The pressure was on Trevor Noah to live up to the advance hype this summer at North America’s ultimate comedy summit, Just for Laughs. Noah, as everybody knows by now, takes over from Jon Stewart as host of The Daily Show (Monday, Sept. 28, Comedy Central/CTV). Those are big shoes to fill and the 31-year-old
In recent years, one of the highlights of the Just for Laughs comedy festival has been Andy Kindler’s “State of the Industry” address. I got a preview of this year’s laffer waiting for the elevator with Kindler. The comedian was already standing before the four closed elevator doors on the 10th floor when I hit
MONTREAL–Neil Patrick Harris had no idea Just for Laughs was such a wild friggin’ party. He arrived Saturday and quickly got swept up into the after-party fast lane. That pushed our interview back an hour Sunday but when Harris did emerge he could not have been more gracious or accommodating. We chatted for nearly an
Sunday marks the finale of The 2015 Pan American Games. Canadian athletes did our country proud, winning a record 214 medals by end of day Saturday, including 77 gold. Sunday’s haul should add to that tally. But how did the Games do on TV? CBC is the rights holder and is looking for a big
MONTREAL–The cast and creators of HBO’s Silicon Valley had a packed banquet room full of fans in stitches–or was it the session moderator? The poor chap never knew what hit him. T.J. Miller has been tearing up Just for Laughs for days at Club Lucky and other stand-up venues and is on fire. Thomas Middleditch
MONTREAL–Over 1700 patrons packed the Olympia Theatre Friday night to see what for many was the big draw at this 33rd annual Just For Laughs comedy festival–a live cast reading of “The Big Lebowski.” Director Jason Reitman created the Live Read Series and conducts readings once a month in Los Angeles. For this Montreal reading,
MONTREAL–They gave Mike Myers the Just For Laughs Lifetime Achievement Award Friday–and darn it if the guy didn’t get all verklempt. What he didn’t get was dressed up, but there is a nice informal quality to these comedy awards. Myers was among an All-Star dais of comedy stars who sat on couches at the low-key
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina–It takes two to Tango, and sometimes more as I learned while embedded with The Amazing Race Canada. In this season’s third episode which aired Wednesday and repeats Saturday on CTV, teams scrambled from Chile to Buenos Aires. While the weather was cooperatively mild, it was a long, grueling day for the racers on