Even though most of Montreal’s Just For Laughs stuck to virtual digital screens and meet-ups, JFL last week still could host and declare winners for its annual “Stand Up & Pitch” competitions.
FROM JFL: Each winning project is invited back to attend JFL 2022 and provided one (1) flight, one (1) hotel accommodation for up to 3 nights and festival passes for the participants.
So who won?
As you could see in the photo above…
WINNER: The Pepper Grind, Created by Josh Johnson and Wes Corwin
A formerly world-renowned chef turned ex-con claws his way back to the top, clashing with the employees of a strip club as he attempts to guide their kitchen to a Michelin Star.
Creator Bios: Rising Fort Worth comic Josh Johnson is seriously funny. His jokes range from contemplating suicide to a SWAT team raiding a neighbor’s house — heavy stuff that he manages to make light. Johnson recently traveled to Hawaii, where he filmed an appearance on an episode of Adam Devine’s House Party on Comedy Central. He also performed recently in front of a sold-out crowd opening for Janeane Garofalo in Dallas. Wes Corwin is a ball of pure nervous energy trying to pass itself off as human. Wes has had his unique brand of humor featured on Funny or Die. As a stand-up, he’s opened for nationally touring headliners like Brian Regan, Kurt Braunohler and Aparna Nancherla. He’s been featured on Altercation Comedy Festival in Austin and Memphis Comedy Festival. In 2018, Wes was awarded “Best Comedian in Dallas” by the Dallas Observer and also won the Addison Improv’s “Funniest Comedian in Texas” contest. In 2020, work he animated appeared on an episode of Conan on TBS.
WINNER: Split Ends, Created by Allie Pearse
When a disgraced hairdresser is shunned from the industry after committing the ultimate beauty crime, she’s forced to apply her skills at a children’s hair salon owned by an eccentric hippie.
Creator Bio: Allie Pearse is a standup comedian and writer based in Toronto. She has performed at comedy clubs across North America and is a writer on the award winning show Letterkenny. Allie has been featured on Sirius XM radio, JFL’s Comedy 101 roast show and OFF-JFL. She is the winner of the ‘I Heart Jokes Awards’ 2020 Breakout Comic, was nominated for the COCA comic of the year in 2020, was runner up at the 2019 Toronto Comedy Brawl and and won the 2017 Comedyworks Invitational in Montreal. She is the creator and producer of SLUT PARADE: A Sex Positive Comedy Show, which sold out the Royal Cinema in March of 2020 and is the producer and host of House Comedy at Soho House in Toronto. Allie is a script reader for the LA based platform Coverfly where she offers story notes to writers from all over the world