Professeur Choron
{{Short description|French humorist (1929– 2005)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{ infobox person
| name = Georges Bernier
| image = Le_Professeur_Choron_(1996).jpg
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1929|09|21}}
| birth_place = La Neuville-aux-Bois, France
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2005|01|10|1929|09|21}}
| death_place = Paris, France
| occupation = Humorist, journalist, writer, comics writer, singer
}}
Georget Bernier ({{IPA|fr|ʒɔʁʒe bɛʁnje}}; 21 September 1929 – 10 January 2005), more commonly known as Professeur Choron ({{IPA|fr|pʁɔfesœʁ ʃɔʁɔ̃|pron}}), was a French humorist and founder of Hara-Kiri magazine.{{cite news|url=http://www.leparisien.fr/loisirs-et-spectacles/mort-d-un-as-de-la-provoc-11-01-2005-2005608548.php|title=Mort d'un as de la provoc|date=11 January 2005|work=Le Parisien|language=French|accessdate=14 January 2011}}
Early years
Born in La Neuville-aux-Bois in Lorraine, Bernier was orphaned by his father at 11 years and without a proper education, he vacillated between many jobs before fighting in the Indochina Wars for 28 months. On his return he worked in the press, and rose through the ranks to take the position of sales manager of the satirical newspaper Zéro.{{cite news|url=http://lci.tf1.fr/people/2005-01/disparition-georges-bernier-professeur-humour-bete-mechant-4871785.html|title=Disparition : Georges Bernier, professeur es humour bête et méchant|publisher=TF1|language=French|accessdate=14 January 2011|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110126103906/http://lci.tf1.fr/people/2005-01/disparition-georges-bernier-professeur-humour-bete-mechant-4871785.html|archivedate=26 January 2011}}
Éditions du Square
It was at Zéro that he met François Cavanna and Fred, with whom he founded the magazine Hara Kiri in 1960.{{cite news|url=https://www.ledevoir.com/culture/livres/72282/france-le-pr-choron-fondateur-de-hara-kiri-et-de-charlie-hebdo-est-mort|title=Le Pr Choron, fondateur de Hara-Kiri et de Charlie Hebdo, est mort|date=11 January 2005|work=Le Devoir|language=French|accessdate=14 January 2011}} After an initial ban, production of the magazine moved from Rue Choron to Rue de Montholon and Éditions du Square was created at its publication house.
In addition to his role of patron of Éditions du Square, Bernier also invested time in writing and photo-editing for Hara Kiri. It was during this era that he appeared on Jean-Christophe Averty's television variety show Les Raisins verts.
In 1969 the Hara Kiri team created Hara-Kiri Hebdo which shortly thereafter was renamed L’Hebdo Hara-Kiri. Other magazines published by Bernier's Editions du Square were the monthly comic Charlie Mensuel, one of the first ecological journals La Gueule ouverte, Mords-y l'œil, Surprise from designer Bernard Willem Holtrop, and Jean-Patrick Manchette's BD, l'hebdo de la BD.
1970 saw the creation of Charlie Hebdo, a weekly political newspaper for which Bernier was a regular contributor. The publication folded in 1981, but was relaunched by Cavanna and Bernier in 1993{{cite book|last=Hughes|first=Alex|title=Encyclopedia of contemporary French culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TrhClZg65EsC&q=%22Georges+Bernier%22+choron&pg=PA98|year=2001|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=0-415-26354-9|page=98}} and, as of 2011, remains in publication.{{cite web|url=http://www.charliehebdo.fr/|title=Charlie Hebdo website|accessdate=14 January 2011|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150107120424/http://www.charliehebdo.fr/|archivedate=7 January 2015}}
Later years
In 1988 Bernier adapted his fiches bricolages for television. He also participated in Jean-Michel Ribes' Merci Bernard. His last publications include La Mouise and Grodada, a publication for children. He also participated in several publications affiliated with Hara-Kiri, including ZOO and Yeti, as well as the launching of the periodical Zero in 1986.
In 1996, Aure Atika's interview of Jackie Berroyer for Radio Nova, at a bar's round table, degenerated into an angry exchange of words between Choron, who was sitting at the table, and Atika, with Choron denouncing her questions as "stupid" and Atika flinging the contents of her glass at him.{{cite web|url=http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7hnp0_clash-entre-aure-atika-et-le-profes_news|trans-title=Clash between Aure Atika and professor Choron|language=French|title=Clash entre Aure Atika et le professeur Choron|date=1996 |work=Radio Nova|access-date=4 March 2021}}
Personal life
Bernier was the father of the comedian Michèle Bernier. He died 10 January 2005 at Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital in Paris and was buried at Montparnasse Cemetery alongside his wife Odile Vaudelle (1934–1985). In 2008, director Pierre Carles and artist Martin released the documentary Choron Dernière in his honour.
Works
;Albums:
- Boum boum badaboum le Professeur Choron chante ses chansons
;Books:
- Les Jeux de con du professeur Choron, Éditions du Square, 1971
- Les Fiches bricolage du professeur Choron, Éditions du Square, 1977
- L'Art vulgaire (with Gébé), Éditions du Square, 1982
- Moi, Odile, la femme a Choron; petite histoire de Hara-Kiri et Charlie Hebdo (by Christian Bobet), Editions Menges, 1983
- Les Chansons du Professeur Choron (illustrated by Philippe Vuillemin), Himalaya, 1991
- Choron et Vuillemin sexologues, Magic Strip, 1992
- Je bois, je fume et je vous emmerde, ed. Régine Deforges, 1992
- Les Jeux de con du Professeur Choron, Glénat, 1992
- Vous me croirez si vous voulez (in collaboration with Jean-Marie Gourio), Flammarion, 1993
- Y'a rien de pire que l'ignorance (in collaboration with Philippe Vuillemin), Canal+ edition, 1996
- Tout s'éclaire (in collaboration with Éric Martin), Le Dilettante, 2001 {{ISBN|2-84263-044-0}}
;Operettas:
- Ivre-mort pour la patrie (with Philippe Vuillemin), Canal+, 1998
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://choron.atspace.com/ Official website for Professeur Choron] {{in lang|fr}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20081211214055/http://culturopoing.com/Cinema/Pierre-Carles-et-Eric-Martin-%22Choron-Derni%E8re%22-%28Avant-premi%E8re%29-1463 A chronicle of the film Choron Dernière] {{in lang|fr}}
- [http://www.harakiri-choron.com/index.php?lng=fr The life and works of Professeur Choron] {{in lang|fr}}
{{January 2015 France attacks}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Choron, Professeur}}
Category:French male comedians
Category:French comedy musicians
Category:French satirical columnists
Category:French satirical musicians
Category:French magazine founders
Category:Analysands of René Allendy
Category:French male non-fiction writers
Category:French satirical comics writers
Category:French television writers
Category:20th-century French musicians
Category:Male television writers
Category:20th-century French screenwriters
Category:20th-century French journalists