Just For Laughs has announced the first slate of galas and headlining shows for this summer's annual comedy festival in Montreal (July 2-25), with tickets going on sale March 31. But before you go ahead and make your travel and lodging reservations, too, let me just tell all of the Americans (and Brits, Australians and other English-speaking visitors) that they've done a switcheroo on the usual plan -- this summer, the English-speaking shows aren't closing the fest. Instead, they'll be right in the middle, from July 6-18. The televised Galas will take place July 14-18.
And from the initial slate, I can also tell you that Montreal and JFL are throwing their full support behind The Marriage Ref, because the first Gala on July 14 is a special Relationship Gala hosted by Brad Garrett and featuring the show's host, Tom Papa.
Cheech & Chong get a Gala on July 16, there will be a pair of "Late Night Galas" (hmmm) on July 16-17, and the "All-Star Gala" on July 18. As always, the Galas are filmed for broadcast across Canada later, with short sets from a handful of stand-ups and other comedic entertainers from around the globe.
What else? Aziz Ansari, who performed a series of popular black-box theater shows last summer, is back, bringing his "Dangerously Delicious" tour to Montreal for one night only July 15 at Metropolis.
John Pinette will present a new one-man show at Theatre Jean-Duceppe from July 13-17.
The creators of "Mom's The Word," a hit at Montreal in 2001, return with "Mom's The Word 2: Unhinged," at the Centaur Theatre from July 6-18.
As for the club shows. Just as they'll do in Chicago in June, Greg Giraldo will host the Nasty Show, with Jim Norton along for the ride as well as yet-to-be-named stand-ups. Whitney Cummings, meanwhile, will host the Nasty Girls showcases.
Other shows include The Ethnic Show -- Ethnical Difficulties, featuring Jo Koy (who got big buzz from Montreal in 2007), the U.K. acts get Britcom, while O'Comics and Late Night Down Under will combine for "Double Threat," featuring extended sets from two comics from Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The Best of the Uptown Comics moves to Club Soda. Also returning for another round at Montreal, Bubbling With Laughter (a grab-bag of stand-ups), Homegrown Comics (Canadians!), The Masters, New Faces, The Alternative Comedy Show hosted by Andy Kindler, and Amp'd -- The Music Comedy Show.
Montreal's annual comedy shebang -- its Juste Pour Rire or for you non-Francophones, Just For Laughs -- takes over the French-Canadian city each July.
This year, for the third straight year (and second under JFL proper), the festival plans an ancillary conference for the show business industry. JFL always has had panels and seminars running concurrently to all of the live comedy, but began ramping things up in 2008 with a more formal "Comedy Conference."
For July 15-17, 2010, Montreal has lined up Lewis Black to deliver a keynote address to the conference. This is in addition to Andy Kindler's annual must-see "State of the Industry" speech. Other elements to this year's conference include a "Comedy Bootcamp for Film" in conjunction with CFC Film's Telefilm Canada Features Comedy Lab (if you want to participate, check the eligibility and application requirements starting March 15 at www.cfccreates.com and www.hahaha.com/conference. The annual TV pitch event also returns this year to Montreal, with a panel of industry executives and network people involved in an open-forum session.
“These two programs add a new dimension to our goal of discovering and promoting emerging talent and gives them a shot at getting opinions of decision-makers who can change their lives in an instant” said Just For Laughs Chief Operating Officer, Bruce Hills, in a press release today. “In addition to our seminars and panel discussions, these two pitch programs give us the chance to bring a hands-on approach to nurturing new talent and being involved in the birth of exciting new programming.”
Hey, readers! Look what I found. My old digital audio recorder turned up, and when I replaced the batteries, I discovered audio clips of all sorts of funny people talking in my proximity from years gone by (still have audio from George Carlin, Ricky Gervais, Dane Cook, and some young ladies that I must have chatted up in a blaze of glory at an Aspen afterparty!). Which, speaking of yesterday was supposedly National Hangover Day, and I don't know if you "celebrated" it appropriately or not, but it reminded me that I had met The Hangover's director, Todd Phillips, on a hotel rooftop for a one-on-one chat in Montreal last summer during the 2009 Just For Laughs fest. I had talked to him a few years ago when I was a newspaper reporter in Boston and he was helming School for Scoundrels. He casted several up-and-coming comedians in that film, and also put a bunch of stand-up and improv guys in The Hangover, too. Let's talk about it. Oh, we did!
You're able to get a lot of true comedians in your movies. I'd like to get more credit for that (laughs). No. I'm teasing. I think if you look at all of my movies. This is my fifth movie. And you really break down how many actual stand-up comics that I've employed, because I support so much stand-up comedy, because I love comics and what they do, and I love their struggles so much, that to me it's important that, ok, I have this five-line part, and I could you know, audition all these actors and people that get shots at soap operas and, you know, beer commercials and all this, or I can go to Todd Barry, who's like a fucking great stand-up comic who I've loved forever and give him a shot. And I've always done that, because A) I love having funny people around, but B) I also just like to support that community. I think it's so important.
Do you feel like other directors or studios have a stigma against stand-ups?
No. No. I don't think they have a stigma. I just don't think they're aware of it as much. You know what I mean? Judd Apatow certainly is. But I don't think a lot of the other comedy directors come from where we come from -- me and Judd -- as far as fans of stand-up comedy and knowing all these acts, and knowing how talented all these guys are. I go to the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre every week, you know. I just look at these new guys all the time. And yeah, I'm looking because I want to laugh, but I'm also looking to say, this guy can do a two-day part in the next movie, so then, when you reach a certain level, and you're able to really give a shot to Zach Galifianakis in a starring capacity, it's the greatest feeling in the world, you know? There's 10 guys in Hollywood that we all know could have played that part. Not necessarily as uniquely as Zach. But could have done that part. That were on those lists that people put together. And it's like, no, man. Let's go to Zach. He's the funniest motherfucker out there, just nobody knows.
Did you have any fights with the studio over casting, in that respect?
No. With The Hangover in particular, it was, if I could keep the budget at a certain amount, I've done enough movies, and they've been successful enough, where, they said, hey, you can cast whomever you want if you keep it at a certain number. So I was very adamant about, on the crew, and on our side, about keeping that number down, and being able to use Ed Helms, and Zach and Bradley Cooper.
So that helps the comedy community in a way, too, I suppose? The studios want to keep the budgets down and comedians are more likely to be cheaper.
They are, because they're not known entities. You look at a guy like Matt Walsh. He's in every one of my movies. He's in all five of my movies. Bryan Callen is in most of my movies. I go back to these stand-ups because I know A) they love the work, and B) they're going to deliver every time. They're going to take whatever we have on the page -- they're just additive. You know, a lot of times, an actor's an actor. An actor reads lines. They make it their own and they're wonderful, but a comedian can be so additive in so many other ways, that a lot of people don't think of.
As a one-man comedy journalism band, sometimes I don't get to things as timely as I should, and other times things stack up on my desk and around my apartment, waiting for me to give them the proper attention they deserve here on The Comic's Comic. So when I do get to take a closer look, I'll do so with a new feature I'm calling Upon Further Review. Today: Bill Cosby.
The Cos was on The Jay Leno Show last night. He took Kevin Eubanks to musical comedy school for not knowing his cues, and took Leno to interview school by talking about how his wife has him on Twitter. This is a true thing. You can follow Bill Cosby's Twitter @billcosby. You can watch the Cosby/Leno interaction for a limited time on Hulu. Here's a clip:
But Cosby's appearance last night also is a good time to bring up some current/recent things he has been up to, all of which are worth your attention. For one, the Cos is going to be performing Saturday night in NYC for two shows, then sticking around the city for a livestream event on Monday night.
Yes. Details? On Oct. 19, Cosby and the Cosnarati Band will kick off his "State of Emergency" CD event with a virtual town hall meeting via Ustream, beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern on urban radio station web sites across the country as well as billcosby.com and facebook.com/billcosby, featuring songs from the CD as well as a live Q&A -- you can participate through http://www.tinyurl.com/ASKCOSBY and http://twitter.com/BillCosby.
Secondly. All of these people snarking about Cosby putting educational lyrics into a hip-hop album haven't been reading their Picture Pages, because Cosby has been all about helping kids know their rights from their wrongs since you and I were kids. He long has known that children say and do the darnedest things, and it has been part of his life mission to make sure they do the right thing -- he had a two-hour special last month with MSNBC called About Our Children.
Before I left for Montreal, a comedian told me that walking the streets of London with Jimmy Carr is quite the experience, seeing as fans tend to stop Carr quite often to tell him how funny he is. Carr doesn't yet have that same fame in the United States, though it's more our fault than his. Despite doing two half-hour Comedy Central specials (the most recent of the two airing this spring) and several appearances on Conan and Leno, the clever Carr remains a bit of mystery to us Americans. Why the mystery?
Jimmy Carr provided one of the stand-out performances in the John Cleese-less Britcom Gala at Montreal's Just For Laughs a week ago, and also opened up for Louis CK twice (where he met a rowdier, albeit still welcoming crowd) with his dark, dry wit. Carr flew straight from Montreal to Los Angeles after the fest to tape a five-minute set last night for the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.
To me, it's funny to watch the crowd try to play catch-up on Carr's punchlines. Also: how they're split on his jokes about politics that open the set, but really eat up his more sexual material -- which must have had Carr skirting the line with NBC's standards and practices censors. He did take out tags on one joke about women's breasts, and seemed to change another line that skewered Americans to become "Scottish women." Most in the U.K. media who describe Carr's stand-up focus on him being dry, dark and deadpan. He's got a tightly written absurdity similar to other one-liner stand-ups such as Zach Galifianakis, Demetri Martin, Steven Wright or the late Mitch Hedberg, but with an outlook that manages to be both devious and disarming at the same time.
As I sit here, living off of the boissons gratis of the 24-hour Subway restaurant and paying for temporary WiFi access in Montreal's Trudeau airport terminal, I realize that my initial plan to bring you a full slate of reviews from Montreal's Just For Laughs festival today might not come to fruition. Something about spending most of the afternoon trying to get a flight to New York City, then boarding a flight that takes off, and almost makes it there only to circle back and land in Canada, forcing you and your fellow passengers to pass through Customs even though you just left (the Customs agent had a quizzical view of the situation, as well), then spending the rest of the evening and into the morning hoping that the skies have cleared and airports reopened -- it all leaves me tres fatigue, as the French write. At least for a few hours, though, I was sitting in a chair in the sky!
With that nod to Louis CK, who put on two of the best shows (and hottest tickets) during the fest, I do want to share some initial thoughts about Montreal's annual celebration of comedy, and how it fared this summer. More in-depth reviews of the shows I saw will get published once I'm back home in New York City, to be sure. But first, a few thoughts, opinions and ideas to get you thinking about -- and hopefully talking about -- comedy.
Show business loves patting itself on the back all of the time, and not just during awards season, but for the comedy industry, the past 14 or so years have included one day in which they all sit down in a room and agree to be roasted by one comedian: Andy Kindler. So it was again this afternoon in a conference room at the Hyatt Regency in Montreal. Today's "State of the Industry" address felt a little tamer, more subdued than the past couple of years. Was it the audience? Was it Andy? Was it the recession? Was it the microphone issues, blocking his face and getting great sound out of his shoulders? Probably the latter. Let's not launch an investigation into the matter.
Marc Maron introduced Kindler. "I, like Andy, have absolutely nothing left to lose," Maron said. He reminded the comedians, agents, managers and executives in the room that they ask for this year after year, "and minutes after leaving this room, convince yourself that this has nothing to do with you." He noted how being on the road with Kindler "is like traveling with the history of the Jewish people," and gave us all his "popcorn analogy for the comedy industry." In short, Maron observed that every time you make popcorn, you wind up with kernels at the bottom of the bowl/bag. "You know why they don't pop? Because they have integrity!"
Well played, sir.
As for Kindler, he spent the first few minutes worrying about the microphones -- his manager, Bruce Smith, interrupted him to note "the microphone is blocking your face" -- and the podium's inability to serve the primary functions of a podium. "Am I getting Punk'd, or is that too old a reference? Am I getting Punk'd 2.0?"
Are you looking to become rich and famous by posting your very own Internet videos? Well, good luck with that!
That's the message I could have given you before attending this afternoon's "The Web: Comedy's New Wild West" panel at Montreal's Just For Laughs Comedy Conference, and it's still the message after sitting through the hourlong chat-em-ups. At least this panel seemed a little more forthcoming than others -- listening to TV and film writers talk, you sometimes get the feeling that they have all of the secrets to success but don't want to give them away, and they also don't want to share too much and piss any of their current or potential employers off. All of which doesn't exactly lead to compelling testimony to pass along. But here are some morsels and quotes that I think you'll find interesting. You have Qs. I have As. Ready. Set. Next paragraph.
John Cleese was forced to postpone his scheduled all-British comedy "Gala" last night at Montreal's Just For Laughs festival after being diagnosed with an inflamed prostate gland. Bruce Hills, COO for Just For Laughs, took center stage shortly after the scheduled 7 p.m. Eastern start time for the grand theatrical (and televised) production, telling fans: "John Cleese has fallen ill." Hills told the crowd that a late cancellation was so rare, "this has never happened before" in the more than quarter-century history of the citywide comedy fest.
After last night's Gala, which went on with Lewis Black substituting as host, fans who had spent upward of $175 per ticket to see the Monty Python legend were given cards like the one pictured here with instructions on how to exchange their ticket stubs for a pass to a new free Gala that was added to Sunday night's schedule. Hills said that Cleese had prepped his sketches and routines for this Montreal show for more than a week (in fact, Cleese had just hosted a similar gala last weekend in Toronto) and hoped to be fully able to perform them by Sunday.
Black, already in the French-Canadian city to host Thursday's Gala, also apologized, suggesting that perhaps, "What I would do is hire a French comic to speak entirely in French and use the entire time to talk about why the French hate the British." When that didn't get as much of roar as he had hoped, Lewis added: "But I'm a substitute!" Later in the show, he observed: "I'm still a little surprised that they went from John Cleese to a miserable aging Jewish prick!"
A moment later, a voice near the front of the theater called out: "So were we!"
For his part, British comedian Ross Noble, amid 10 or so minutes of nonstop riffing and meandering about the stage -- offered his own improvised tribute to Cleese by imagining he had "died" and become part of his very own version of Python's famous "Dead Parrot" sketch, with someone at the hospital arguing, "He's not dead. He's just resting."
In an almost last-minute decision, strings were pulled, favors were called in, nouns were verbed, and I found my passport, which means it's time to head across the border for the 2009 Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal. Sure, talk to any member of the show business industry who has been around since Just For Laughs first took over this French-speaking Canadian city more than a quarter-century ago, and they'll be quick to tell you that the festival isn't what it once was. It's bigger, and yet not so big that comedians can return to the States with their dreams and pockets filled with six-figure development deals from the TV networks. No, times are different. We have the Internets now!
As I get ready to make the journey north once more, here are a few of the things I'm looking forward to seeing, following and preparing for over the next four days and nights.
1. Learning what the heck Zoofest is, once and for all. It's not part of Just For Laughs, but then again, it is. It's just the edgier shows? The shows with animals? I really don't know.
2. Seeing the industry hype machine in full effect, in both its most artificial and organic ways. Last year, I saw firsthand as NYC-based stand-up Sean Patton emerged from the "New Faces" showcase specifically because to the industry, he was a new face that they hadn't seen or heard from before, and they liked what they saw and heard. I've also read some silly things in the trades about certain comedians each year who got "buzz" and, having seen those comics, firmly believe that the trades sometimes get hoodwinked by the "buzz" comedians and their managers and agents who manufacture said buzz.
3. Speaking of which, that "buzz" machine also serves as a sad reminder of Michael Roof, aka "Chicken," the comedian who became infamous for scoring the last big TV development deal out of Montreal (the WB built a sketch show around him), only to find his career and life unravel. He took his own life last month.
4. What is Broken Lizard up to now? The sketch group made a big splash with their first independent film at Sundance, and followed up Super Troopers with a few more films, including Club Dread and Beerfest. They'll be performing new live sketches, taking questions and showing off their new movie, The Slammin' Salmon.
Are these the names you were looking for? The 2009 Montreal Just For Laughs comedy festival presents the "New Faces" for the industry to discover, fawn over and scrutinize. It looks to be a very strong class, just from the faces and names I already have come to discover, fawn over and scrutinize right here on The Comic's Comic.
So here they are! The New Faces perform in two groups tonight, Wednesday and Thursday -- this year at the Cabaret Juste Pour Rire (much closer to the rest of the action than the far-out Kola Note). Send your wishes of well to the following comedians...photos and links after the jump!
When "King of Pop" Michael Jackson died, some people wondered if, when and how comedians would react to the news. After all, plenty of stand-up comics had been telling jokes about the musician and his eclectic and allegedly not-so smooth criminal behavior for long enough that Michael Jackson jokes became a hack category long before he died two weeks ago at the young age of 50. Living in NYC, I was able to visit comedy clubs within hours of Jackson's sudden death and see firsthand how comedians and audiences handled the breaking news. Too soon? Perhaps for some, but most comics I witnessed knew enough then and now to address the veritable chimpanzee in the room without going on a tasteless offensive. And then there was Godfrey. Godfrey, a regular at the Comedy Cellar when he's in NYC, hasn't been able to stop talking about his love for Michael Jackson, whether he has been onstage, upstairs in the Olive Tree Cafe or outside on the sidewalk, showing off his dance moves. Last weekend, he devoted much of his set to MJ. Overnight, he got around to editing and posting some of it online (note: contains NSFW language):
"I'm so mad he's dead," Godfrey told me the other night on the sidewalk outside of the Cellar. "He shaped me as a human being. It was like having breakfast with Mike." He recalled collecting lots of Michael Jackson gear when he was a kid growing up in Chicago, including both red and black jackets, posters and more. His mom even got him tickets to see the Jacksons on their Victory Tour stop at Comiskey Park. Clutching a new collectible magazine devoted to Jackson's life, Godfrey told me how Michael Jackson also shaped many black comedians, from giving Eddie Murphy a classic bit, to providing inspirations that helped both Chris Tucker and Eddie Griffin achieve their own stardom.
It's only a week before Just For Laughs kicks off its first Chicago fest, so what's going to happen later this summer for the "biggie" in Montreal? Good question.
How about answers? Hmmm. For starters, Just For Laughs is spinning off some of its shows for something called Zoofest, which so far, is more confusing than remembering that the first half of the Montreal fest is for the Francophones (wait 'til the final week for the English-language shows). So, how is Zoofest different from Just For Laughs? For one thing, it's Macromedia Flashier. For another, it's taking some of the shows you knew from JFL Montreal and putting them somewhere else in Montreal. Here's a quote from JFL's Bruce Hills: “Just For Laughs is thrilled to launch an international program of cutting edge shows as part of the Inaugural Zoofest. We hope to challenge audiences with unique and innovative bookings; reinforcing Montreal as the top place in the world to discover untapped talent.”
That means New Faces will be in Zoofest, along with Canada's Homegrown Comic Competition, the "Flying Solo" series, the Alternative Comedy Show, Amp'd (the musical comedy show), and the Sketch show. Flying solo with one-person showcases in Montreal: Aziz Ansari, Kate Micucci, Marc Maron, Improvised Shakespeare, and Nikki Payne (and from the U.K., Ross Noble, Simon Amstell, Gina Yashere, and Mark Watson). Also new to Montreal, the Upright Citizens Brigade will bring some of its popular regular shows (such as ASSSSCAT, Facebook, The Hills) north across the border. So there's that to look forward to.
Of course, if you were to look at the official schedule for JFL Montreal 2009, you would not see those shows listed there. Because they're part of Zoofest. Which is different. JFL Montreal 2009 includes one-night-only performances by Bill Cosby and Louis CK, galas featuring Lewis Black, John Cleese and Whoopi Goldberg, and runs by Tommy Tiernan, Elon Gold, Judy Gold, Robert Schimmel and Russell Peters. Plus the non-Zoofest themed stand-up showcases.
The 2009 edition of Montreal's Just For Laughs festival is starting to take shape. Tickets for some shows already are on sale, with the rest available starting May 2 for the 27th annual fest, running July 16-26.
Here's what we know so far...
The Galas: John Cleese hosts a British gala (July 22) with Ross Noble, Jimmy Carr, Mark Watson, Danny Bhoy, Gina Yahsere, Idiots of Ants, and Simon Amstell; Lewis Black (July 23), Whoopi Goldberg (July 24), Martin Short (July 25), and the finale all-star edition features Louis CK, Louie Anderson, Jeff Ross, Caroline Rhea, Robert Schimmel and David Alan Grier (July 26).
The JFL Trifecta: Louis CK reportedly will be the first comedian to perform at all three JFLs this summer, in Montreal, Toronto and Chicago. Of course, this is JFL's first year in Chicago.
One night only: Bill Cosby performs July 25, while Russell Peters plays the Bell Centre arena on July 24.
New for 2009: The fest will launch Chaos Montreal, a spin-off that puts the "New Faces" industry showcase in a new home at the Cabaret Theatre, and also includes the Flying Solo, Amp'd, Alternative shows and a selection from Edinburgh Fringe. We'll find out more in May via the dizzying Chaos Montreal site.
One-person shows: Roberto Benigni (remember him?!) performs his "Tutto Dante" in both French and Italian; Tommy Tiernan does "Eh" (July 22-25); Gregory Charles showcases comedy and music (July 23-25); Judy Gold does "Mommy Queerest"; Elon Gold's "Half Jewish, Half Very Jewish"; and Robert Schimmel's "Cheaters Get Cancer."
Also: Look for multiple performances by Jim Breuer, Aisha Tyler, Kevin Hart, Bobby Slayton, Gerry Dee, Aziz Ansari, Wil Anderson and Dave Hughes, Rhys Darby, Jimeoin, Patrick Kielty, Ed Byrne, and Improvised Shakespeare.
And yes, they will do another two-day industry conference (July 23-24). More information on all of this will be revealed closer to the festival.
The folks in Montreal have begun rolling out some news and information about its 2009 Just For Laughs comedy festival, and this is what we know already: Bill Cosby will headline, as will Irishman Tommy Tiernan; Canadian native Russell Peters will celebrate his 20th year in stand-up comedy with a special show; John Cleese and Lewis Black will host Galas (filmed-for-TV showcases); Bobby Slayton will host The Nasty Show, and there will be a second annual ladies version of it. You can now go back to whatever you were doing.
The folks at Montreal's Just For Laughs uploaded videos last week from its 2008 collection of comedians participating in the New Faces and Masters showcases, so you can finally see what I saw this summer. Rather than bombard you with two dozen embedded video clips, I'm going to embed one or two of my faves, then link to the rest.
From the 2008 Masters, here is Todd Glass, and you'll immediately wonder, what's the rest of Larry Miller's funny story introducing him, and who is Glass calling back in his jokes. Jokes, people! Jokes! Todd Glass is a comic's comic, so always welcomed here (language NSFW):
At the 2004 Just For Laughs galas in Montreal, Mitch Hedberg presented a set that included some classic jokes, plus a few bits that found their way onto his posthumous CD that's out today, Do You Believe in Gosh?
For a smaller stage look at how Hedberg had a really playful onstage nature about him, watch these clips from Go Bananas in Cincy, courtesy of Hedberg's family and Rooftop Comedy.
The people at Just For Laughs in Montreal decided to recap some of their shows in video highlights, which means you can get a feel for what you saw, or what you missed. Although they don't give all of the New Faces face time (hmmm), but the Just For Laughs video portal (yes, they have their own video portal for you to upload your own funny fun-time videos) includes a highlight reel set to music and with more Galas and French Canadians than any other JFL video. So let's start with that one, with the New Faces, Amp'd and Masters after the jump!
Doug Stanhope, who set up his Slamdance to their Sundance, aka Just For Spite festival with shows Friday and Saturday at Club Chaos, told me on Saturday night that he'd been offered a paltry $1,100 to perform 10 nights of one-man shows at the fest (or as he added, less than what he earned during his first trip to Montreal's JFL), which prompted his fury. Much of the buzz about Stanhope during the fest itself centered around two incidents, both of which Stanhope wrote about online. He first aired his grievances on Wednesday via 236.com, then on Friday night, after getting kicked out of a JFL venue by fest organizer Bruce Hills, Stanhope went to his MySpace to fill us in on the details.
Most pleasant surprise in a one-man show:Patrice Oneal. Here's a guy who seems so in your face and so not safe for work that, well, that's how his career even began in Boston, challenging another comedian. And he has made his name on the club circuit as that guy who won't take no gruff. But you take him out of the comedy clubs and put him in an intimate theater setting, give him a stool or a chair and just let him speak...wow. As I noted earlier, his one-man show, Positivity, is positively brilliant. He may think he's not getting any smarter. But this show is the smartest thing he has done.
The lucky New Faces bump? Last year, Tom Papa hosted all of the New Faces showcases and handled himself with such professionalism and managed to bring the funny, that I recall singling him out and hoping he'd get a show of his own. This year, Papa got the special one-man showcase named after the late Richard Jeni and earned nightly standing ovations for his show, Only Human. Here's the Montreal Gazette review to chew on. I saw similar magic coming from Greg Giraldo this year in hosting New Faces, and hope he gets a similar promotion in 2009. Giraldo always has mastered the art of topical social commentary, but there also has been so much going on in his world, both professionally and personally, that could be mined for a one-man show. Let's make that happen.
Funniest comic-on-comic impersonation:Greg Behrendt, who introduced himself to the audience as "a 45-year-old alternative comic," doing Russell Brand at the midnight Alternative showcase, slinking his way around the stage and joking about Brand having sex with Kate Moss.
Toughest ticket for a show I wished I'd seen: They say you mock the ones you love (some do), so Behrendt must have been paying tribute to Russell Brand's status as the hot comic of the moment. You had to sweet talk your way into his sold-out performances. Thankfully, I got to see Brand a couple of days later in New York City (my review of Russell Brand).
Toughest ticket for a show I'm not sorry I missed: Apatow For Destruction. Movie producers and movie stars should not always be confused for great stand-up comedians.
How young is he, again?Bo Burnham, at 17, is the new sensation, already signed to Gersh with a Comedy Central EP that zoomed up the iTunes charts. Where did he come from? Outside of Boston, since you asked. He generated some "heat" as they say in the bidness. I saw him the previous weekend open up for Joel McHale at Carolines and deliver an amazingly proficient and efficient 13-minute musical set of songs and rap. How did this tall, scrawny high-school kid making YouTube videos gain so much poise onstage with less than 20 live performances to his credit? He told me. "I'm young, dumb and fearless." Here's a recent fairly NSFW video from Bo fo yo (argh, I just really typed that and didn't backspace backspace delete, didn't I?):
State of the Industry vs. Comedy Person of the Year:Andy Kindler wins in a walk-off, as Kindler filled the room to more than capacity, with people standing in the foyer, then half of them walking out to skip the festival's awarding of "Comedy Person of the Year" to Judd Apatow. Having Apatow did guarantee that all his famous friends and industry associates would show up in Montreal, though, leading to some heartfelt words from Apatow himself, and a funny quip from Seth Rogen: "Look at us. We're a parade of bad fashion...It's like we're at the rehearsal for the award."
Just Comedy? Remember the days when you didn't have to pay $500 to attend a festival thrown on your behalf? Oh, those were days. But Just Comedy's two-day confab proved to be kind of eh. As I joked to Andy Kindler in our short video interview, I only stayed at the Webisode to Episode panel for about five minutes, because that's as long as that panel should have been. Don't they know this already? Because of that, I missed out on perhaps the liveliest panel of the confab, as club owners kvetched at length about the business of live touring.
All-around favorites: You couldn't go anywhere in Montreal without someone reminding you how great John Mulaney and Brent Weinbach were at the festival. I shall sing Mulaney's praises to anyone who asks, and it was great to see him knock it out of the park (that's a baseball term) at JFL, with people especially rapt over his tale of playing a joke on a restaurant at age 11. Mind you, he's only 25 now. He will tape a Comedy Central Presents next month and you will enjoy it. He's also co-headlining at Comix next month (Aug. 22-23) with Nick Kroll. As for Weinbach, he won the Andy Kaufman Award in Vegas last year for a reason, and showed why in Montreal with an over-the-top performance at the alternative showcases.
New Faces recaps: My favorites or yours? Brendon Walsh stood out for me with his cleverness, while Sean Patton surprised me because I had never seen him in a mainstream club before. Harris Wittels delivered the ballsiest set, ending a routine that included misnamed bands and masturbation issues with a joke about racism. Ira Proctor turned it around so much from the first set to the second that veteran Larry Miller couldn't stop complimenting him. Mo Mandel was the singular standout from the other group. Although truth be told, most people I talked to from the industry were relatively underwhelmed by this year's crop of New Faces as a whole. Then again, they were relatively underwhelmed in general.
State of the New Faces Industry: What does it say about the comedy industry and Montreal's New Faces that two of them, Iliza Shlesinger and Jeff Dye, are among the finalists for this season on NBC's Last Comic Standing? A few things. Among them: The NBC producers prefer fresh-faced comedians, even if they're relatively inexperienced, because it allows them to have control (read: earn money) by launching their careers nationally. Also, it means tough luck for industry wanting a piece, as NBC and the producers have them under its contractual spell already. Anyone want to guess whether Shlesinger and Dye already are locked up for the nationwide club/theater tour that follows the season finale?
The Masters: Speaking of Larry Miller, what a class act he proved to be in Montreal, not just for actually watching younger comedians and saying nice things to them, but also for being the consummate host for the Masters showcases. Miller has been one of the more amusing voices of reason on Bill Maher's HBO chat show, Real Time, and it's so nice to be able to see Miller onstage again doing stand-up. As he told audiences, "Almost everyone on the show is someone I've known for years and respect -- and they're all good." Well, I'll be the judge of that. Henry Cho, a Korean raised in Tennesee, "so I'm South Korean." If you didn't enjoy Esther Ku's jokes about getting Koreans confused for each other, what would you make of this master's trip to the homeland with his father: "When we went to Korea, he walked 20 feet away and I lost him!" Hal Sparks continues to sport his Criss Angel hair and magician look, despite how it looks. It looks like Criss Angel. Instead, Sparks ranted against people who miss his short hair, talked about losing his Kentucky accent, and did a big act-out about sexually peaking. Cathy Ladman hates her New York voice, and Montreal audiences weren't exactly thrilled with it, either. Another trip to the therapist and everything will be OK. Henry Phillips and his guitar? Well, here's a little number you may have heard before, "Sweet Little Blossom of Mine." Todd Glass: I hadn't seen him live in four years, and man, how I missed seeing his energetic self. Glass is a guy who's always on, even when he's not on he's on. What a bundle of fun! Remember when Glass was on Last Comic Standing and kept mugging for everyone at everytime...good times. At the Masters, Glass riffed on both Sparks and Phillips and then himself, and destroyed with a bit about how easy recipes are, such as corn pudding! Meantime, here's an oldie but a goodie from Glass. Thea Vidale and I sat next to each other on the "regional jet" up from New York City, and regional jet means really small plane, which means I actually should have and could have used the phrase, "C'mon and sit on Daddy's lap!" And Billy Gardell closed by focusing on how kids have changed and how we've all changed because of anti-depressants, with a presence that shows you what a veteran stand-up headliner's set is all about.
Shuttle buddies: Don't know how it worked out like this, because we didn't see other during the fest and came from different cities, but Kent from Ask A Ninja and I ended up on the same shuttles to and from the airport in Montreal. Serendipity?
But what about next year: What about 2009? As noted or hinted at previously, several industry folks grumbled openly about wondering why they'd come to Montreal again in the first place. The festival certainly didn't dispel stereotypes about the friendliness of French Canadians, as they tried every manner in the book to get industry up to Montreal -- including their annual withholding of the New Faces and Masters names until two days before most would arrive, adding this two-day Just Comedy confab and charging industry $500 to show up -- then giving industry folks multiple hassles once they made it to Montreal. And that's not to mention the outrageous prices in the Hyatt Regency ($3 for a Coca-Cola, $10 for a bottle of beer), the attitude of the Hyatt toward the industry (even though the festival encouraged them to stay in the Hyatt) and the fact that some Hyatt workers were picketing outside made for a big barrel of not-fun. Stanhope wasn't the only one to openly ask if Montreal has become more about making a profit off of comedy fans and less about being a place for discovering and launching comedy careers. So what will happen in 2009 when JFL joins up with TBS to host a comedy festival in Chicago the month before Montreal? Will the industry go to Chicago and skip Montreal entirely? It only served to make me miss the atmosphere in Aspen, a festival run by people who really wanted it to be a home for the comedy industry (even if it proved too expensive and snowy). It also makes me want to start up my own comedy festival, a true showcase to bring industry to the talents worth watching, both new and old. If anyone wants to help me make that come true, please holler my way. Thanks.
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