrilled to welcome René Bazinet as the MC for the Festival Cabaret Gala Malentendu. René’s extraordinary career includes performing as a clown at Cirque du Soleil, where his Baseball and Western acts toured the world with Saltimbanco. With his exceptional mime and clown skills, René has graced stages at the Just for Laughs Festival, Circus Roncalli, Wintergarten in Germany, the Paris Opera, and the Venice Opera. He has also directed three outdoor editions of Molière at the TNM and led hundreds of workshops on mime, movement, and physical acting, following his training at the École Jacques Lecoq.

1-MAN NO-SHOW (ISAAC KESSLER)

Isaac Kessler has been “in” comedy for 20 years. He’s a 4-time Canadian Comedy Award nominee, and one half of the award-winning ClownProv juggernaut 2-MAN NO-SHOW alongside Ken Hall. He’s the director of five award-winning Clown/Bouffon shows, and his solo show, 1-MAN NO-SHOW, directed by Sweet Action Theatre’s Gordon Neill, won the Artists’ Pick Award at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival. 

“You can’t make Art without #awards.” – Oscar Wilde

 AMOEBA (STEVE DAY)

Steve Day is a playwright, puppeteer, clown and actor. He is a graduate of École Philippe Gaulier and is currently studying puppetry full-time at UQAM.

He is an ongoing student of Italian theater and clown pedagogue Giovanni Fusetti, who teaches Lecoq-style pedagogy with a somatic approach. Somatic work has been part of Steve’s practice since long before he knew it to be called that: in 2017, in Montreal, he co-founded Danser Dans L’Noir, a fortnightly evening of free dance in total darkness, which he runs permanently with a small team. He teaches bouffon, clown, and theatre, and was thrice a guest teaching artist at the Labrador Creative Arts Festival. 

He has been hard of hearing since birth and now proudly wears Phonak Audeo M90-Rs, which he may let you try if you politely ask. He is a member of the À Nos Prothèses artist collective, and was a founding member of the Clown + ETC international collective, which hosts yearly clown residencies.

To earn money, he works as an assistant to disabled people and as a deckhand and mechanic on large ships. He dislikes his landlord and likes to garden.

BÉBÉ JASETTE (SHALLYJULIE MESSIER)

Shallyjulie Messier aka bébé Jasette, relational clown, actress, master of ceremonies, event organizer, appears in a social fabric that reaches out to others. Her aim is to encourage humanity and living together. For her, clowning and performance are archetypes of resilience. Two years ago, she founded Cabaret le Cabinez to rally the community, continue a tradition, and introduce physical theater to a new audience.

DIK & MITZI (ANDREA CONWAY & WAYNE DOBA)

Dik and Mitzi, a comic vaudeville tap-dancing duo created by Andrea Conway and Wayne Doba, made their debut in 2001 at Berlin’s Wintergarten. Known for their unique clowning, they gained popularity, performing at Just for Laughs in 2003 and at various European venues, including Vienna, Munich and Stuttgart. In 2007, they began creating their own dance comedy shows such as The Dik and Mitzi Anniversary Show, Top Hats and Tales and Tap ‘n’ Tell, touring the U.S. and Canada. Having performed in over 18 productions at Teatro ZinZanni, this festival marks Dik and Mitzi’s first reappearance since 2016.

Miriam Heap-Lalonde

Miriam Heap-Lalonde, born and based in Montreal, is a versatile artist whose eclectic background has naturally led her to the practice of clowning. Trained in music (Montreal) and physical theater (Lima, Peru), Miriam composed and performed two soundtracks for Vichama Teatro (Lima, Peru), with whom she participated in several festivals as a musician and actress between 2001 and 2023. In Quebec, Miriam co- founded Vichama collectif (2001-2007), an arts and community-oriented non-profit organization with which she explored theatrical interventions in public places and community art. She then gravitated towards the world of clowning, which she discovered through Véronique O’Leary (Théâtre des cuisines, Bic), and was won over by its infinite possibilities and great freedom.

CÉLINE JOLIN

Céline Jolin is a clown artist whose fantasy transforms reality. Having long vacillated between theater and dance, Céline welcomed the art of clowning as a revelation. In the summer of 2014, she introduced her beloved character Old Charlotte in a cabaret at the Montreal Fringe Festival. But it was only 5 years later that Céline would learn the element that sets her apart, New Magic, at the CNAC in Châlons-en-Champagne, France. In 2020, at the Festival des clowns de Montréal, she presented her first combined clown and illusion act. In 2022, Céline surrounded herself with extraordinary collaborators and artists to create her show La Reine des Rats, a fusion of circus and New Magic. Since then, she has continued to create acts to delight everyone. Let yourself be transported by Old Charlotte’s whimsical universe!

PAT OW (PHILIBERT HÉBERT-FILLION)

Philibert Hébert-Filion is the son of illustrious clowns Johnny Filion and Soizick Hébert. He grew up in the heart of the profession. He made his first stage appearances at an early age. The self-taught all-rounder developed skills in Rola-bola, magic, juggling, contact balls and music (guitar, saxophone, piano, vocals, musical saw). He also honed his clowning skills with several trainers (Michel Dallaire, Christine Rossignol. Yves Dagenais, Emile Carey, Luc Senay and Massimo Agostinelli. Since 2000, his services have been retained by major circus companies around the globe, including Cirque du soleil, Cirque Éloize, Cirque Monti, Dragone, Les parfaits Inconnus, Haut-Vol Productions, Cirque Dreams, Cirque Akya and Le théâtre de l’Aubergine. In parallel, he works as a stage director, prop and set designer, and sound and video editor.

KATARIN’HAIR (MYRIAM SUTTON)

I’m an artist with a passion for clowning and masked performance, disciplines that offer me infinite scope for exploring a poetic, multidisciplinary universe. My career has taken me to the four corners of the globe, where I’ve had the honor of participating in humanitarian circus projects, notably with Zip Zap Circus in South Africa, Théâtre Nomade in Morocco and Artcirq in Nunavut.

I recently co-directed Searching for Love, a show combining stand-up comedy and circus, based on the character of Jerry Tremblay. I also played a clownish acrobatic mambo in Camping, created by the À Tempo circus company. I also perform, co-write and design the masks for the clown show Ripopée, directed by Michel Dallaire. At the same time, alongside my clown sidekick Vanessa Kneale, I create and perform a number of strolling animation concepts, including Les Trôles, M. et Mme Ventrapes, Les Matantes and Les Sœurs Paradis, which we’ve been bringing to life in public spaces for over seven years.