Amy Schumer, James Acaster, Jimmy O. Yang and many other comedians have joined the lineup of Just for Laughs Montreal’s 40th anniversary festival. The news comes ahead of the launch for tickets of the event, which goes live Wednesday.
Schumer, Acaster, Yang, Jimmy Carr, Dara Ó Briain, Debra DiGiovanni, Jacqueline Novak, Katherine Ryan, Maria Bamford, Fortune Feimster will all perform concert shows over the course of the almost three-week long Canadian comedy festival. In addition, Rick Mercer will host a special concert spotlighting Canadian comics. They join previously announced performers, who include John Mulaney and Hasan Minhaj.
Just for Laughs also announced a special gala celebrating the festival’s 40th anniversary, as well as several club shows, a podcast reading for Hesseltine and Rayna Greenberg’s comedy show “Girls Gotta Eat” and programming for the Off-JFL spin-off festival.
The festival also released the dates for its 26th annual New Faces series, which spotlights up-and-coming comedians. Aside from the main New Faces show and its three established offshoots (Characters, Unrepped and Canada), for the first time ever the festival will produce New Faces: Intl., spotlighting the fresh comedic voices from across the globe. In addition, Variety will host a showcase of the performers spotlighted in its annual 10 Comics to Watch feature during the festival.
Produced by the Just for Laughs Group, the fest regularly attracts more than 2 million attendees. The event has served as a launching pad for the careers of many notable comedians, including Schumer, Kevin Hart, Kumail Nanjiani, Ali Wong and Pete Davidson. This year will mark the first in-person JFL since 2019.
Just for Laughs festival will take place July 13-31 in Montreal. (Variety)