Camille and Justine: Double trouble that vent their anger
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Charles ClarkThe dynamic duo Camille & Justine use both small and big annoyances in the name of comedy. From reactionary vegans to pushy men in bars, a large spectrum of daily life in France is squeezed into their YouTube channel. Girlshood made the most of their hype to interview them on Messenger.
Camille & Justine were first discovered thanks to their hit video about a group of happy-go-lucky lads nicknames "Les Survivants" [NB. "The Survivors", an anti-abortion collective]. The two women are enraged, and rather than letting their anger drive them crazy, they use it to inspire their videos. They shout about the things that piss them off, and are armed with a scathing humour and typically Parisian grumpiness. They shamelessly attack all the little things that grind their gears: pushy guys in bars, idiots who put detergent on tampons, or people who push you to eat rabbit food... Each video is three minutes of venting; a healthy kind of anger that prevents them from acting on their violent urges when they see someone standing in the subway doors during rush hour.
Girlshood: How did you both meet?
Camille & Justine: We met five or six years ago at the Florent theatre school, we were both in our first year and in the same class. And we were the only two to dig the Chinese restaurant next door. So we made it a ritual and that's where we started to whine about life in front of our spring rolls.
Girlshood: Attacking idiots is a major mission. As an army general might say: What is your plan of action? How do you identify your targets ?
Camille & Justine: It's more or less improvised, we just react to the world around us; an impolite dickhead in a restaurant, a poster for a film that is a caricature of crappy French cinema, a notification from Le Monde about a sad piece of news, overly-confident pigeons in the street... Whatever, really. Whatever really drives us nuts and what other people are thinking but not saying. We simply complain about it publicly to blow off some steam and it seems to work!
Girlshood: When looking at the comments made on your video "Les survivants", some people criticised you for not giving constructive arguments to back up your point of view. How do you answer these accusations ?
Camille & Justine: We tell them that there's no reason to argue over women's rights that have been passed years ago, it's useless. We tell them to stay where they are, in the Middle Ages, and not to interfere with those of us who are rolling with the times.
Girlshood: You had a go at vegans, aren't you worried about retaliation? You live in a place with an alarm system since then right?
Camille & Justine: Yeah, some of them seriously freak you out, it's sad. I have to admit that we are a little bit worried about getting attacked with quinoa sometimes, but you know, we're not going to stop taking the piss. It's okay if some are too sensitive about their diet to laugh about it, we certainly don't force them to.
Girlshood: Does your growing popularity make a difference to the way that you write your videos or choose your subject matter?
Camille & Justine: Nah, we just do what we feel like, no barriers. We stay true to what we set out to do, which is to make fun of everything and everyone (including ourselves).
Girlshood: What are the most common reactions you get to your videos?
Camille & Justine: The bad reactions are: "You're girls and you make videos? Like... funny ones? But what kind of comedy?" (i.e. "Normally girls make beauty or cooking tutorials, right? If it's comedy is it like feminist stuff?") Or: "What a shame, you're vulgar for women," haha. And of course there are a few death threats and neverending moral rants about veganism but, you know, overall we get a lot of love, jokes, and encouragement; it's really cool!
Girlshood: What's next for you? Have you ever thought about doing stand-up comedy?
Camille & Justine: No stand-up on the horizon for now. We also have a theatre company on the side, but we play both classical and contempory pieces, it depends. We'll let you know the day we are on stage and maybe one day we'll see about stand-up, but jokes on stage isn't really our thing for the moment.
Girlshood: Apart from you, do you know any other YouTube channels with badass girls like you, that you could recommend?
Camille & Justine: Personally, I recommend you check out the channel Glamouze, they're really funny! Apart from that, real badass stuff like us... I haven't really seen anything haha **modesty**.
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This article was originally published in Girlshood, a webzine for unconventional girls.
Translated from Camille et Justine : « Tout ce qui est chiant, on le gueule »