Jimmy’s 4th Just For Laughs (JFL) appearance was in 2007 and although I couldn’t find as much info as I have for later years, there is some interesting stuff here.
This year the 25th Montreal (Canada) festival ran from July 12th to 22nd and I assume Jimmy was able to attend from the beginning as his last UK gig was on the 10th as a part of his Gag Reflex tour (Winchester, Theatre Royal).
The Hyatt
When you see references to the Hyatt this is a hotel that was originally called The Hyatt Regency Hotel, but is now the called the DoubleTree by Hilton Montreal. It’s an important addition to stories about the festival as some comedians stayed there and the bar at the bottom of the building was a gathering place (see Shecky for more about that).
Shecky Magazine attended festivals such as JFL and some of the people listed as drinking (at the hotel) on Saturday July 21st have added a couple more names to the festival:
- Jimmy Carr
- Lewis Black
- Louis CK
- Susie Essman
- Kathleen Madigan
- Jessica Kirson
- Greg Fitzsimmons
- Bill Burr
Jimmy’s Activity
Apart from the drinking session, mentioned above, I could only screw down 2 dates and am not sure when Jimmy’s set was filmed (video at the bottom of this post).
Chortle reviewed the Howie Mandel Gala which I think was on the 19th July (the only date mentioned on the article). It starred:
- Glenn Wool
- Jimmy Carr
- Tom Papa
- John Mendoza
- Greg Fitzsimmons
- Men in Coats
The Gala was in Toronto (an 80 minute flight from Montreal) and Jimmy and Tom got good reviews (but it appears a couple of the others “died a slow death”).
This blog from July 23rd mentions seeing Jimmy on what I assume was the 21st or 22nd. The blogger said he enjoyed Jimmy’s shows more than Eddies (Izzard) but warned against sitting in the front rows… I wonder why that could be?
Other JFL Attendees
In May the promotional articles had started up, in relation to the who and the when. The lists were a little varied, depending on which publication you look at. As I’m only trying to give you an idea of who else may have been there – the names below were predictions and may not all have performed (apart from the people in reviews or the ones with their picture in the Shecky article).
In the Hollywood Reporter the predicted 2007 head liners were listed as:
- Howie Mandel
- George Lopez
- Eddie Izzard
- Billy Connelly
- Louis CK
- William Shatner
JFL once again had a Flying Solo series, to showcase “one person shows” and Reuters and the Hollywood Reporter listed the people below – but Variety didn’t list Frank Skinner (and I saw no more mentions of him).
- Jimmy Carr
- Phil Nichol
- Jim Jefferies
- Kevin McDonald
- Frank Skinner
- Zach Galifianakis
- Paul Provenza (Shecky said he was running The Green Room, with various people each night)
Chortle listed the predicted Britcom performers as being:
- Stephen K Amos
- Russell Brand
- John Moloney
- Richard Herring
- Frankie Boyle
- Michael McIntyre
- Wes Packer
Chortle listed the Irish O’comics showcase as going to be hosted by Dara O’Briain and also featuring Andrew Stanley.
Other names that were expected to appear, at JFL, included:
- Danny Bhoy
- Dom Irrera
- Andy Kindler
- Sinbad
- Tommy Tiernan
- Russell Peters
- John Pinette
- Jeremy Hotz
- Ardal O’Hanlon
- Brad Sherwood
Shecky magazine also spotted / wrote about:
- Nikki Glaser (might not have recognised her, without the photo caption)
- Joe Matarese
- Robert Kelly
- Alonzo Bodden
- Jo Koy
- Tom Papa
- Seth MacFarlane (performing in Family Guy Live)
- Dave Attell (see Shecky story about him witnessing a street fight)
- Greg Proops (Shecky awarded him the “Palm D’or for Horse Manure”)
There was a compilation CD issued, by JFL. Details here.
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