Louie Anderson to deliver Just For Laughs 2019 keynote

Montreal’s Just For Laughs festival has booked Louie Anderson to deliver its keynote address for the 2019 comedy confab next month.

Anderson’s address, “Never Give Up,” will touch on his 40 years of ups and downs in show business. His career has made a big splash of a comeback since diving in the ABC celebrity competition series, Splash, in 2013, going on to deliver an Emmy-winning performance as Christine Baskets on FX’s Baskets. Season four of Baskets premiered last week.

His address will help kick off the industry conference part of the festival, on Thursday, July 25.

For the record, no woman has yet to deliver the official JFL Keynote since the festival began asking comedians in 2010. Lewis Black, Marc Maron, Patton Oswalt, Jim Norton, Colin Quinn, Dana Gould and Kenya Barris have done so this decade. (Note: JFL did add a secondary Canadian State of the Comedy Industry to the conference last year to pair with Andy Kindler’s annual roast of the comedy biz, and has asked Courtney Gilmour and Mark Forward to do those honors this year)

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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