Comedian Gad Elmaleh Reveals Metro Fears and Discusses Identity in Candid Interview

Identity, religion, origins, career, no subject escaped the vigilance of Manu Katché who received the Moroccan artist Gad Elmaleh in La Face Katché, a show that gives a voice to personalities from diversity, whether famous or anonymous. During his intervention, the comedian mentioned the reason why he is terribly afraid... of taking the metro, reports closermag.fr.

"There is a technical detail, which is that I have to ask for a residence permit. So if I don’t have this residence permit, I can’t stay in France. I take the metro and often I’m afraid of not having my residence permit on me. So it’s part of my life. I’m freaking out," he said.

Faced with the host’s insistence, Gad Elmaleh went into more detail about this obsession. "I could pass for a guy who was born in France, but I have an attitude [...] I’m not complaining, it’s just that it’s part of my life to be afraid of being checked and not having my residence permit."

Speaking about his private life and his origins, Gad Elmaleh explained that he is of Jewish and Moroccan origin. Born in Casablanca, Morocco, it was in 1992 that he came to settle in France after living four years in Canada. He was 21 years old. Father of two children, he recalls that far from the clichés conveyed, the mothers of his sons are "neither Jewish nor Moroccan". "I transmitted, but I was more on the symbolism of the values I learned, which became universal, ultimately. Rather than the dogma or the cult."