The 37th edition of the Just For Laughs comedy festival, which is slated to happen from July 10-28, is less than four months away, yet organizers decided to get a jump ahead by recently announcing the return of some of the festival’s long-running mainstay shows, along with some new and familiar faces that will grace the festival’s many stages this summer.
One returning familiar face is South African-born comic – and host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show – Trevor Noah, who will bring his 2019 Loud and Clear Tour to the Bell Centre for one night only on July 26 at 8 p.m. for an evening of his trademark, insightful take on the events and issues of the day. The festival’s flagship gala series has already announced its first of many hosts, with Australian comic Jim Jeffries, the star of his own late night series on Comedy Central, who will take to the Salle Wilfrid Pelletier of Place des Arts stage for two galas, both of them taking place on July 25.
The two series of shows that anchor the festival’s Club Series – The Ethnic Show and the Nasty Show – will once again open the festival, this time with two new hosts. The Ethnic Show – a virtual United Nations of comedy – will be hosted for the first time by popular Latina comedian Cristela Alonzo; she will be joined so far by Lebanese-Canadian comic David Merheje and British-Nigerian comic Gina Yashere for a total of 19 shows between July 10 to 25 at Club Soda and the MTelus theatre. Bobby Lee, seen on MADtv and the ABC sitcom Splitting Up Together, will make his festival debut as the host of the always popular cavalcade of crudeness the Nasty Show, which will serve up the risque laughs from July 17 to 27 at the MTelus. And the popular British darkly deadpan comedian Jimmy Carr will return to Montreal to host Brit(ish), the showcase of some of the finest comic talent from across the pond, on July 26 and 27 at the MTelus; joining Carr so far on the Brit(ish) line-up will be Sarah Millican.
Another British comic who will be making his return to the Just For Laughs stage is Michael McIntyre, who hosts two popular comedy series on BBC One and whose 28-show engagement at London’s prominent O2 Arena sold over 400,000 tickets. He will bring his Big World Tour show for one night only (July 25) to Theatre Maisonneuve of Place des Arts.
Tickets for these announced shows are now on sale, and can be purchased by going to the Just For Laughs website at www.hahaha.com
