Laurent Hugues Emmanuel Ruquier (; born 24 February 1963) is a French television presenter, radio host and comedian. He is also a lyricist, writer, columnist and impresario; he has been co-owner and general manager of Théâtre Antoine-Simone Berriau in Paris since 2011. He is best known for hosting the On n'est pas couché show on France 2 every Saturday evening from 2006 to 2020.
Early years
Ruquier grew up in a large family of modest means, the second of five siblings. His father, Roger Ruquier, now deceased, was a boilermaker at construction sites in Le Havre and his mother, Raymonde Ruquier (1924-September 2015), was a housewife.
In high school, Laurent entertained his friends by publishing his first satires in the school newspaper. At first he studied accounting (he obtained a DEUG in Economic and Social Administration (AES) at the Le Havre site of the University of Rouen and a Diploma from the Institute of Technology (DUT) in Business Management and Training administration (GEA).
He also attended a course in Constitutional Law given by Patrice Gélard. Upon the advice of the latter, he finally turned to humour. In 1986, he did 21 months of military service as a conscientious objector at the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs.
His mentor was Pierre Doris, whose black humour he was particularly fond of.
Career
Debut on radio and television (1983-1990)
Between 1983 and 1986, he made his debut on the local radio stations in Le Havre: Radio Force 7, Ocean Gate Radio, and Radio FMR in Rouen. At first, he mainly presented the show "The Little Heads", using the concept of the show "The Big Heads" on RTL with local comedians and other entertainers from the station.
In 1987, encouraged by his aunt, he contacted the radio presenter and journalist Jacques Mailhot, then host of Ear in the Area broadcast on France Inter, who was captivated by his texts. Thanks to Mailhot, Laurent Ruquier had his first experience of television on the show "Paris Kiosk" that Jacques Mailhot presented for three months on FR3 Île-de-France, and he was offered the opportunity to perform in Paris in a scene of the show "Vault of the Republic", a golden opportunity for the humourist to make himself known beyond the limits of his native region.
Soon after, in 1988, and for two years he wrote irreverent stories for Jean Amadou and Maryse, as part of their daily morning show on Europe 1.
In 1989, he proposed his candidacy to Jacques Martin who had put forward an idea for a program in the style of the "Newshound", a satirical news show that ran from 1975 to 1976 on TF1. Jacques Martin accepted and took him on as a writer on "So do, do, do ..." which was released in 1989 on France 2.
In 1990, he was hired by France Inter to collaborate on the "True-False Journal" show presented by Claude Villers.
Radio host
France Inter (1991–1997) In 1991, Laurent Ruquier became host of the summer radio show Close the window for mosquitoes. This appeared to be a conclusive test because the program was repeated at the start of September with the same format but called Nothing Polished. This ran successfully on France Inter and featured young comedians such as Pascal Brunner, Anne Roumanoff, Chraz, Sophie Forte, Virginie Lemoine, Jean-Jacques Vanier, Patrick Font, Didier Porte, Laurence Boccolini, Christophe Alévêque, Frédéric Lebon, Patrick Adler and Laurent Gerra.
In 1996, he founded his own production company RUQ Productions and hosted the show Nothing Polished on France Inter. When it ended, Laurent Ruquier took on Change Management. In 1997, he hosted the show In Every Sense on France Inter.
Europe 1 (1999–present) In 1999, Laurent Ruquier appeared on Europe 1 with two daily programmes: a morning chronicle with Julie Leclerc and Get in the way (On va s'gener) which he directed daily from 4:30p.m. to 6p.m., changing to 4p.m. from 2006, then 4p.m. to 6:30p.m. from 2009 and 3:30p.m. to 6p.m. from September 2010.
He commented on the news with a group of commentators including, Gérard Miller, Isabel Alonso, Pierre Bénichou, Claude Sarraute, Fabrice Eboué, Christophe Alévêque, Steevy Boulay, Jérémy Michalak, Jean-Luc Lemoine, François Renucci, Olivier de Kersauson, Christine Bravo, Patrice Leconte, Jean-Marie Bigard, Titoff, Motrot Isabelle, Monique Pantel for the cinema section, Serge Llado for the "Eternal Music" section, as well as Paul Wermus for the enquiry section. The following also made appearances: Arno Klarsfeld, Valérie Payet, Bernard Rapp, Jacques Martin, Jean Yanne, Philippe Bouvard himself between his dismissal and reinstatement at RTL, Pierre Palmade among others.