Mark Critch says we haven’t seen the last of Montreal’s Just For Laughs festival

Comedian Mark Critch says he’s confident there will be a Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal again one day, despite the company’s current financial woes.

Groupe Juste Pour Rire Inc., the company that operates the world-famous bilingual comedy festival, announced on Tuesday that it has cancelled this year’s edition as it seeks to avoid bankruptcy.

The company said in a news release that it is seeking protection from its creditors as it begins formal restructuring under Canada’s Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. 

“Once the restructuring is completed, we hope that the festival will take place in 2025,” the company’s statement reads.

Several other shows outside of the main festival have also been cancelled, but Just For Laughs comedy festivals in other cities, including Toronto and Vancouver, will go on as planned.

Critch — creator and star of CBC sitcom Son of a Critch and cast member on CBC sketch comedy show This Hour Has 22 Minutes — has performed on that vaunted Montreal stage, and says it can be a career-maker for up-and-coming comedians.

Here is part of his conversation with As It Happens host Nil Köksal.

Mark, what do you remember about performing at the festival? 

Well, it’s, you know, a Montreal crowd, and there’s nothing quite like it. They’re the warmest audiences in the country, and they’re very respectful of artists, even a stand-up comedian. 

Many careers have been made on that stage. And it’s nerve-racking beforehand. It’s a big opportunity. You’re full of nerves. You feel like you’re going to pass out. Then you walk out there and you see those big smiling faces and somehow, you know everything’s going to be OK. So it’s the best adrenaline rush in the world. 

Huge names come every year to Montreal … but it helps break comics as well. What did you hear from newer comedians about that opportunity? 

It’s a great opportunity. Not just the huge Just For Laughs gala shows. But also, the festival itself is peppered with different venues, different types of shows. There might be kind of raunchier shows there. There are theme nights. Everything you could imagine. So there’s so many stages to get on there to see. It’s like the convention for all comedians once a year. 

You get to see huge acts that you would never get a chance to see, and you get to perform alongside them. 

The folks at Just For Laughs are great at showcasing new artists. And across the country, they have different showcases for acts to be seen by Just For Laughs bookers, just to get on the show. So you might not get on the show this year, but they’ll come back and they’ll give you another shot as you grow. So it’s very fertile ground for comedians. 

How did you find out  today’s news?

This morning, I was checking Twitter, and there it was. And I was absolutely shocked. I mean, it’s the biggest comedy festival in the world. 

And it’s such a Canadian thing, too, and so proudly Canadian. I mean, it’s like Air Canada going under or something like that. 

And I know they’ll be back.… I know they’re probably working harder now than if there was a festival, because they certainly feel the need to get this going for all our comedians and our audiences. And, of course, all of the millions of dollars in spinoff industries — the hotels and the bars and all that as well. 

But I was completely shocked. I had no idea. 

How do you think something like this happens? Because it looks like a big success. 

That’s show business, though, isn’t this? Everything is fake in showbiz. 

But I don’t think people realize how big that organization is, you know. It’s the festival, it’s all the spinoffs, it’s television shows based on that. It’s a million different things [and] festivals all around the world. So maybe it’s a case of getting a little bit … bigger than they could handle. 

But also coming out of a pandemic, I mean, show business has had as hard of a time as anyone, if not harder. There’s one thing you need for a comedy show, and that is audiences. 

So I wonder if this isn’t something that has been coming for quite some time. I know Mr. Howie Mandel came in, in a new restructuring deal a couple of years ago. So I think they’ve been working really hard, with a lot of hats on, to try to keep this thing going. And, unfortunately, it seems to have gotten away from them for the time being. But I’m sure that it will be back again. 

The company says it hopes to see the Montreal festival, at least, come back in 2025. You’ve said you feel that it will absolutely come back. But in the meantime, what would you say to those young comics who were hoping to be scouted or get a break and be on that JFL stage? 

I think there will be another year, and those acts will be here, and they will be showcased by Just For Laughs, and they’ll become household names. It’s just going to have to wait another year.