Philiboss is the director of his own story:the change machine at the supermarket. No one hands him a subject — he chooses it,and tells something he genuinely lived through. No memorizing needed,since nothing is learned by heart. Nothing is fictionalized:every detail comes from a real situation,a real annoyance with a machine that decides in the human’s place.

🎬 The Demonstration

📱 Vertical video (smartphone format)

👆 A theatrical improvisation sketch about the change machine

The full sketch

Good evening,so tonight I’ve decided to do a sketch,not right away,but by working on the comedy,working on the comic side,and putting together a sketch,of theatrical improvisation,worked on both the broad outlines and to be able to have a result worthy of the name. So the theme is the change machine in supermarkets.

This morning I went to do the shopping,and the saleswoman proudly told me,sir,put your bills in the machine that’s right in front of you. Very well,I say,that’s easy,I put in the first bill,impossible for it to go into the machine,it swallows it,spits it back out. It lasted,I don’t know,30 seconds,this whole thing,but behind me the line of customers waiting,already a beginning of a rebellion,silently. And I kept telling myself,if they’ve got this machine,to save time,well that failed,I would’ve given her the bill by hand,it would’ve been easy,she was right in front of me,the girl,why did she tell me to put it in that machine,which,when I put it in,just spits the bill right back at me. The girl had to come all the way around the counter,to put it in herself,telling me,you’re putting it in wrong,sir,well,that wasn’t true,I was putting it in right,she tried,impossible. It was starting to turn into a circus here,the bill just won’t go in the machine,and how are we supposed to pay,huh,how do we do it,now we no longer have the right to pay by hand anymore,that’s what it’s come to with money,yeah,so we use machines,no one’s the wiser,no trace,no fingerprint,nothing,the machine’s the one who’ll decide,it’ll do as it likes,if it wants to take it,and if it doesn’t want to take it,what do we do,we’re stuck,people are waiting behind you,you can just imagine in the supermarket,what a mess it makes.

There you go,there you go,we’re moving forward with modernity,with people who think,in the industrial centres who think,in their own heads,it’s surely a stroke of artificial intelligence,yeah,it must’ve told them,sir,you don’t want cashiers anymore,make machines that swallow the bills all by themselves,you put them in,the bills go in,they give you the change,yes,they give the right change,I’ve noticed that,they don’t make mistakes,although the day there’s a mistake,who do you complain to? Well,that too,nobody knows,isn’t that right? If the machine gives you 10 euros less,how can you,how can you prove that it’s not you who’s cheating,who’s lying,it’ll come down to your word against the machine,machine against human word,and do you realize where this is heading,I don’t even know anymore,I don’t know anymore,in the end the machine accepted my bill,but since I had two of them,there’s just no way out of it — (laughs) — I thought to myself,but the days when there’s a queue,when everyone wants to pay,can’t manage to pay,how do we do it,and the proud cashier,well,oh no,I don’t take bills,you put them over there,over there I put them,over there,fine,I agree,you want them put over there,but how long are we going to wait,for the machine to make up its mind?

Anyway,you see the comedy of the sketch,the comedy of it,meaning that progress is going to slow us down,that’s the current form progress takes,instead of speeding things up,it puts things in reverse,but we’re the ones who pay for progress so it can slow us down,it’s us,wasn’t it better before? You handed over the money,you got the change back,it was friendly,it was pleasant,now everywhere they’re putting machines that take the bills,if they feel like taking them,there you go,there you go,there you go,that’s where we’re at,there you go,there you go,no,no,I agree,I’m not a complainer,there’s nothing to it,I’m a whiner,I complain,does it even help to complain,I won’t,I won’t approve,I can say,yeah,great,now,not only do we queue at the checkout,but when we want to pay,we can’t even manage that anymore,great,great,what a system,great,but still,does it even help to,that’s modernity,yeah,yeah,yeah sure,sure,yeah,sure,I could tell you more,all sorts of glitches,strange,bizarre,I could tell you more,come on,I’m fed up,let’s move on,let’s move on,I’m not going to pay with that machine anymore,I’m going to the corner grocer,he takes my bills,happily,he doesn’t have a machine,but at least he takes my bills,that damn machine,that.

Alright,goodbye.

Theoretical notes

Bergson:the mechanical encrusted on the living

In Laughter(1900),Henri Bergson locates the spring of the comic in “something mechanical encrusted on the living”— when a living being starts,against its will,behaving like a machine,rigid and repetitive. In this sketch,the reverse produces the laugh:it’s the machine itself,rigid and stubborn,that forces its way into a living exchange between two humans — the cashier and the customer — and jams what should have stayed simple and fluid.

Freud:laughter as release

In Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious(1905),Sigmund Freud explains laughter as a release of psychic tension that builds up and is then suddenly discharged. Here,the tension climbs scene after scene — irritation at the machine,the wait in line,the absurdity of the situation — until it finds,in the sketch’s final line,a release valve:the audience’s laughter mirrors the character’s own relief.

Philiboss’s question

“Why go through a broken machine,when the cashier is right in front of me?”

The comedy comes from this absurd,unnecessary middleman — not from an invented story.

🎭🐺😈

Philiboss,Vahina &Belzébuth
Acteur.Studio — Châteauvieux,France

“Stop the hassle. Just laugh!”