One year in: The Goddamn Comedy Jam rocks, raps and rolls through Montreal #JFLMTL

The Goddamn Comedy Jam began life on July 21, 2014, in Los Angeles, another of the themed comedy showcases that strive to wake up the tired, cynical Hollywood crowds and get them focused on stand-up comedians and not their own g-d careers in show business.

Every month at the Lyric Theatre in Los Angeles, host Josh Adam Meyers and house band Elemenopy welcome a series of stand-up comedians not only to perform 10 minutes of comedy, but also rock out singing with the band on anthems of their choosing — and proper introductions for the crowd about their song selection. At the end, all of the comedians and musicians jam onstage.

On its first anniversary Tuesday night, The Goddamn Comedy Jam was steamrolling through night two of a weeklong run at Montreal’s Just For Laughs.

Meyers reminded the audience that he’d been to JFL before, two years ago as one of the New Faces of 2013. He joked about it now: “Nothing happened in my career. I did get a new manager at the strip club I DJ’d at!”

“I started this show because I wanted to have fun. I’ve been in bands my whole life,” Meyers said.

After whipping the crowd into a frenzy with even more uptempo versions of “Take on Me” from A-Ha and “Shout” from Tears For Fears, Meyers welcomed Jon Dore onstage, who naturally turned the energy right around to his liking.

“Whatever energy you give these comedians, they’re going to give back. This is your party!” Meyers had implored upon the audience.

Dore invited Josh Trager, the drummer from Sam Roberts Band, to join him and Elemenopy for an unrehearsed rendition of The Tragically Hip’s “Blow at High Dough.” To which Dore said, “This was my Pearl Jam, this was my Nirvana…This song changed my life.”

Alonzo Bodden noted wryly up top that he doesn’t sing and probably couldn’t rap, before launching into Public Enemy’s “Fight The Power.”

“I ain’t gonna lie, I like having this band shit,” Bodden said.

Fight The Power! #goddamnedcomedyjam @zofunny @justforlaughs_mtl

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Bill Burr has served as a virtual father figure or godfather to the G-D Comedy Jam in its first year, performing multiple times as multiple drummers, from Jon Bonham to Tommy Lee.

He came out Tuesday in a blonde wig pretending to be GnR drummer Steven Adler. “You’ll see why I became a comedian,” Burr promised, vowing to “butcher” his part on “Paradise City.” But he had a shit-eating grin butchering it this night! Paradise City, indeed.

Kyle Kinane and Brent Morin performed Monday night. On the schedule to jam the rest of this week: Joe DeRosa, Jeff Ross, Luenell, Margaret Cho, Pete Davidson, Harland Williams, Brad Williams, and Burr once more.

The Goddamn Comedy Jam rocks out nightly at Katacombes through Saturday, July 25, 2015, at Montreal’s Just For Laughs.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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