Michaël Youn, better known to French hip-hop and musical satire enthusiasts as the creative force behind Fatal Bazooka, was born in Suresnes on December 2, 1973. With a formal theater education, Youn got work doing sketch comedy for the morning show for the Paris Skyrock radio station in 1998. He not only won widespread popularity but also the notice of local television execs, who offered him a slot on Metropole Television M6's Morning Live. Alongside Vincent Desagnat and Benjamin Morgaine, Youn exercised his parody muscles, staging outlandish public events and pop culture-based sketches, including parodies of musical icons and French rappers. The show's breakout success belonged almost entirely to Youn and his colleagues. In 2002 the three friends struck out on their own to concentrate on their comedic musical endeavors. That year's hit single, "Stach, Stach," under the name the "Bratisla Boys" became on of the year's top sellers. Youn's next chart-topping success was the song "Le Frunkp," sung by a character claiming to be James Brown's long lost brother, daringly creating a new style of music mixing funk and rap: "frunkp." Following a successful national comedy tour, Youn decided to develop one of his characters first introduced on Morning Live. The hardcore rap act Fatal Bazooka, "featuring" MCs Profanation Fonky and La Marmotte Infernale were commonly accepted to be parodies of French gangsta rap icons Grand Corps Malade and Booba. The group released a single toward the end of 2006 titled "Foust a Cagoule," which hit number one on the French charts, and was Youn's biggest success to date. Several singles were released from what would be the group’s debut album, T’as Vu? in 2007. ~ Evan C. Gutierrez, Rovi
