The Definitive Guide to Comedy
Anything and everything is up for grabs in the hour-plus riffathon here in Montreal called Stiles & Proops: Unplanned. As the sign behind Ryan Stiles and Greg Proops reads: "Two Guys. One Sofa. No Script." Both skilled improvisers, Stiles and Proops have no problem carrying a conversation and letting it …
After running around the city on Wednesday night, I decided to make my Thursday much easier to digest by camping out at Theatre Ste-Catherine for three of the Flying Solo one-man shows, which just so happened to feature revered comedians Mike Birbiglia, Brendon Burns and Patrice Oneal. It’s a narrow, …
This year’s festival added that two-day Just Comedy confab to attract industry, and they also enticed comedians to come in a pay-for-play tease…you pay us for a pass ($500 for industry) and we can guaranteee you face time with the players who can greenlight your pitches. Quite a difference from …
Many comedians come to Montreal and joke about the preponderance of strip clubs in the city. But it’s infinitely more amusing to watch off-duty strippers (call them exotic dancers if you like) ordering cheeseburgers at McDonald’s at 4 a.m., in both French and English (insert your own joke here about …
Thoughts and quotes from the first day of the Just Comedy confab at Montreal’s Just For Laughs fest… On "Finding the Comedy Audience," Comedy Central’s Lou Wallach set the tone early by cracking, "If anyone can find the comedy audience, please let us know." So we’re going to learn a …
Readers looking for a recap of tonight’s episode of Last Comic Standing? Good news and bad news, I have for you. Well, maybe just good news. I won’t be able to give you my full recap until I return from the Just For Laughs fest on Sunday, but as you …
This week’s issue of Time Out New York, out today, includes my new interview with British comedian Russell Brand, who just so happens to be arriving in Montreal today for Just For Laughs hot off sparking a new controversy over in the U.K. Coincidence? I’ll have to ask Brand about …
This year, to entice the industry who no longer can hobnob on the ski slopes of Aspen each February, the folks at Montreal’s Just For Laughs created a spinoff two-day confab called Just Comedy, which formally kicked off this morning with a keynote address from Steve Koonin, president of Turner …
One of the pure joys of writing about arts and entertainment is the chance to happen upon something or someone quite unexpected or new, to get a chance to see it/them develop, and then to watch as this new unexpected thing gets recognized by others. I suppose it’s much like …
The judge’s rulings are final. So I’m going to withhold final judgments on some of the New Faces until further review. At Montreal’s Just For Laughs, the New Faces have to deal not only with the pressure of a large foreign comedy club, but also with the added nerves of …