Richardson Zéphir

Born in Laval to immigrant parents from Haiti,^[2] Richardson Zéphir was educated at Odyssée-des-Jeunes and Horizon Jeunesse,^[3] where he discovered improvisation in childhood.^[4] He then continued his post-secondary studies in petrochemistry at the Collège de Maisonneuve in Montreal, specializing in water purification, hydrocarbons, natural gases and chemical processes, while continuing to practice improvisation.^[5]

With Ian Métayer, Zéphir collaborates in the creation and production of comedy shows under the banner Les Grands Burlesques.

In 2004, he became co-owner of Terrasses Bonsecours.^[5] In 2009, he received a call from the director of French-language programming at the Zoofest festival, who offered him the chance to participate in the first edition of the festival in July of the same year with his group Les Grands Burlesques.^[5] Deciding to devote himself fully to comedy, he sold his shares in Terrasses Bonsecours.

Subsequently, Zéphir regularly participated in comedy evenings and also hosted some of them in bars in Quebec.^[5] It was in 2016 that he was first noticed by winning the seventh edition of the comedy competition En route vers mon premier gala Juste pour rire.

Over the next few years, Zéphir made numerous television appearances, starring in several series, including Les Simone, Trauma, Faits divers and La Maison-Bleue. He participated several times in the end-of-year revue Bye Bye.

In 2021, he was in the first season of the Quebec adaptation of Big Brother Célébrités.^[6] He finished in fifth place, and won the audience award.

More recently, in 2023, he participated in the first season of the Quebec adaptation of LOL : qui rira le dernier ? and won first place ex aequo with comedian Laurent Paquin.^[7]

On May 10, 2023, he launched his first one-man-show entitled Zéphir.^[8]