Les Charlots

A comedic pop band whose slapstick humor was heavily inspired by the Marx Brothers, Les Charlots formed in 1965 in Paris, France. The band's original members — Gérard Rinaldi, Jean Sarrus, Gérard Filippelli, Luis Rego, and Jean-Guy Fechner — first performed together as "Les Problèmes," a backup band for the French singer Antoine. Although they appeared as sidemen on his debut album, Antoine Rencontre Les Problèmes, in 1966, things changed once the band scored a surprise hit with a parody of Antoine's "Je Dis ce que je pense, je vis comme je veux." Les Problèmes promptly rechristened themselves "Les Charlots" and began creating spoofs of popular songs by French artists like Serge Gainsbourg, Jacques Dutronc, and Johnny Hallyday. Beginning with 1967's Charlow'up, Les Charlots remained active for two decades, releasing albums like 1969's Il Etait une Fois à l'Olympia, 1971's Charloteries, 1972's Les Charlots en Vadrouille, and 1975's Ce Soir J'attends Valéry along the way. The group also starred in a number of comedy films, including 1971's Les Bidasses en folie — one of the highest-grossing movies in French history — and the 1975 James Bond spoof Bons Baisers de Hong Kong. Although Les Charlots' string of successes dwindled during the late '70s and 1980s, the band remained active, with Gérard Rinaldi maintaining a parallel career as a successful voice actor for the French version of The Simpsons. He succumbed to Hodgkins's disease in March 2012, passing away at 69 years old. Nine years later, Gérard Filippelli lost a battle with cancer in March 2021, dying at 78 years old.

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