We got an email:
Hi Shecky,
I have enjoyed reading y’all through the years…keep up the good work. Though I do have one little “gripe” if you could call it that. It seems like all of your recent posts have been about Last Comic Standing.It’s cool that you’re covering it, but it feels like the page has become a LCS exclusive. I don’t mind to sound “nit-picky,” …I guess I was just hoping to find some other Stand-Up news on here as of late. Are you guys going to be covering the Just For Laughs Festival this year? That would be cool. Anyway, that is all. Keep up the good cause in promoting the wonderful art and craft that is stand-up comedy.
Guilty as charged!
Of course all of our recent posts have been about Last Comic Standing— as have most of our recent private conversations… and a good portion of our emails. Indeed, since securing the audition spots back in January, even a good portion of our dreams have been about Last Comic Standing.
That’s just the way it goes when you step on the Primetime Network Merry-Go-Round… or is it a roller coaster? Or a Wild Mouse (a Wildwood reference for all you Jersey Shore people… the real Jersey Shore, not the creepy, stereotype-laden, reality show Jersey Shore Jersey Shore)?
To answer the question: Yes, we will be covering the Just For Laughs festival this year. In fact, we’re typing this from our room at the Hyatt Regency, overlooking the intersection of Ste. Catherine and Rue Jeanne-Mance in downtown Montreal.
What is that? We think it's people dressed like tongues. Huh?
Our first observation: There are a lot of comics in this year’s festival who appeared on this season’s Last Comic Standing!
Ha! See what we did there?
Speaking of Last Comic Standing, when we attempted to cross the border into Canada yesterday at about three yesterday afternoon, we crawled up to the booth– the one containing the border patrol dude who asks you where you reside and what you intend to do on your visit to Canada– and the following exchange ensued:
Border Patrol Dude: What is the purpose of your visit?
Us: We’re going to the Just For Laughs Festival.
Border Patrol Dude: Are you there to perform or to attend?
Us: We’re going to attend.
Border Patrol Dude: (Pausing as he inspects our passports, then) I saw you on TV.
Us: (Laughing hysterically and saying, in unison) Then call the festival up and tell them to put us in!!
And they let us into the country anyway!
The Female Half, Kristeen Von Hagen, Luciano Casimir, Bonnie McFarlane, out back of the Comedy Works
This week, we are unashamedly Vos-McFarlane barnacles. We are attached to one or the other for the duration of the festival. Wherever they go, so shall we. It is in this manner that we will gain access to the inner recesses of the fest and consequently gain valuable insight into the inner workings of this, the largest comedy festival (still) in the English-speaking world.
Sounds passive. Well, it is. We took the last two years off. We’re out of practice. We’re exhausted. (You know, from our Last Comic Standing experience… did we mention that both Vos and McFarlane were featured in previous seasons of Last Comic Standing?) But we’re always looking for a different way to experience the fest. One year, we hustled– sweaty and panicked– hither and yon, snapping pictures and jabbering about the magazine to anyone who had ears. Another year, we merely planted ourselves in one corner of the Delta Bar and let the festivalgoers wash over us. This year, we brought a suitcase full of booze and we’ve turned off our cellphones– Verizon’s Canadian coverage policy is murky… so why take chances? It’s our tenth year here since 1999, so we dream up different ways to cover it.
Jason Weems (Last Comic Standing) and Lavelle Crawford (Last Comic Standing)
We met up with Rich Vos and Bonnie McFarlane (the cetacean to us anthropods) in the lobby of the Hyatt. And don’t you know Harland Williams is there, too. And don’t you know the first thing he says (to The Male Half) is, “Hey! I saw you on Last Comic Standing and I really enjoyed your set!” Swear. To. God.
The Male Half just wants his life to go back the way it was. (Sarcasm light is flashing.)
Williams is hosting Bubbling With Laughter, McFarlane is on the show. (Around here, we just call it “Bubbling.” It makes us sound and feel like television executives.) We eventually abandon the idea of grabbing a shuttle in favor of walking the two or three blocks to Club Soda. Ste Catherine St. is torn up– a beautification project– so the sidewalks are hemmed in by piles of gravel and saggy chain link fences. We enter through the rear. We descend into the subterranean green room where we hang with fellow Philadelphians Dom Irrera and Brendon Walsh. Also present (and due to mount the stage above us) is Eric Andre, Michael Ian Black, Jimmy Carr and look– it’s Last Comic Standing’s Natash Legerro! (She acknowledges The Male Half… but completely ignores The Female Half… apparently, The Female Half is not “the bee’s knees.”)
Mike Vecchione (Y-town!) and Josh Wade (Freehold, NJ)
The Male Half is distressed and disoriented by the lighting in the green room, so we decide to head up St. Laurent to Cabaret, where we manage to catch the sets of (among others) Last Comic Standing’s Mike Vecchione and Adrienne Iapalucci, barely missing the set of Last Comic Standing’s James Adomian. (We’re not even bothering to italicize Last Comic Standing any more… it’ll save us hundreds of keystrokes over the course of the next few days.)
Doug Stanhope is here... and so is Jon Dore
We also watched Josh Wade, Karl Hess, Ben Roy, Adrian Mesa all hosted by Michael Kosta. (That Kosta is a heckuva emcee. Kept it moving. Did time when it was merited. Busted the balls of a stonefaced patron in the upper deck.)
As they’re loading in the crowd for the second New Faces show of the evening, McFarlane pops in (fresh from her spot back at the Club Soda), while we’re chatting with J.P. Buck (erstwhile Aspen T.C., former T.C. for Tonight, future T.C. for Conan’s upcoming TBS resurrection). McFarlane and both Halves decide to walk back to the Regency to catch a shuttle to the Comedy Works. (It is there that hubby Vos will be hosting the marathon Best of the Fest.)
From left: Godfrey, Tom Green, Bill Burr, Hannibal Buress and someone named "April!"
We good-naturedly badger the folks at the logistics desk for a shuttle ride… they disappear for a while, trying to figure out just where all the shuttles are… we take the opportunity to stock up on the free whoopie cushions… McFarlane spies the hockey game sign-up sheet, grabs a pen and signs up David Feldman and Dan Naturman (We threw our heads back and laughed and laughed at the idea of either comedian skittering around on skates, checking Brent Schiess into the boards!)
All the shuttles are at the airport.
Adrienne Iapalucci and Brian McKim were robbed! (according to the Twittersphere)
We embark on The Just For Laughs Death March– Jeanne-Mance to Bishop St– stopping along the way for food and refreshments.
The Works is packed… and hot… and the crowd is hot as well. We catch McFarlane’s set from the hallway in the back of the house, then hang out on the back stairs for a bit before comandeering a shuttle for the return trip to the Hyatt. By the time we enter the Lobby Bar, the party is in full swing. The vast majority have arrived within the past 18 hours or so. It’s (PHL) homeboy Ralph Harris! (Wasn’t he on Last Comic Standing, Season 6?) Over there is Fortune Feimster! (We met her in Glendale in April, during the taping of the Last Comic Standing, Season 7 Semifinals!) And that’s Bruce Smith! (He manages Last Comic Standing judge Andy Kindler!)
Ralph Harris and The Female Half at the Hyatt
We exited at about 2:30. We had been up for about 21 hours by that point. Some things never change. We kick off our five days here by digging ourselves a sleep deprivation hole.
There will be hundreds more words and dozens more pictures.
For those keeping score at home, there’s about 18 references to Last Comic Standing in this post. Nineteen if you count this one.
If you’re looking for a link to aaaallll our coverage– each and every word and pic we’ve ever posted from Montreal, from 1999 through 2007, click here.