Thierry Ardisson

Thierry Ardisson
Thierry Ardisson on the set of Salut les Terriens ! February 20, 2014 (Plaine Saint-Denis)
Born	(1949-01-06) 6 January 1949 (age 68) Bourganeuf, Creuse, France
Nationality	French
Occupation	Television Host Television Producer Film Producer
Family	Béatrice Ardisson (divorced) Audrey Crespo-Mara (since 2009)

Thierry Ardisson (born 6 January 1949 in Bourganeuf, Creuse), is a French television producer and host and a movie producer.

Many of his shows have some of the longest run times on French television, such as Paris Dernière, Tout le monde en parle, and On a tout essayé. He is the author of several books, including best-sellers (Louis XX – Contre-enquête sur la Monarchie and Confessions d’un Babyboomer). In 2013, he released and produced the French movie Max.

His parents were originally from Nice, in southern France. His father, a construction worker, settled for a short while in Bourganeuf (Creuse) where Thierry Ardisson was born.

In 1969, Thierry Ardisson moved to Paris to start a career in advertising. He was first hired at BBDO, then at TBWA, and later at Ted Bates, before founding his own agency, Business, in 1978 with Éric Bousquet and Henri Baché.

While working for Business, he invented the 8-second TV ad format to allow low-budget advertisers to access television media. As a copywriter, he wrote a number of memorable slogans for French consumers. Business also sold articles to French newspapers and magazines. As a writer, he contributed to the underground magazine, Façade.

In 1984, he was hired as the vice-director of publications for the Hachette-Filipacchi press group. His editorial decisions were considered too provocative and led to his discharge. But in 1992, he worked a new partnership with Hachette-Filipacchi and launched the magazine Entrevue. He sold his shares of the company back to Hachette-Filipacchi in 1995.

In 1998, he launched the consumer magazine J’économise (“I save up”) which peaked at 420,000 prints.

In 1980, in the course of the interviews that his agency Business conducted for French newspapers and magazines, Thierry Ardisson interviewed French tennis player Yannick Noah who admitted to smoking hashish and that tennis players regularly took amphetamines before the games, a scandal that led to his first appearance on television.

In 1985, he adapted his press interviews (called Descente de police) for the French TV network TF1, but the concept – too brutal and provocative – got censored by French media authorities. TF1 kept him to host the show Scoop à la une. He then coproduced the show À la folie pas du tout from 1986 to 1987, hosted by later-famous news anchor host, Patrick Poivre-d’Arvor.

In 1987, he sold his shares of his advertising agency Business and founded the TV production company Ardisson & Lumières.

From 1987 to 1988, he produced for the TV network La Cinq the show Face à Face, hosted by Guillaume Durand, as well as Bains de minuit, a late-night show shot in the then-trendy night club Les Bains Douches that he hosted. From 1988 and 1990, he hosted the show Lunettes noires pour nuits blanches, shot in the parisian theater Le Palace and aired on French TV channel Antenne 2. For this show, he created the concept of “formatted interviews” such as “interview first time,” “self-interview” or “stupid questions.” During the same period, he coproduced the show Stars à la Barre.