For my final night of the 2026 Just For Laughs festival, I decided to attend one of the festival’s flagship shows, and one of my favourite shows—the galas and Midnight Surprise.
Gala Host Gerry Dee had Attendees in Stitches
Since I first saw Gerry Dee perform at a Just For Laughs gala back in 2007, he has become one of Canada’s most popular comedians, a fact he has also proven with his CBC sitcom Mr. Dee and as the host of Family Feud Canada. And his easygoing manner as a gala host won him new fans, too, especially when he talked about his experiences as a hypochondriac, the dark side of veterinarians, and why his retired dad continues to wear suits every day (“when he drops dead, he will be ready”).
Gala highlights include British comic Bridget Christie, Loni Love (and why Koreans confuse her with Aretha Franklin and Londoners with Tyler Perry as Madea); New Yorker Rachel Feinstein on why mothers are clinically insane, her judgmental six-year-old daughter threatening to run off and marry her dad, and Queens has a lot of dumb doctors; Michael Longfellow and the trick he plays on TSA agents at airport security areas; and Guy Branum comparing the weather in L.A. —where he currently lives — to his native Minnesota (I can wear shorts during an earthquake”).
All in all, a solid gala with a solid host helming it.
Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias
An enthusiastic sold-out crowd at Theatre Maisonneuve greeted final gala host Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, who has performed at Just For Laughs a number of times since 1999. Iglesias, who believes in the power of comedy to “enrich lives and not destroy them”, was the perfect host, as he regaled the crowd with dead-on presidential impressions, and his takes on the metric system, his 29-year-old son’s upcoming wedding, plus his wonderful anecdote about meeting his comedy hero Eddie Murphy in person for the first time at a comedy brunch that took place at the home of the president of Netflix.
Gala highlights include Iglesias’ long time friend and fellow comedian Martin Morena, who talked about urinating while sitting down, swimming pools with no rails and old people on ocean cruises; Culture Show performer Tara Cannistraci talked about getting married in her 40s, freezing her eggs and why she is not a typical Italian women (“because I like to speak for myself”); veteran Canadian comic Maria Bamford literally rolled out onto the stage and started off by saying “Why did the U.S. elect a dictator for the second time? For the price of eggs”, as well as the time she worked as a suicide prevention operator; Billy Gardell, the co-star of the sitcom Mike and Molly, delivered a terrific set about his losing 170 pounds (“I turned from the old Jackie Gleason to Paul Newman…I should be selling salad dressing”) and some vital tips to follow when the world comes to its eventual end; Caroline Rhea related about shopping at Winners and the time she performed in Scotland to a crowd that included a group of men who were just released from prison after they served 27 years for murder.
Midnight Surprise Show
The Midnight Surprise show was the perfect way to cap off a night of catching comedy shows. A mainstay of the OFFJFL umbrella since 2009, Midnight Surprise has always attracted large crowds to find out which comics will be performing that night…which they don’t know until the moment the host announces them (hence the “Surprise” element).
The full house at the TD Studio got their 90 minutes’ worth as Gabby Bryan emceed the unpredictable proceedings by asking the audience what is the drug of choice of Montrealers (ketamine) and asking a mother from Las Vegas why she took her 16-year-old daughter to the show.
Midnight Surprise highlights include New Faces comic Carolina Montesquieu who claimed Pete Davidson stole her jokes and why she will never have kids (“my screen time is 14 hours a day”); that night’s gala performers Michael Longfellow and Rachel Feinstein (who proved that jokes can work even better the second time around … and a few hours later); and Joey Dardano, who with Gabby Bryan, did a dual act that totally went off the rails (but in an uproarious, entertaining way), especially when Gabby went into the audience and polled several members about what they thought about Joey’s body.
That’s a Wrap on 2026
That wraps it up for the 2026 edition of the Just For Laughs festival. Special thanks to Pyper and Michelle from Touchwood P.R. for all of their help, which was conducted with a high degree of courtesy and professionalism, making my job of covering the festival such an easy, fun experience. See you next year.
