Family Guy cast, Howie Mandel headline Montreal's Just for Laughs
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 2, 2007 | 11:53 AM ET
CBC Arts
The cast of animated comedy Family Guy and Deal or No Deal host Howie Mandel are among the headline acts at Montreal's Just for Laughs Comedy Festival.
Howie Mandel, shown at the People's Choice Awards in January, will return to comedy with the Just for Laughs festival.
(Dan Steinberg/Associated Press)
It's the 25th anniversary of the festival and Maureen Taran, vice-president of programming, is promising both old favourites and some new innovations on stages throughout Montreal.
"We were looking to rebuild it … make it a little different," she said. "We wanted to take the last 25 years and say 'Hey, we've done this, this is what we're going to do for the next 25 years."'
The festival begins with a special show featuring the reunited Kids in the Hall and galas for Canadian standup comics Russell Peters and John Pinette.
The Just for Laughs lineup also has many comics from overseas, including Scotland's Billy Connolly and Danny Bhoy, and Britain's Eddie Izzard.
"We have the best lineup of British, Australian and Irish acts," Taran said. "There's no other comedy festival in the world that does that."
George Lopez, star of the U.S. family comedy series, is coming, as are favourites such as The Daily Show's Lewis Black, Canada's Jeremy Hotz and Italian-American comic Dom Irrera.
George Lopez, who has a self-titled comedy show on ABC, will be in Montreal for the comedy festival. He is shown in March in Los Angeles.
(Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press)
Among the new ideas are a series of sketch comedy and musical comedy shows, which will showcase new talent.
One show, titled Celebrity Autobiography, will feature the cast of CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother reading actual excerpts from celebrity biographies.
"The 'N Sync autobiography? I mean forget about it," Taran said.
The festival will also include old standards such as the Nasty Show, the Relationship Show and Asian Invasion.
This year's Just for Laughs festival will run from July 8-29, with shows in both English and French.
A Toronto Just for Laughs festival is scheduled for July 26-28.
