Local comedian among those saddened to see Just for Laughs cancelled
Members of the comedy world, including a renowned comic from Saskatchewan, say they're saddened by the cancellation of this year's Just for Laughs Montreal comedy festival, whose years of shows have highlighted some of the industry's biggest names and launched the careers of many comedians.
Groupe Juste pour rire Inc., the company that operates the festival, said in a news release this week it is seeking protection from its creditors as it begins formal restructuring under Canada's Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. The company said its English and French festivals this summer in Montreal would be cancelled, but it plans to continue operations “in a scaleddown format” as it restructures and hopes the festival will return in 2025.
Kelly Taylor, a comedian from Prince Albert and now based out of Saskatoon, said performing at the festival was the one opportunity he had to play in front of show bookers who wouldn't have come to see his act at home.
“It was one of these things where you could get something to happen, over a week, you have all these different people come watch you,” Taylor said in a phone interview from a Winnipeg comedy club.
Taylor's first performance at Just For Laughs, in 2005, remains his most successful: he placed second in a competition for Canadian comics, and his act got him booked for more shows at the festival that year — and helped him find a manager.
He has since performed coastto-coast across North America, from Halifax to Vancouver and New York to Los Angeles.
“A lot of good came out of it, for sure,” he said.
“It's kind of sad that it's not happening this year — unless I didn't get in, then I'm not too worried about it, as long as it comes back again,” he joked.
Matt Labov, a publicist in Los Angeles who has worked with comedians including Mark Normand, Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen — and represented Dave Chapelle in the early 2000s — said the cancellation is “a sad day for comedy,”
“This is not like music, where there's tons of music festivals,” he said in an interview. Montreal's festival, Labov added, has been “such an important place, a launching pad and such an important destination for comedy in a world that doesn't have a lot of destinations, and I can only hope that they get back on their feet.”
Julien Provencher-proulx, a spokesman for Groupe Juste pour rire, confirmed that 75 employees, around 70 per cent of the company's workforce, were laid off Tuesday.
The festival, which began in 1983, has expanded with events in other cities and television programs, including the Just for Laughs Gags prank show. Over the years, the festival has presented many of the biggest names in standup comedy, including Kevin Hart, Dave Chappelle, Amy Schumer and Jerry Seinfeld. In addition to ticketed indoor shows, the French and English festivals featured free outdoor performances.
The Toronto Just for Laughs festival, set to take place in September, has not been cancelled, Provencher-proulx said, nor has the festival in Austin, Texas.
Just pour rire blamed its financial woes on a number of factors, including the COVID -19 pandemic, inflation and the changing entertainment industry.
The company, whose officials declined interview requests, said it is looking for new investors, or buyers for parts of its business, and that it hopes to preserve operations “as much as possible.”