Posts Tagged jfl montreal

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Katherine Ryan – Go Plug JFL 2022

by on July 15, 2022 at 2:40 pm
Posted In: Go Plug Yourself, Homepage, Just for Laughs, Montreal, Podcast, Podcasting

We’re talking to Katherine Ryan! Montreal’s favorite comedy podcast is back covering this year’s Just for Laughs festival in Montreal!

I got the chance to talk to the amazing Katherine Ryan about her Amazon Prime show “Backstage with Katherine Ryan”, finding love in the fairytale land of Toronto, picking names for people in jokes, cottages and more.

Katherine starred in, wrote and executive produced her 6 x 30’ sitcom, The Duchess, for Netflix Originals which was released globally in 2020 and leapt to the top of the Netflix chart.

She has filmed two critically-acclaimed Netflix Global 60’ stand-up specials – Glitter Room and In Trouble.

Katherine has sold-out venues across the world with her unique shows and has been touring her sell-out new show Missus across the UK and Europe and now returns to her home country of Canada. She took the show to the prestigious Netflix Is A Joke Festival in LA in April of this year.

She is currently filming the lead role in major scripted comedy series, Romantic Getaway, for Sky Comedy in the UK opposite Romesh Ranganathan.

She has been a stalwart on all the UK’s major panel shows, and has co-hosted six series of Your Face or Mine with Jimmy Carr alongside judging four series of Roast Battle for Comedy Central as well as being a judge on Netflix’s first panel show The Fix. In 2019, she hosted The Stand Up Show with Katherine Ryan for CTV.

Katherine hosts the primetime BBC Two jewelry-making competition series All That Glitters which aired to fantastic viewing figures in 2021. A second series has been filmed and will be released this year. Also in 2021, Katherine hosted ITV2’s marquee show Ready to Mingle.
Her debut book The Audacity was published by Bonnier in September as their Super Lead Title and went straight into the Sunday Times Bestseller list. It has also been released in Canada by Doubleday and will soon be published in the US by Amazon.
Her hit podcast Telling Everybody Everything frequently tops the podcast charts and is hosted by market-leader Acast.

Check her out this year at Just For Laughs performing “Missus” and at the 40th Anniversary Gala. Check out her JFL Artist Page for more info and tickets.

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Credit Where Credit is Due

As always, a big thank you to the providers of our theme song: Leighland Beckman and Aural Turpitude!

Keith does all sorts of things here on 9to5.cc, he works with the other founders on 9to5 (illustrated), co-hosts our two podcasts: The 9to5 Entertainment System and Go Plug Yourself and sometimes blogs here as The Perspicacious Geek.

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Judah Friedlander Makes Tough Decisions – Just for Laughs 2018

by on July 22, 2018 at 7:41 pm
Posted In: Blogs, Homepage, Just for Laughs, Keith, Montreal, Summer Festivals

Judah Friedlander and I may have something unfortunate in common. We both have some stories that have awkwardly involved really needing to go the bathroom. His is much worse than mine. I am slightly ashamed how much of this interview ended up being about what I’m sure is a horrific memory for Judah.

You’ve been warned.

When Judah Friedlander takes to the stage, it is as The World Champion.

The World Champion is not only the best at karate, he’s also the best at probably everything. Unkempt and in a trucker hat you might have a hard time believing that The World Champion could run a half-mile faster than you, but let me assure you: he absolutely can. You’d be an idiot to even try to keep up.

By adopting the ever-present persona of  The World Champion, Judah Friedlander has put everything that it is to be a proud American under a microscope. And under that microscope we see just how absurd the American idea of “USA #1” can really be.

And while Friedlander plays it for laughs, the man behind The World Champion is very serious. You can firmly disassociate his personal politics from his onstage persona. He recognizes that he has a platform to reach a wider audience and Friedlander has no problem voicing very serious opinions on social media.

I got to have a quick chat with Judah as he gets ready to bring new stuff and crowd work to Just for Laughs in America… Still Number One.

Keith: With your Netflix Special “America Is The Greatest Country In the United States” and now your tour “America… Still Number One” your persona is no doubt proud of being American. Over the years and across the various presidents who’ve served, are there times where you’re actually proud of being American?

Judah: My entire act is mostly absurdist satire. I think it’s a mix of seeing how things can be horribly run in the United States, but you can still have pride as well. Even though there are all these horrendous things going on at so many levels and part of that pride is sticking up for yourself. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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Neal Brennan Is Confident and Insecure At The Same Time – JFL 2018

by on July 22, 2018 at 6:38 pm
Posted In: Blogs, Homepage, Just for Laughs, Keith, Montreal

Neal Brennan’s voice is one of the more unique voices in comedy today.

If you listen to a lot of comedians talk about their craft, they will tell you that one of the hardest things to do when you’re starting out is to find your voice. Some comedians adopt a brash, confrontational tone, others a quiet reserved one. That voice informs so much of their delivery that the same joke could have very different connotations depending on the comedian (imagine Mitch Hedberg delivering Andrew Clay’s material, or vice versa).

 Outwardly so many of his jokes possess the kind of swagger of a more brash, shocking comedian, but delivered with just enough self-doubt that you can’t help but start critically thinking about everything he has to say. Add to all that a kind of analytical intelligence and just a small dose of absurdity and  you’re forced to think about each and every punchline on multiple layers.

One minute Brennan can be offering relationship advice with the poise of someone who has clearly mastered the art of courtship, only to be admitting that he is actually awful at maintaining a relationship a few minutes later.

He can talk about how stupid and primitive the average male can be about his sexual prowess from a position of learned authority, of course throwing himself under that same bus in the next beat.

He can somehow be preachy and relatable in the same breath, which allows him to weave in and out of topics like the political climate of America and masturbation seamlessly, with neither topic seeming out of place.

It’s that kind of broadly appealing but equally thought provoking and self-deprecating comedy that made his collaboration with Dave Chappelle (good lord, that was almost 15 years ago) one of the most memorable television comedies of the last 20 years.

Here We Go offers some of the best of what Brennan has to offer. If you’ve seen any of his spots on The Daily Show recently you won’t be disappointed.

Here We Go plays until Friday July 27th at the 2018 Edition of Just for Laughs. Tickets and more info here. Check out 3 Mics on Netflix.

Janelle James

Opening up for Neal the evening that we saw him was Janelle James. I had never had the pleasure of seeing James perform before and her jokes were a pitch perfect set up for Brennan. James offered that same masterful zig-zagging style of comedy where one minute she’s lamenting the difficulties of dating a younger man and the next she is very much insinuating that in the right circumstances she just might eat your baby.

Do yourself a favor and check out her OFF-JFL show with Tim Dillon.

Double Threat: Janelle James and Tim Dillon has a few more shows left between now and Tuesday July 24th. Tickets and showtimes here.

Keith does all sorts of things here on 9to5.cc, he works with the other founders on 9to5 (illustrated), co-hosts our two podcasts: The 9to5 Entertainment System and Go Plug Yourself and blogs here as The Perspicacious Geek.

 

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DeAnne Smith and The Rad Dads Show Off Montreal’s Best at JFL

by on July 20, 2018 at 3:40 pm
Posted In: Blogs, Homepage, Just for Laughs

Last night, Montreal’s home grown finest proved that this city produces some of the best comedy talent around.

DeAnne Smith’s Escape Room

As we mentioned before, this is a big edition of Just For Laughs for DeAnne Smith (referred to here as ‘her’, with apologies to her many preferred non-gendered identifiers like ‘hot Harry Potter’ or more recently ‘Jonathan Tilda Thomas’). With a run of her show “Escape Room”, being part of the Trevor Noah Galas and also recording a half-hour stand-up special for Netflix.

It seems like we’re almost past the stage where we can refer to DeAnne as blowing up and just start embracing that she is a talented, established part of comedy in 2018.

Stay tuned for the DeAnne Smith Gala at the 2022 Edition of Just for Laughs!

DeAnne actually brought a truncated version of “Escape Room” to the stage at Mainline. Electing to offer up a 30 minute version of her hilarious exploration of fears and anxiety and trying to figure out just what we’re so intent on escaping from, followed by 30 minutes of other material as she is clearly putting the finishing touches on her Netflix taping.

The approach was a blessing and a curse. Smith is sometimes at her best when she gets lost (or, the audience perceives she is getting lost, it could well be well oiled comedic timing) in a meandering side-road of derailed self examination, and with a more tightly managed clock some of that magic was lost. But on the other hand, the second half hour featured some of DeAnne’s most polished material and Smith was in fine form.

Escape Room runs until July 24th.
Trevor Noah Galas are Saturday July 28th (DeAnne is on the 8:30 show)
DeAnne’s Netflix taping is July 29th (Requires a JFL Pass, cannot be bought as a single ticket)
All of DeAnne’s JFL hijinks are here.

Rad Dads!

Is this shameless promotion of a show that featured 3 past guests of Go Plug Yourself and was hosted by my co-host? Sure. Was it an amazing night of comedy at the hands of hilarious parents? Also yes.

Walter Lyng and Reese Turner became dads together. Not of the same child. Of different children. But at almost the same time. Their babies were born a week apart.

For many parenthood means setting aside the wildness and impetuousness of youth. That is not the case for Reese and Walter. Instead they decided to just keep being rad. Or possibly they became even more rad.

What effectively became an evening of “anti-Dad jokes” the boys opened up their stage to some of the raddest dads (and the raddest dad of all, a rad mom) in comedy. The show feature the advertised likes of Steve Patrick Adams, Ellie MacDonald and Ali Hassan and also surprises appearances from Nasty Show comedians Montreal’s own Derek Seguin and New Yorker Aaron Berg.

I’m not sure if it was the intention of a show that was ostensibly about celebrating parenthood but so much of the comedy on display seemed to make me kind of happy I wasn’t a dad.

Stories about kids putting their hands down their pants, future parents passing out at prenatal classes and multiple allusions (from both Walter and Steve Patrick Adams) that children may be associated with the Lord of Darkness filled the evening (along with jokes featuring just about every bodily fluid a human body can produce).

Also of note, this was Ellie MacDonald’s final set as a comedian. She’s decided to pursue other interests creatively. It was a delight to see her play to the sold-out crowd of Café Cleopatra as a sort of unannounced send-off.

Sadly Rad Dads! was a one-night-only affair, but I’m sure we’ll see future installments popping up soon.

In the meantime, do yourself a favour and check out some of the very funny local talents filling out the OFF-JFL/Zoofest part of JFL. This city and its funny people deserve your love.

Keith does all sorts of things here on 9to5.cc, he works with the other founders on 9to5 (illustrated), co-hosts our two podcasts: The 9to5 Entertainment System and Go Plug Yourself and blogs here as The Perspicacious Geek.

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9to5 <3's Montreal - 2018 Festival Season

by on May 21, 2018 at 1:39 pm
Posted In: 77 Montreal, Blogs, Fantasia, Featured Post, Fringe, Homepage, Montreal, Osheaga, Summer Festivals

The fact that I went to a festival this very weekend (headed out to Santa Terasa Festival on Saturday) has made me realize that festival season is right around the corner. Over the year 9to5 (dot cc) has tried to keep up with as many festivals as possible. Something that, in “Festival City” is kind of hard to do.

A beautiful Monday afternoon of a long weekend has only made me even more aware that there are so many summer activities right around the corner.

I’ve often wondered what it is about Montreal that causes the city to go festival crazy in the summer months. I think it has something to do with the fact that we endure the harshest winters in North America. We know that summer is a brief, fleeting thing and collectively vow to jam as much fun into the handful of months of good weather.

The easiest way to do that is to jam extra fun into each and every weekend with festivals.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at just a few of the festivals that are going down this year that we hope to be at in one way or another, either as fans or journalists.

Festival St-Ambroise Fringe Montreal – May 28 to June 17

Covering the Fringe has been a highlight for us almost every year. We’ve provided written and podcast reviews of shows, interviews with local and out-of-town performers and more. Check out our coverage of past festivals here.

This year we’re hoping to offer more of the same, with podcast reviews and interviews.

Stay tuned for the next episode of Go Plug Yourself (on May 31st) for a special Fringe episode with Amy Blackmore and Veronick Raymond.

Just for Laughs Festival – July 11 to July 29

One of the very first festivals we ever covered here at 9to5.cc (Jon and I bought ComicPro passes and went to everything we could), Just for Laughs became a special place for us when Walter and I set up our podcast gear at the Hyatt late one night and just started mingling with comedians and (politely) asking if they wanted to be on our podcast. Some said yes, some said no. But Mick Foley said yes (along with DeAnne Smith, Kenny Hotz, Paul F. Tompkins, Patrick Cassels, Steve Patterson and Dave Merheje). Check out all our past JFL coverage here.

Who knows what this year’s coverage will be like, but I’m sure Walter and I will get up to something or other that will entertain you.

Fantasia International Film Festival – July 12 to August 1

If you’ve ever listened to 9ES or checked out some of the movie reviews that we indulge in here at 9to5.cc you know that we’ve all got soft spots for genre films. Jon and I love almost all avenues of horror, Sophie loves kung-fu and Scott loves himself some cheesy action movies. We basically met because of Dawson’s Science Fiction and Fantasy club. So it’s no surprise that we absolutely jumped at the chance to cover the Fantasia International Film Festival when the opportunity arose.

Over the years I’m pretty confident that we’ve provided some level of review for nearly 100 movies that have screened at the festival. We’ve got a few things in mind for this year’s edition that we can’t wait to share with you all. Check out our previous years’ coverage here.

’77 Montreal – July 27

Montreal’s one-day punk rock extravaganza made its debut last year and even though punk and ska feature less frequently on my playlists than they used to, I still have a huge spot in my heart for the styles. Punk rock music is part of why I’m into music in the first place. It was listening to punk and ska in high school where I started to become interested in the artists making the songs I enjoyed so much. Reading magazines and tracking down interviews featuring my favorite bands was part of the fun.

’77 Montreal celebrates that history and also the future of the genre. Booking talents from both punk rock’s past and future assures a kick ass day of outdoor circle pits and mohawks. Check out all the fun we had last year here.

Heavy MONTREAL – July 28 to July 29

Though we’ve never actually covered the festival “officially” for the site (in part due to the fact that the festival took last year off to regroup and make sure this year’s was as heavy as possible), Sophie and I have attended a number of iterations of Heavy MONTREAL (or Heavy MTL as it used to be known). We even ran a comic strip series a few years back about our fictitious counterparts attending such a festival.

The best part (I mean, for me anyways) is that you can buy a “Weekend Warrior” pass and check out ’77 Montreal and Heavy MONTREAL back to back for one price. 100% Guaranteed to leave your ears ringing on Monday morning.

Osheaga Arts and Music Festival – August 3 to August 5

There are few events occurring over the course of a Montreal summer that could hope to equal that of spending the entire weekend at Osheaga. One my friend’s described it as being on an entirely different planet filled with amazing vibes and good music for 3 days and he’s not wrong. Osheaga weekend can almost feel like a full vacation (which it is to many of the people who make their way to our city just to check out the festival.).

Last year was, as always amazing, full of new musical discoveries on the smaller stages and killer performances on the main stages. Check out our coverage of the 2017 festival here.

Everything Else Going On

Man, Montreal Roller Derby will be hosting a WFTDA Tournament June 15-17, there will be fireworks, there will be jazz. If you are so inclined I’m sure you could book your entire schedule until September right now if you wanted to.

Enjoy the summer Montreal!

Montreal Fireworks Display Photo: Michael Vesia

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JFL: Sasheer Zamata – More Bo Jackson Than Michael Jordan

by on July 26, 2017 at 11:07 am
Posted In: Homepage, Just for Laughs, Keith, Montreal

Sasheer_ZamataLike many people, I became familiar with Sasheer Zamata through Saturday Night Live. Obviously a comedian needs to put in an enormous amount of work to even get an audition for SNL, and only the most talented will actually land a role. So when we meet this “fresh face” on SNL each week, we’re actually looking at years of hard work and dedication to the craft.

I was always a fan of Zamata’s work on SNL, and even though she was great in sketches I always enjoyed her Weekend Update segments the most. These segments are a lot closer to stand-up. Where Zamata’s own voice and opinions came through in the comedy instead of being boxed in my the premise of a sketch or the limitations of an impersonation.

There were moments on SNL where Zamata’s thoughts and opinions on race, gender and equality shone through. And those moments were the most captivating.

So, despite having not seen much of her stand-up prior to last night, I opted to head out to Katacombes and see just what she would do without the constraints of being on a show like SNL. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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JFL – Jen Kirkman Is Not Going To Have Kids

by on July 20, 2017 at 5:13 pm
Posted In: Blogs, Homepage, Just for Laughs, Keith, Montreal

kirk0103redo(2)_LOWRES_RETOUCHEDSo stop asking. She even wrote a book that’s partially about that.

And it’s ok. Even better, that just means that she has more time to be funny for us.

When I told my wife I was going to be talking to Jen Kirkman she (as she does) needed a point of reference for who I was talking about. That part was easy, Jen’s repeat appearances on “Drunk History” are among the best the show has to offer. A quick scan of some of her earlier work revealed that Kirkman was part of stuff that I was into from much, much further back than that. She voices Nurse Kirkman and Cynthia in Home Movies in the early 2000s (of which I own the whole series) and was also featured prominently in Acceptable TV, Dan Harmon’s Channel 101 inspired show on VH1.

She’s been a part of comedy that I was into for the last 15 years at least, so why did it take until 2009 for her to be named one of the Rising Stars of Comedy by Entertainment Weekly?

Search me.

Jen is coming to town next week for 5 shows at Montreal’s Mainline Theater for her show “Irrational Thoughts” as part of Montreal’s Just for Laughs festival. She promises a mix of new and old material, some of which will be brand new for the Montreal audience.

We had a few minutes to talk about the show, not having kids, post-election depression and the heatwave that is currently melting Montreal: ↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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Just For Laughs Flashback Episode 1: Kenny Hotz and Ron Sparks

by on August 10, 2015 at 7:06 pm
Posted In: Go Plug Yourself, Homepage, Just for Laughs, Montreal, Podcasting

So a funny thing happened this year during festival season: I went to Taiwan and got engaged to Sarah. So in light of that we had Jono sub in with Walter for the Just for Laughs episodes. Then, a series of unfortunate events led to us very nearly losing all of the audio that was recorded. But now, thanks to the magic of computers and me being back in Canada the episodes have been recovered! Glory day! In celebration of my engagement to Sarah and funny people everywhere we will be releasing the 4 minisodes that we salvaged over the course of the week! We kick this bitch off with a bang with a double feature of two of the funniest of the Canadian funnymen: Kenny Hotz and Ron Sparks!gpysJFL20151

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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As always, a big thank you to the providers of our theme song: Aural Turpitude!

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