Youp van ‘t Hek is pushing Chantal Janzen incredibly to go more into the comedienne direction, but she doesn’t dare. “If I stop next year, I can write for you.”
It’s almost over for Youp van ‘t Hek: he has already announced his retirement, so he will be busy with the last things in the near future. However, he does not want to sit behind the geraniums all day, which is why he is now recruiting Chantal Janzen push to become his muse, but she doesn’t want to do that yet, she says in the talk show Open Card.
Comedienne side
We’ll start at the beginning: why should Chantal go into the comedienne direction at all? She wants that herself. “I always wanted to become Toon Hermans. That was a comedian, who had a one-man show, who was in the theater. And he entertained people with songs and anecdotes and jokes and something moving.”
And now? “Yes, I thought: oh, but I still haven’t done that. Well, why not? Because I find it terrifying. And then I can say that you should not be afraid and that I am not afraid of a lot of things – I am not afraid of a lot of things either – but before that I was, otherwise I would have done it already.”
Lunch with Youp
On to Youp: what does that have to do with it? “Every now and then I have lunch with Youp van ‘t Hek and he says: ‘Yes, if I stop – I’m going to stop soon, next year – then I can write for you.’ And then I thought: no, that’s not possible. Because where you are, in your stature, in the theater, I am of course not there at all.”
Not even in terms of jokes, Chantal continues. “Because that is really different when I say it. And I would also like to point out that people in my environment who I admire very much… Such as Claudia de Breij or Arjen Lubach… Yes, and yet… Then there is something in my head that makes me think: oh yes, no… Maybe Is that too ambitious or something?
Agony
Is not fulfilling that heart’s desire an ordeal for Chantal? “I don’t suffer from that, but I always think: that is what you used to think: oh, if I could do that. So yeah, this might be my last thing that I have to overcome or something. But so far I haven’t dared to do it, no.”
She continues: “And in the past I sometimes said: yes, I am really busy. I’m busy too, but with television or something else. But I think the real reason is… That’s partly because of people around me who just say, ‘No, you’re just scared. You’re just scared’, because otherwise I would have done it a long time ago.”
Nose bleeding
It’s a strange kind of fear, says Chantal. “Because I’m normally not afraid of anything. I’m not afraid of falling or hitting my face hard and coming out with a nosebleed. That is simply inherent to our profession. So I don’t know when I’ll dare.”
She concludes: “And what I also notice is that if there are always plans for theater, they stop at me when I get the question: okay, where are we going to plan? The difficult thing about theater is that you have to plan it, because you have to book those theaters. So you have to plan far in advance. And I always go… Yes, then I find it too exciting.”
Well, what a story. The summary? Chantal Janzen wants to become the new Toon Hermans, but she doesn’t dare to do that yet. Fourteen words.