Well known to French-speaking people for seeing the program “Le fond de la corbeille” on the TSR and “Faite lance la balance” on the RSR live for many years, comedian and presenter Jean-Charles Brunschwiler died on the night of Friday to Saturday at the age of 85.
Known as Jean Charles, Jean-Charles Brunschwiler first made himself known to listeners in French-speaking Switzerland by hosting the program “Faite lance la balance” with his friend Jean-Pierre Allenbach.
Still on the radio, he was also Catherine Michel’s accomplice in the morning show “A vos service”. And, in 1982, he participated in the launch of the Couleur 3 channel. Jean Charles then joined television, while also writing a satirical column in Le Matin.
Between 1989 and 2003, the satirical program “Le fond de la corbeille” made the golden years of the TSR with very high audiences. Jean Charles was one of the main co-hosts of this Saturday evening meeting with, among others, Lova Golovtchiner, Raoul Riesen and Patrick Nordmann. The latter also died last August.
>> Review the first issue of the Fond de la Corbeille in 1989:
Beginnings in song
It is less known that Jean Charles began his career in song and that he even almost turned professional. He thus participated in the Europe 1 program “The Number One of tomorrow”, which was a song contest like the Star Academy. He was eliminated in the second round, but he remained in Paris and performed in clubs and cabarets in the capital. He then returned to Geneva at the end of the 1950s to enter radio.
Several discs bringing together his songs, including “Dame conscience” and “Les Affreux”, have been published in French-speaking Switzerland. He again pushed the song several times in Swiss broadcasts, like his title “Les filles” in the show Carrefour in 1966.
>> Jean Charles sings “Les filles” on the Carrefour show in 1966:
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