With names like Trevor Noah and Dave Chappelle (and John Mayer?) coming to town in the next few weeks it’s easy to get wrapped up in just how star-studded Just for Laughs can be. You may be content to spend all of your comedy dollars on names you recognize from Netflix or television. You might be content, but you’d be missing out. Missing out on all that good, good local talent that will be gracing the stages of Just for Laughs in 2018.

Montreal is a great comedy city 365 days a year, and it’s thanks to the likes of some of these fine and funny folks.

DeAnne Smith: All Over the Festival

In addition to having her own show “Escape Room”, DeAnne will be taping her Netflix special during the festival as well. If that wasn’t great enough (and that’s pretty great) she will also be part of the tremendous lineup being assembled for the Trevor Noah gala. It seems like years ago (because it was) that she was gracing our podcast way back the first Just For Laughs we covered, or repping her Fringe show from 2013.

Check out all the things DeAnne will be up to at this year’s JFL here.

Hot Raw Fire: All You Can Eat

Made up of (deep breath): Jacob Greco, Lise Vigneault, Paul Naiman, Danny Belair and Deirdre Trudeau, Hot Raw Fire is Hot Raw Fire. They’ll be bringing their slightly accessible brand of sketch comedy to the festival one night only and will probably have some guests. Check out episode 158 of Go Plug Yourself to listen to Lise and Paul tell you all about the glamorous life of sketch comedians.

Hot Raw Fire is performing on July 20th @ 9:00 PM at the Montreal Improv. Tickets and info here.

Leighland Beckman: Life Lessons and An Evening With Leighland Beckman

In addition to providing our podcast Go Plug Yourself with its theme song (and taking on the role of band leader whenever we take the podcast live) Leighland is Montreal’s premiere dirty music soul daddy. He’ll be taking his usual place alongside Keith Waterfield in a special JFL edition of “Life Lessons” but he’s also going to be hosting his own special evenings of his unique brand of musical comedy. You can enjoy literally hours of Leighland’s dulcet tones right here on 9to5.cc.

For all of Leighland’s shows and dates, click here.

Chris Venditto and Lawrence Corber: Healthy Living in Comedy

The good brothers of healthy living (and friends of the podcast) Lawrence and Chris will teach you everything you need to know about being your best self in a healthy way in 2018. I’ve had the pleasure of having the Venditto family lasagna and there is literally nobody I would trust more feeding me short of my own wife.

Healthy Living in Comedy is at 10:30 pm, July 19th at the Montreal Improv. More info and tickets here.

But wait you might ass, aren’t Reese Turner and Walter J. Lyng normally fixtures of “Healthy Living in Comedy”? Well yes, but…

Walter J. Lyng & Reese Turner: Rad Dads!

As we spoke about on Go Plug Yourself 160, Walter andhe Reese had their babies just a weeks apart. They even want to the same pre-natal classes together. And while they used to be known for their lives of degenerate debauchery they’ve laid down their bongs and flasks for the fulfilling pleasures of fatherhood. And by that I mean they set down their bongs and flasks just long enough to scoop up their children into their arms before picking them back up again. It’s called multitasking.

Rad Dads! is July 19th at Cafe Cleopatra. More info and tickets here. 

This is just the tip of the iceberg too. Other very funny Montrealers (and weirdly all past guests on our shows) like Mike Ward, Derek Seguin, Tranna Wintour, Joshua Budman, Andy Assaf and more that I’m probably missing all have shows part of this year’s Just For Laughs, Off-JFL, Zoofest lineup!

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.