Just for Laughs co-founder Nulman joins rival fest
One of the co-founders of the Just for Laughs festival has been hired by a rival comedy fest, but Andy Nulman insists Festival du rire is not designed to try to put Just for Laughs out of business.
Nulman announced Wednesday morning he is joining the Festival du rire de Montréal as a consultant. The new event was set up in the wake of sexual assault and misconduct allegations facing Gilbert Rozon, the president and principal shareholder of Montreal’s Just for Laughs festival. JFL is looking for a buyer of Rozon’s shares.
The new festival, founded by 50 Quebec comedians, is promising to be fully transparent with principles based on “ethical management, social responsibility and equal pay.”
Comic Martin Petit, one of the driving forces behind the new Festival du rire, asked Nulman if he would join as a special consultant.
“I think it’s pretty ridiculous to go up against the Just for Laughs juggernaut and try to compete with them on a one-on-one basis,” Nulman said in a phone interview. “This is more, ‘What else can be done? How else can you do this?’ And that’s where I come into play here. It’s looking at things that haven’t been done and maybe could be done. Given my background in technology and my foreground in technology — I have a day job running a tech company (Play the Future) — and so the anglo element is part of it, but it won’t be the way things always were done.”
Nulman’s appointment comes after more than 30 years of association with Rozon’s organization. He launched the English version of Just for Laughs in 1985, two years after Rozon founded the festival. He left the festival’s full-time employment in 1999, but stayed on as a member of the board of the festival’s parent company. In 2010, he returned to the organization to serve as president of Festivals and Television, but has not been involved with JFL for the last three years.
Just for Laughs chief operating officer Bruce Hills declined to comment Wednesday, but Just for Laughs released the following statement: “Andy Nulman departed Just for Laughs years ago. His decision to join this coalition has no bearing on our operations. In recent years, the unparalleled growth of JFL is due to the expertise of our current team, including JFL COO Bruce Hills, directors, managers, programmers and staff who have been directly running operations. Our focus is on producing the biggest edition of the festival yet with exciting talent announcements coming in the new year.”
Nulman also hinted that maybe once Rozon sells his shares in Just for Laughs/Juste Pour Rire, that the events could perhaps work together.
“Life is going to change,” Nulman said. “There’s going to be a new ownership group at Just for Laughs and maybe the new ownership group comes in and says, ‘Let’s talk to the coalition and see if things can be done together.’ Nobody knows.”