Here are Montreal’s New Faces: Unrepped 2014 at Just For Laughs

On Monday night, Montreal’s Just For Laughs and ComedyPro Conference announced most of the New Faces of Comedy for this week’s festivities.

Generations of stand-up comedians have regarded New Faces as a stepping-stone to something bigger, in part because the festival and because the industry long treated it as such. In the past few years, particularly in the absence of HBO’s festival in Aspen (which also showcased young comics), JFL has expanded the New Faces brand to include a crop of “Characters” showcasing their talents for potential sitcom, movie and sketch comedy roles.

And then there’s Unrepped.

If some of the New Faces in recent years haven’t seemed quite so new — accumulating network TV credits even before arriving in Montreal — then Unrepped represents the more literal interpretation of New Faces. These are comedians who lack agents and managers. All the better for agents and managers to flock to the showcases to scout their potential.

And all the more reason for JFL to hold back on making the announcement until its entire crop of Unrepped New Faces are securely across the border and away from Los Angeles or New York where the industry could see them more simply.

Which brings us to today’s announcement…

Your 2014 New Faces of Comedy: Unrepped in Montreal:

• Alex Stone
• Brendan Eyre
• Brian Frange
• Cody Hustak
• Jason Saenz
• Liza Treyger
• Noah Gardenswartz
• Richard Bain
• Sam Evans
• Troy Walker
• Zainab Johnson

New Faces of Comedy: Unrepped will showcase Thursday and Friday nights; Thursday at Cinquieme Salle inside Place Des Arts; Friday, Mainline Theater.

The rest of the 2014 New Faces at Montreal’s Just For Laughs.