The announced absence of Just for Laughs, which has placed itself sheltered from its creditors, leaves a void to fill in the entertainment industry. At ComediHa!, we know that the landscape will be very different from now on and that the opportunity to establish itself as a leader in humor is within its reach.
“Without taking away the sadness of what we are losing, since the announcement [de mardi]sponsoring partners, government partners and artists who thought they would be at Just for Laughs contacted us,” says Sylvain Parent-Bédard, founding president of ComediHa!.
Despite everything, it is obvious that the void that will be left by the industry giant draws a lot of attention to ComediHa!, one of the biggest players in the field of humor, which is celebrating its 25e birthday this year.
The Just for Laughs Group held its festival for two weeks in July, in the Quartier des spectacles and in several Montreal venues. In the context where “exiting the pandemic is even more difficult than the pandemic”, Sylvain Parent-Bédard could have expected such news, without however imagining that the Group was in such difficulty.
That Just for Laughs ended up like this, I was far from seeing it happen. We even had discussions with them only 15 days ago.
Sylvain Parent-Bédard, founding president of ComediHa!
The festival he organizes won’t be looking to fill the hole in the calendar next summer. But “in French-speaking humor, indirectly, without really wanting to, we will take more space and be a flagship for the Quebec industry.”
Diversify the offer
“We might be tempted to react very quickly,” observes Sylvain Parent-Bédard. But on a cultural level, I think we first need to take a step back. Everything that Just for Laughs cannot do, we are capable of doing, but we will need the means. »
The company, as Just for Laughs did before it, seeks to diversify its content, by offering shows, but also television, distribution, a musical component (with the Superfrancofête, in particular) and international expansion.
Although the ComediHa! remains the cornerstone of its activities, Sylvain Parent-Bédard highlights how important it is for the company, in the current entertainment context, not to put all its eggs in one basket. “We have to collect all the pennies,” he said.
The importance of JPR for comedians
At the Montreal premiere of Mario Jean’s new show, Imperfect happiness… and other tutti quanti of life!which was held on Tuesday, some artists present were keen to talk about the financial setbacks of Just for Laughs and reiterate the importance of this group for humor in Quebec.
When bowing out at the end of his performance, Mario Jean made a point of greeting his colleagues stuck in the turmoil. “I can’t help but think of the employees of Just for Laughs,” he said, adding that when he started in comedy, there were about nine of them practicing the same profession as him. “And we wondered if there were too many comedians…” Today, there are around sixty, and that’s a lot thanks to Just for Laughs, he said. “Do you like that, laughing?” Laughing at the rest of us, that’s what’s important…”
For Maxim Martin, who has long been part of the stable of artists produced by Just for Laughs, the fall of the joke empire symbolizes “the end of an era”.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Maxim Martin
This is what brought us into the world. It changed our lives radically. I experienced the glory period of galas. Lise Dion did her Dunkin’ Donuts act and subsequently sold 400,000 tickets! There was something magical.
Maxim Martin
The comedian, who hosts the podcast show Deal with! and will soon pilot a second one with his daughter Livia and a third, still unknown sidekick, plans to launch a new self-produced show in a year.
“The poor relation of Just For Laughs”
Author Pierre Huet has collaborated sporadically over the years with Just for Laughs, which he describes as his alma mater. Both on stage and on television, he contributed to several galas – notably the one co-hosted by Dominique Michel and Michel Drucker, in 1985 – and worked on the show The gags and had already planned to write a book on the institution, before the Gilbert Rozon scandal broke out. He too felt that the organization’s glory years were behind it.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Pierre Huet, collaborator of Just for Laughs
“Clearly, Just For Laughs had become the poor relation of Just For Laughs. For the Americans who bought it, it was a fifth wheel, they weren’t interested in it, and that’s what it gives. »
“Just for laughs, for me, it goes beyond humor. It’s thanks to Just for Laughs that we had [Charles] Trenet, that we were bold in our choices, of theater, of musical comedy. This summer, there will be the Francos, the Jazz Festival, then a big hole. A front tooth is going to be missing…”, finished Pierre Huet.
With Marie-Josée R. Royspecial collaboration