It’s been nearly 30 years since I attempted speed dating for the first—and last
—time.
In case you forgot about, or are totally unaware of the concept, speed dating is an organized event in which single people gather in a bar or club. The organizer has one group (usually the women) seated in assigned spaces around the venue. The group left standing will have the opportunity to meet the seated people one-on-one… but they only have a few minutes to try to make a connection before time runs out and they have to move on to the next person. And so on and so forth.
So I tried it. I had some interesting conversations (including with one young woman who enjoyed classic movie musicals from MGM). In conclusion, nothing came of it, and that was the end of speed dating for me.
So what does speed dating have to do with the Just For Laughs festival? Read on and find out.
It all happened this past Thursday afternoon, on the fifth floor of a venue called 2-22 located on the corner of St. Laurent Boulevard and St. Catherine Street East. In fact, the room used could have been a perfect setting for a speed dating event: multi-level floor space, comfortable upholstered furniture, a large outdoor terrace, and a lengthy yet well-stocked bar. The journalists in attendance were placed in different spots in the room, as the interviewees went from one journalist station after another for a brief face-to-face conversation…but with no pressure of commitment.
Up close with Rebecca Reeds
My first interviewee was Rebecca Reeds, who the night before delivered a killer set at the Nasty Show. She admitted that comedy was not her first career direction. In fact, she studied accounting at Carleton University in Ottawa, until she experienced a scary realization.
“I started to get panic attacks about the prospect of working a 9-to-5 job. It really freaked me out,” she said.
Rebecca tried to remedy this sense of panic through a creative outlet by joining an improv comedy troupe, but the troupe later dissolved. That’s when she decided to give stand-up comedy a try. “I did one show. After that happened, I realized this is what I’m going to do forever… unfortunately! So I dropped out of school.”
“Everybody’s priorities are different. There’s nothing wrong with having a 9-to-5 job. I just didn’t think my brain was built for that,” she added.
Rebecca firmly believes that a fearless attitude is essential when performing stand-up comedy in front of a live audience. “It took a lot of time to get there,” she said. “If you’re trying to say the things that I am saying, you better be fearless!”
When asked about why audiences have been flocking to the Nasty Show for nearly 40 years to get their edgy comedy fix, Rebecca attributed it to people wanting to be part of a particular community.
“There’s something about sitting in a dark room and getting permission to turn off your brain a little bit, just to be part of something,” she said. “There’s a certain community feeling to it, a community where we’re all being a part of something that maybe we shouldn’t be, and I am really cool with that.”
“This is my first Nasty Show. I also performed at New Faces and Roast Battle at previous Just For Laughs festivals.” she added. “I love this festival. In fact, I love any excuse to visit Montreal. And the food here is so spectacular; I plan to Ms. Pacman my way throughout the whole city by just eating!”
Speed dating with Nick Brazao
My second speed-dating interviewee was Nick Brazao, Just For Laughs’ VP of Programming & Talent, who offered an organizer’s perspective on the festival. One of the things he is proud of is that he was part of the process of completely rebuilding this storied comedy franchise.
“This is something that you don’t take for granted,”he said. “Every year will be an evolving process. But so far, we are ticking a lot of boxes.”
Another thing that Nick is proud of is how in a short time, the festival has quickly attracted a large range of local and national talent, as well as a lot of top comedy names like Gerry Dee, Gabriel Iglesias, Jerry Seinfeld, Tiffany Haddish and especially David Letterman (accompanied by Will Arnett and Paul Shafer). Regarding Letterman, that process began last November. “Managers pitched that idea to us, and we made an offer to have the show at the Vancouver festival last February,” he said “Somehow, the stars aligned and the timing was right. David pulled off a great event in Vancouver, and it helped to lay the groundwork for Montreal.”
However, Nick admits they didn’t have the luxury of time to get the festival’s revival off the ground. “If you take off a year, it’s acceptable. But if you miss it for two years, you lose the audience, because those two weeks in late July is a place that’s held on people’s calendars. That’s what they want to do with their vacation time,” he said.
Evolution is also part of the festival’s long range vision over the next 5-10 years, which means taking Just For Laughs’ 40-year festival business model and keep evolving upon it, in order to attract more fans to it year after year.
“Our vision in the long term is to carve out a niche and continue to make it relevant within the industry,” he said. “There are a lot more comedy festivals now in the world than there were when Just For Laughs was a unique idea more than 40 years ago. The landscape of comedy content is also evolving thanks to podcasts and original content on YouTube. We want to maintain the festival’s value proposition for the fans who come and see the shows, as well as let us take a valuable step toward keeping Just For Laughs as a relevant factor in the comedy world.”
Dave Merheje, a Culture Show mainstay
Interviewee number three was Dave Merheje, a Culture Show mainstay who is hosting the show for the first time this year. He likes the multicutural vibe that is created and cultivated at the show, especially during these difficult times, when racial intolerance is growing steadily.
“People are still being hateful, and it’s so tiring to hear hateful things being said about other cultures. We have to get enough information; enough so that we can have the ability to talk and interact with people of all cultures in general,” he said. “That’s what I like about the Culture Show. It offers different cultures giving their own perspectives that creates an impact with the audience, which is now more important than before. You walk away with a better understanding.”
Dave likes being associated with the Culture Show after performing on this show for four years; however, he has another Just For Laughs goal: “I want to do the Nasty Show,” (which he said as festival programming VP Nick Brazao passed by and was within earshot). “But it would be cool to be known as the face of the Culture Show, too.”
Marito Lopez, the ‘Short King’
The fourth and final visitor to my corner was Marito Lopez, another highlight from the Nasty Show line-up. From the moment I saw him onstage, I immediately empathized with him because we are both vertically challenged (he is 5’2″ and I am 5’3″).
“I’m a proud ‘Short King’. I never let people clown on me. That way, I was able to own it and used it against people,” he said. “It developed a sense of toughness and a certain energy inside of me. As I got older, l learned how to hold that energy and turned it into something positive; I took all that aggression and turned it into gold.”
Another part of his routine he focuses on deals with growing up Salvadoran out west in Calgary. “I am honoured and proud to be from Alberta. In fact, I love representing the Calgary Flames, although they are a terrible team. I even have a Flames logo tattooed on my back,” he said. “I also love the Alberta culture, from Nickelback to country music to the Calgary Stampede; however, while I lived there, I was never around so many white people in my life. It’s a very conservative province, so obviously, there are going to be racists. But now that I live in New York, I miss Alberta.”
He also talks about his mother and some of the out-of-the-ordinary things she liked to do, much to his embarrassment. That includes the time when she tried to smuggle Salvadoran cheese across the U.S. border. “Immigrant families are always smuggling things…and they get away with it. That caused me so much anxiety. I was always scared of being caught by border agents at the airport, because my mother was willing to risk our lives for cheese,” he said.
Marito enjoys doing edgy, controversial comedy, and was inspired by influential comedians of that nature such as George Carlin, Richard Pryor and Patrice O’Neill. “When they broke away from being clean, that’s when they popped off.”
“Edgy comedy is just how comedy is and how it should be,” he added. “I am not a fan of clean, corporate comedy. I love being dirty. I love talking about race. I love being nasty, which is why I am honoured to be part of the Nasty Show.”
Most solid lineup at JFL Festival
Over the many years I have seen the Culture Show (even when it was known under its original name the Ethnic Show), I have always maintained that this show consistently presented the most solid line-up of any Just For Laughs show. And the 2026 edition was no exception.
Some hughlights include Jackie Fabulous, whose set certainly lived up to her family name, which was dominated by her sharing of notes on how to succeed in Facebook dating. Culture Show rookie Alfred Robles, all decked out in a cowboy hat and boots, talked about the joys of being a “cat daddy”, why a red flag goes up when an adult male still lives with their mother, how he did a proxy confession for an older street gang member when he was a student at a Catholic elementary school, and the rituals of a Mexican funeral, which incldues writing messages on the deceased’s coffin. And surprise addition French comedian Kev Adams, who perfectly topped off the show with his fish-out-water material, especially the difference between what it is like to experience jet lag in France and the U.S. And of course, the show was helmed by Culture Show veteran Dave Merheje, who was the ideal comedian to set the tone of what multicultural comedy is all about.
And Nick Brazao, if you are reading this article, Dave would still like a spot in next year’s Nasty Show line-up.
For more information, or to purchase tickets for any Just For Laughs show, go to hahaha.com.
