“An exercise has gone badly wrong at École Philippe Gaulier” – whose alumni include Emma Thompson, Simon McBurney, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen. “‘You are the definition of a bad student,’ croaks the septuagenarian teacher. ‘This is boring. It is so shit!’ Gaulier’s student gawps at him, chastened and gormless, as his classmates laugh cheerfully at his discomfort. … But for those aspiring to be funny, this is the place to be – and Gaulier’s tongue-lashings are an exquisite form of torture.”