Comedian Booder Remembers Late Friend Wahid Bouzidi, Three Months After Tragic Loss

"It was very, very hard because I was with him at the time... I don’t like to say at the time of the facts because it sounds like a cop, but we were supposed to see each other [...] We were in the same city, in Marrakech together," recalls Booder, a guest on RTL’s "On refait la télé" show on Saturday, November 11. He learns of Wahid Bouzidi’s hospitalization through the latter’s wife. Victim of a stroke on August 16 during his vacation in Morocco, the Franco-Algerian comedian had been urgently admitted to a clinic in Marrakech. Comatose, he died on August 20. "It was very complicated for me... Until now still a bit," specifies Booder. I think of him. I miss him a lot. He’s in my heart, but I would have liked him to be there for real."

Bouzidi’s death had given rise to vibrant tributes in France. "Thank you for all the emotions you gave us. I will never forget our fits of laughter and your generosity. Wahid was a being of rare humanity. You will be missed my brother. I think of your wife and your family. Rest in peace my brother," wrote Jamel Debbouze on Instagram. Booder, with whom he was very close, said in the "vendredi tout est permis" show entitled "Merci Wahid": "A few words for my partner, for my brother, for the one who made me laugh and lifted my spirits. And to whom I also lifted his spirits. I have tears in my eyes. I miss you terribly, I don’t know what to say to you. I wanted to prepare a text, but I can’t. I know you’re in paradise, save me a place next to you, I’m coming. Goodbye my brother, I love you."

Booder and Wahid remained very close to each other. They are known to have collaborated on many occasions: at the Jamel Comedy Club, at the Marrakech du rire, in "vendredi tout est permis" or in the play La Grande évasion. The Franco-Moroccan comedian tells Éric Dussart and Jade that he has "really lost someone very close."