A leading player in the laughter industry, Swiss Grégoire Furrer considers it “catastrophic” that there will be no comedy festival this summer in Montreal. To replace Just for Laughs, the producer is proposing to organize in July an enhanced edition of Exclam, a small humor festival that he set up here last year in the metropolis. To achieve this in such a short time, he is now reaching out to the world of Quebec humor.
“We must not let a summer go by without a comedy event in Montreal. It would be catastrophic for Montreal, for Quebec, but also for the entire comedy industry in the world. Too many people would be left behind. There are some who risk losing much more than a summer if there is no festival. They risk losing a job, to lose a vocation. Indeed, stopping an event only takes a few minutes, but rebuilding one from scratch afterwards can take decades,” argued Grégoire Furrer, in an interview with Duty.
35 years ago, Grégoire Furrer founded the Montreux Laughter Festival, which has since become the Montreux Comedy Festival, one of the flagship events in the industry, which brings together comedians from the four corners of the French-speaking world every year. Several Quebecers have already performed there, such as Mike Ward, Virginie Fortin, Mehdi Bousaidan and Maude Landry. Grégoire Furrer has always maintained close ties with La Belle Province, especially since his wife and business partner, Chloée Coqterre Bernier, is from Quebec.
Already a promoter of comedy festivals in France and French-speaking Africa, the couple arrived in Quebec last year with Exclam, an event which remains very modest for the moment compared to Just for Laughs or ComediHa!. The second edition of Exclam was scheduled for May, and the program was to be announced shortly.
But plans changed last week, when the Just for Laughs Group took shelter from its creditors, announcing at the same time that there would be no festival this summer. Grégoire Furrer is now proposing to move his event to the end of July, the period during which Just for Laughs normally takes place.
“There absolutely must be a festival this summer in Montreal. It’s clear that in three months, we won’t be able to offer something as important as Just for Laughs. But if we can count on the collaboration of the community, we can hope to offer an edition of Exclam, let’s say, that is more lively than the one we had planned in May,” believes Grégoire Furrer, contacted from his home in Los Angeles.
“It’s a huge risk,” he agrees. “The risk is surely greater for us than the benefit we could get. But that’s the difference between a manager and an entrepreneur. A manager would never take a risk like that with a few months’ notice in a foreign country. He would wait for the crisis to pass. Not an entrepreneur. »
No free programming
To try to convince the institutions and the community to move Exclam to the summer, Grégoire Furrer can count on the support of the former CAQ Minister of the Environment, MarieChantal Chassé, the president of the board of directors of the non-profit organization. lucrative at the origin of the young festival.
He is also advised in this matter by Jacques-André Dupont, former president and CEO of Spectra, the entity which manages the Francos and the International Jazz Festival. “We have already started talking to people in the industry. The response is very good so far. Grégoire has a very good reputation,” says this veteran event planner.
Jacques-André Dupont spent a total of 31 years at Spectra. He left the company, which has been part of the CH Group since 2013, four years ago. Suffice it to say that he knows the business model of outdoor festivals very well.
But if Exclam ever takes place in July, there will be no free programming on the Quartier des spectacles esplanade, as usual during the Just for Laughs festival. For Jacques-André Dupont, the business model of free festivals is in crisis, and a reflection on its viability is necessary.
“When Alain Simard created the Jazz Festival in 1980, there was nothing in this sector. Place des Arts was closed in the summer and there was not even a door to enter the Complexe Desjardins from Sainte-Catherine Street. Today, there are businesses everywhere. They benefit from the Francos and Jazz. But that also means that festivals sell fewer beers and t-shirts. Revenues have therefore decreased, but production costs have continued to increase,” explains Mr. Dupont.
A potential investor for Just for Laughs?
The decline in income is one of the reasons that plagued the Just for Laughs festival. By launching Exclam last year, was Grégoire Furrer already placing his pawns in view of the end of the activities of the Quebec flagship? The Swiss entrepreneur swears that he knew nothing about the state of the company’s finances.
We’ve already started talking to people in the industry. The response is very good so far. Grégoire has a very good reputation.
“I was surprised like everyone when I heard the news. When we arrived in Quebec with Exclam last year, it was very clear in our business plan: we were arriving in a market where we would be the third player. Our goal was to be complementary to Just for Laughs and ComediHa!. It was never our intention to replace them,” assures the president of GF Productions.
His company has stood out from its competitors in recent years through its increased presence on various digital platforms, such as Instagram and YouTube. Grégoire Furrer has just ended a comedy festival in Cannes which he had recently taken over, but he insists that his business is going rather well.
At the time of Gilbert Rozon’s fall, he had shown an interest in the idea of resuming Just for Laughs, before withdrawing. Could he participate in the group’s recovery this time? “It’s still too early to talk about that. If someone calls us to look at the file, we will look at it. But that is not the reason for our exit today,” reiterates Grégoire Furrer.
The president of GF Productions did not wish to comment on what, according to him, could explain the reasons for the setbacks of Just for Laughs. “It’s not up to me to judge what Just for Laughs did right or wrong. Afterwards, what I can say is that we must continually reinvent our business model. Our industry has changed. You have to make choices, which are sometimes difficult,” he emphasizes.