The Definitive Guide to Comedy
I’ve been writing so much about members of The Reckoning, that I should have reckoned that another of the iO West’s improv collective would be the breakout star of the New Faces Characters showcases this summer in Montreal. This year’s showcase had a high standard to meet, with UCB co-founder …
Before welcoming Group 2 of New Faces in Montreal upon their Wednesday night debut, host Pete Holmes asked the audience: “Be gracious. Be present. Be active.” Holmes might also have said be wary. For this crop of comics offered more style than substance, especially when compared to their Group 1 counterparts. …
Each crop of New Faces at Montreal’s Just For Laughs is special and unique. John Heffron, who hosted New Faces Group 1 on Wednesday night, told the audience that all of the big-name comedians you’d see at the festival’s Galas started out years earlier as new faces. That might not …
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. …
Here they are! Well, most of them anyhow. The list the comedy world waits all year for is out — Montreal’s “New Faces” for Just For Laughs. Last year, two “New Faces” made the leap from Montreal in July to Saturday Night Live in September (Brooks Wheelan and John Milhiser). …
If you want to know why the fuss about New Faces, it’s all about showing show business some new show for their business. All of the stories you’ve heard about six- or seven-figure development deals with broadcast and/or cable networks all come back to the simple fact that there are …
If the atmosphere at the New Faces Characters showcase at Montreal’s Just For Laughs feels a bit more heightened than in years past, it’s likely because the opportunities for actors and actresses to break out in sketch comedy roles is that much obvious to both the performers and the industry. With …
We make a big deal in the comedy industry about “New Faces” in Montreal because the comedy industry makes a big deal about it. TV credits are nice, but “getting Montreal” still feels like the prize aspiring comedians are reaching for, whether or not the development deals (six figures or …
Congrats to the new class of New Faces for Montreal’s Just For Laughs, showcased for the comedy industry this week. I’ll file full reports from all of the showcases later this week in Canada! NEW FACES Byron Bowers, Gina Brillon, Kevin Christy, Pete Davidson, Chris Distefano, Sean Donnelly, Derek Gaines, …
What do they say about New York City: There are eight million stories, and sometimes it seems as though eight million of the people telling them think they’re comedians? No, that’s not it. It is a fact, though, that America’s biggest city is also its biggest comedy mecca. Hollywood may …
