Blake Griffin hosting “Midnight Surprise” comedy showcases at 2016 Montreal Just For Laughs

The NBA season is over.

While LeBron James prodigal sons the championship trophy back to Cleveland as the Ohio city’s hero, and Steph Curry spends the summer rethinking (or not) his playing style, Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers plans to head north to Montreal to host a week’s worth of late-night stand-up showcases at the world’s biggest comedy festival.

Of all the scheduling announcements made by Montreal’s Just For Laughs for its 2016 festival, booking the 6-foot-10 (208 cm) power forward to host “Midnight Surprise” from July 26-30 might have caused you to pause.

But only if you haven’t been paying attention to the 27-year-old Griffin’s propensity and affinity for funny.

Not that seeing an NBA superstar play the role of comedian should surprise anyone at this point — Shaq has hosted and/or presented stand-up comedy tours for the stage and the screen for years, Metta World Peace dabbled with stand-up, and heck, even King James has hosted Saturday Night Live and proved he belonged with comedy stars holding his own in a major supporting way in Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck movie.

Griffin has been showing off his off-court comedy skills for the past five years now.

Blake Griffin has 10 Funny or Die videos to his credit, dating back to 2011.

Griffin has starred in a number of humorous TV spots over the years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2Rq8sHph1A

In 2014, we saw Griffin take the stage at The Laugh Factory to deliver “slam-dunk poetry.”

Griffin also teamed up with teammate Chris Paul for an Adult Swim series, BGCP3TV:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2Qt0sOyJqQ

He’s gone up against Drake in sketches for the ESPYs:

And just this past spring, he showed up in his birthday suit for a cameo with Ilana Glazer in Comedy Central’s Broad City.

Upon further reflection, Blake Griffin sounds more and more like an inspired choice to helm the “Midnight Surprise” shows in Montreal during JFL 2016.

midnight_surprise_show_page-desktop_1140x390

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.

View all posts by Sean L. McCarthy →