Yahoo News Just For Laughs: Where Stand-Up Comedy Thrives Amid Hollywood Strikes
For stand-up comics gathered at the Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal this week, booking club dates across North America and arena dates worldwide represents far more than a way to stay busy and pay the rent during the Hollywood writers and actors strikes.
It’s what live comedy artists do year-round, taking to the road or TikTok and YouTube to hone their craft and build fan followings with an eye to global stand-up touring as the pinnacle of their profession. The result is a strike-proof Just For Laughs festival barely impacted by the current Hollywood industry shutdown as SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America look to settle contract talks with the AMPTP, representing major studios and streamers.
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“We know the heart of what we do is stand-up and comedy and that is not affected by the strikes,” Robyn Kaszor, vp of festivals at Just For Laughs, told The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday. The Hollywood actors strike upended plans by the stars of Peacock’s Killing It, Hulu’s animated Solar Opposites and This Fool series to take part in U.S. TV cast panels at Just For Laughs this week due to a ban on SAG-AFTRA members promoting projects tied to studios or streamers.
“We had to cancel three American cast panels, but that’s the extent of it. Because we’re here to promote comedy and comedians and stand up, we’re grateful for that. That’s our focus for our festival, so we’ve had minimal impact from the strikes,” Kaszor added.
To be sure, stand-up artists gathered in Montreal like summer camp for their industry have been looking with great interest to the stalled contract talks in Hollywood between actors and writers and North American producers for settlements. But their livelihoods aren’t necessarily riding on the outcomes.
“I’m touring in the States,” Los Angeles-based stand-up Steph Tolev told THR as she brings her solo show Steph Tolev: Filth Queen to Montreal after popping on the Bill Burr Presents: Friends Who Kill Netflix special. Tolev, a SAG-AFTRA member, said she was in the running for a possible role on a major U.S. sitcom before the U.S. actors labor action that she fully backs.
“I didn’t know how much we weren’t getting paid and how much the billionaires are getting paid,” Tolev, whose credits include Sarah Silverman’s Please Understand Me and Unprotected Sets, said of the U.S. actors and writers talks with AMPTP over streaming residuals, artificial intelligence and other issues as sticking points.
At one end of the industry spectrum at Just For Laughs are emerging comedic artists struggling to get their careers off the ground – whether in clubs, making viral videos for TikTok or YouTube or doing podcasts – after finally seizing the attention of festival programmers in Montreal.
“We live in a society where there’s so much content. If you don’t like this, move on. And if you say ‘I don’t get this,’ that’s engagement,” New York City-based Devin Gant, a digital video actor, writer and editor who performs in clubs and appears on comedy podcasts, said of growing his fan base during an appearance at a New Faces Creators showcase of new comedic voices writing, performing, directing and producing digital and social media content in Montreal.
And at the other end of the industry spectrum at Just For Laughs this week are comedic stars like Ali Wong, Jonathan Van Ness and Rammy Youssef who have parlayed TV comedy specials that stream worldwide into concert touring and other businesses that go well beyond traditional Hollywood comedy movies and sitcoms.
“There’s many ways to work in the comedy sphere, especially now that we have online avenues that people have access to, and the streaming services and the comedy touring business has never been as big as it is now. It’s big business,’ Kaszor argued.
And while comedy has traditionally been about artists telling personal stories, the Just For Laughs exec insists there’s many more platforms than ever on which to do just that, thanks to streaming and social media.
“We’re at the starting place of that, because that’s where people are coming to be discovered for their stand-up and for their comedy, and that’s the role we play in this industry. We bring all of the players here to see the stand up live and to be able to see what audience interaction a comedian has,” Kaszor explained.
The Just For Laughs comedy festival runs through to Sunday in Montreal.
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