French Armenian Columnist Mathieu Madénian Escapes Charlie Hebdo Attack

PARIS — French Armenian comedian and columnist Mathieu Madénian escaped the Wednesday attack on the French Charlie Hebdo magazine.

Mathieu Madénian, comedian and columnist at Charlie Hebdo since September, attended “The new edition of Canal +” Wednesday afternoon. Very moved after the attack that hit the magazine that morning, he shared his impressions, the Huffington Post reports.

“Every Wednesday, we met at 10 am for brainstorming, it’s a way to drink. But this morning I sent a message to Charb (Charlie Hebdo editor killed in the attack) at 9 am to tell him that I would not come because I take kings’ cake next week, but do not worry, there is a restaurant this weekend,” said Madénian, who narrowly escaped the attack.

Of Armenian descent, Madénian grew up in Saleilles, a town in the suburbs of Perpignan, southern France, where he earned his scientific baccalaureate with honours, then a university degree in criminology, then became a lawyer. When he was 25 he left the law profession to follow a career in comedy.

He landed his first role in “Un gars, une fille” where he performed various voiceovers alongside Jean Dujardin and his wife Alexandra Lamy. He then wrote several one-man shows staged by Kader Aoun, many of which were performed at the théâtre du Point-Virgule.

From September 2010 he has been a part of the French television show Vivement dimanche prochain, presented by Michel Drucker. Since September he has been doing a column at Charlie Hebdo every week