Rosalie Vaillancourt, Erich Preach, Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais and Kevin Hart are top billing at the upcoming Just for Laughs and Just for Laughs festivals. For his 40e anniversary, from July 13 to 31, the big comedy event is doing things big and expanding its territory.
Posted at 1:40 p.m.
While the indoor shows have been unveiled over the past few weeks, the Just for Laughs (JPR) family gathered on Wednesday to announce the outdoor lineup. More than 250 shows will be offered this summer to Montrealers and visitors, including dozens free in the streets of the city.
Just for Laughs spreads its tentacles, and the festivities this year will extend from the Quartier des spectacles to the Esplanade PVM of Place Ville Marie to Saint-Denis Street.
The outdoor shows will also be launched with the evening Fury, hosted by Élyse Marquis. Matthieu Pepper, Silvi Tourigny, Stéphane Fallu, Ève Côté, Jean-Thomas Jobin, Pierre-Luc Pomerleau, Michelle Desrochers, Christine Morency and Barbada will play the game.
The fabulous destiny of Erich Preach, an evening presented by the latter, will bring together Mike Beaudoin, Rachelle Elie, Garihanna, Jean-Louis, Imposs, Dave Morgan, Daniel Tirado and Urban Science Brass Band. To highlight its four decades of activity, JPR will offer the tribute show 40 years of real fun! The show directed by Alex Perron, featuring dancers and performers, will take place every evening from July 21 to 30.
More than ever, Just for Laughs presents “exclusive shows”, recalled Patrick Rozon, vice-president of French-language content for the Just for Laughs Group. Festival content is often found nowhere else. If there were “two or three exclusive creations in recent years”, the shows are “100% original”, affirmed the big boss of programming at The Press.
They only make them in Montreal. It is necessary for our survival. We absolutely want to have this creativity, but also to create great shows.
Patrick Rozon
Also on the program, the quiz Do you know your comic?hosted by Maxim Martin, as well as Camper’s Christmas by Philippe Laprise. International artists, including the French Panayotis Pascot, are expected in Montreal. As previously announced, the traditional Just for Laughs Galas will also be on the menu. Hosted this year: Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais, Rosalie Vaillancourt, Richardson Zéphir, Eddy King, Phil Roy and Roxane Bruneau.
Rosalie Vaillancourt, who hosted her first gala last year, knows that it “is rare for Just for Laughs to choose the same person two years in a row”. “They offered it to me very quickly, and I was really, really happy,” she told The Press. For this second presence, it will be a question of being a new parent (she who spoke of her pregnancy at the previous gala) and the pressure of wanting to please, explained the comedian.
She took advantage of Wednesday’s event to talk about her connection with Just for Laughs, with whom she has been collaborating for about three years. “I had never wanted to do Just for Laughs before Patrick arrived [Rozon], she says. He’s someone I really trust. In addition, he put a lot of emphasis on creation, which we had not seen before him. »
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Photo David Boily, LA PRESSE
Comedian Rosalie Vaillancourt will host a gala for the second year in a row.
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Photo David Boily, LA PRESSE
Comedian and drag queen Mona de Grenoble will be present this year.
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Photo David Boily, LA PRESSE
Mike Ward will be one of the essential comedians of this edition.
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Photo David Boily, LA PRESSE
Eddy King was present at the launch of the 40 programe Just for Laughs festival.
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Photo David Boily, LA PRESSE
Phil Roy will also be present during the Just for Laughs festivities this summer.
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The real return
We had to cross the Saint-James church to get to the room where the Just for Laughs press conference was held. The place was decorated in the colors of the event, mimosas were served, music welcomed the guests. It was a day of celebration and reunion. We do not skimp on the means for this celebration of the 40th anniversary of the festival.
“For the 40eJust for Laughs does not do things by halves”, summed up Mona de Grenoble, “drag queen, humorist and proud puppet of Just for Laughs”, who officially announced “the great comeback of the festival”.
The Just for Laughs Group has also learned lessons from the pandemic, such as the imperative to prepare well in advance.
Before, we started at the end of the fall and we finished a month or two weeks before the press conference. We can’t do that anymore. Comedians are in high demand, more and more. Labor is very scarce. Preparations for 2023-2024 have already begun.
Patrick Rozon
Patrick Rozon announced that this year the festival will support the organization Mission Bon Accueil throughout the event. Terminals to collect donations from festival-goers will be installed on the site.
To pay tribute to Quebec teachers, Julie Ringuette and Debbie Lynch-White will take the helm of The pedagogya show in which Charles Beauchesne, Coco Belliveau, Jade Charbonneau, Mélanie Couture, Sara Dufour, Pierre Hébert and Barbada will also participate. just for teens, an evening aimed at the youngest, will also return to the Place des Festivals. Jay Scott, Claudia Bouvette, William Cloutier and Maoly Martel Dumais will notably be part of the event.
Just for Laughs
On the English side, Kevin Hart and Bill Burr, “two of the biggest stars in the world”, will be eagerly awaited for the Just for Laughs festival.
Amy Schumer, John Mulaney, Chelsea Handler, Russell Peters, Ronny Chieng and Rick Mercer will also be present, Bruce Hills, president of Just for Laughs, announced on Wednesday. Dozens of international comedians are expected for the occasion.
If the past few years have forced the Just for Laughs Group to adapt in order to remain active, the return is being made with great fanfare. “We are coming out of this pandemic in great health, creatively and financially,” said Charles Décarie, President and CEO of the Just for Laughs Group. This announced the export of JPR to London in 2023, following the success of the festival launched in the United States.