Post City Magazines | July 2006, Comic Stripped by Mark Breslin - Just for Laughs: When a barrel of monkeys just won't cut it

Just for Laughs: When a barrel of monkeys just won't cut it

Plus the holy trinity of Montreal Cuisine

by Mark Breslin

YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE how many people think it’s a hectic time in the comedy business. Everyone thinks this is the busy season.

But it’s not. You can’t compete with nature. We only get a few nice months in this climate, and no one wants to spend them indoors unless it’s for something that can’t be found at any other time.

You have to think — even a little — when you watch comedy, and you just can’t think in the heat. I once had clubs in Maui and Bermuda. They didn’t last. Who needs release when you live in paradise?

The only exception to the Summer Rule is the Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal during the month of July.

Here are some highly subjective tips on what to see and how to see it if you decide to head down Highway 401 to Montreal this month.

Most shows happen after dark, which gives you lots of time to shop and stroll in Canada’s answer to Paris. During the day, there’s lots of family entertainment on St-Denis. The street is closed to traffic and tents are filled with fire-eaters, jugglers, mimes (c’mon, it’s Montreal!).

The festival runs most of July, but it peaks from July 18 to 22. That’s when the bulk of English language programming happens, and the city is awash in agents, managers, and publicists, all barking into their cellphones and tapping into their BlackBerrys simultaneously.

If you don’t know what you want to see, your best bet is to catch one of the galas at the St-Denis theatre. These offer a guest host and a dozen comedians doing bite-sized versions of their acts. This year’s gala hosts include Craig Ferguson, Jason Alexander and my favourite, John Cleese. The tickets aren’t cheap, but it’s a great introduction to a busy festival.

Just For Laughs also has some top-level concerts, including Bill Cosby, Margaret Cho and John Pinette, but these are acts you can see once a year at Massey Hall or the Hummingbird.

In my opinion, it’s better to check out the smaller venues where you can see more unusual comics in an intimate setting.

This year’s Flying Solo series looks especially promising: Eight different acts in one-person shows that are not quite stand-up and not quite theatre. My real fave is Demitri Martin, who’s like a young Steven Wright if Steven Wright also sang songs and played videos. You should also check out Man 1, Bank 0. It’s the true tale of a comic who took a $95,000 junk cheque to the bank as a joke only to have the bank cash it.

All the clubs around Montreal get involved with comedy during Just For Laughs, with a smorgasbord of talent hopping from place to place.

Here’s a handicapper’s selection of acts you may or may not have heard of. If you see these names on a show, it’s a good bet the show will be funny.

Mark Forward is a very funny, speed-rapping Canadian who will appear at the Homegrown Comedy Competition. If he wins, he gets to do other shows. His main competitor is Jeff McEnery, who’s already won the Tim Sims Award and the $25,000 Great Canadian Laugh-Off.

Do not miss a chance to see Dom Irrera, who’s one of the best Italian- American comics on the U.S. circuit. His tales of immigrant family life are perfectly nuanced with a cast of madcap family characters. Although stardom has eluded Dom, he’s worked for over two decades, and it shows.

Craig Shoemaker is another winner. If you like material about dating, marriage and relationships, Shoemaker is a master. If politics is more of your thing, look no further than Air Farceur Alan Park. I’ve never seen Tim Minchin from Australia, but his picture looks like Tim Burton gone to seed and his one-man show is called Darkside.

From the U.K. Stewart Lee is an indescribable talent who has been mixing stand-up, poetry and music for more than 20 years. Recently, he directed Jerry Springer: The Opera in London’s West End, so you know nothing he’ll do will be boring.

And finally, sketch comedy will be well represented by Toronto’s own Women Fully Clothed. Running every night of the festival, this female supergroup led by Robin Duke never disappoints. And when you’re a little tired from all the laughter, there’s always the holy trinity of Montreal cuisine: Moishe’s, Schwartz’s and the Bar- B-Barn.

Post City Magazines’ humour columnist, Mark Breslin, is the founder and owner of the Canada-wide Yuk Yuk’s chain of comedy clubs. The former comedian and TV producer is also the author of several books, including Control Freaked.