2022 was Jimmy Carr’s 17th Montreal Just For Laughs attendance (JFL) and, the way things are going, it could quite possibly have been his last. After a 2-year hiatus the festival returned in 2022 – but it was in trouble.
I should perhaps add a disclaimer – I’m not an industry insider – I just read a LOT about comedy and am trying to make sense of the articles that I’ve read and have linked them within the text.
Financial Issues
The company behind the festival (Juste pour rire) hit the financial buffers when it:
- struggled to get over the 2020 pandemic (post pandemic inflationary challenges)
- launched a comedy festival in England that underperformed (it lost $800,000 in 2023)
- had problems with reduced income as the social media landscape moved more towards TikTok (and monetization on YouTube and Facebook changed to focus more on Shorts)
- the 2023 JFL apparently lost $2m as it struggled to ramp back up to its pre-COVID scale
This eventually saw JFL 2024 and JFL Toronto being cancelled, as the company sought protection from its creditors.
JFL 2025
July 21st 2025 the Canadian Government announced that it was giving the festival $1,859,000, to be used for 2025 and 2026. Unfortunately (for the festival) Netflix is a Joke Fest snuck up behind them (see this post re 2022) and they now have a major competitor, probably with a lot more money available (and a worldwide streaming platform).
July 16-27 2025 rolled around – who was there this year? The promo “posters” tell a story as the “biggest names” seem to be Russell Peters, Adam Ray and Fortune Feimster. Russell Howard made row 3 (with other Brits like Nick Mohammed, Ed Gamble and Nish Kumar further down).
Prior to this year (2022) Jimmy was last there, in person, in 2019 and it seems to me, looking at the attendees over the years, that it’s on a downward trend.
It could be that 2025 was an anomaly, I should probably say. Many of the biggest comedians are booked 18-24 months in advance and it’s possibly that they weren’t expecting Montreal to happen this year.
What won’t have helped JFL is that Netflix is a Joke Fest launched in 2022 and ran again in 2024 (it’s a biennial festival). When most of the World’s biggest comedians are American can Montreal compete with Los Angeles?
Only time will tell. Meanwhile – back to JFL 2022.
JFL 2022
This year the Montreal comedy festival ran from July 13th to 31st.
On July 19th The Daily Hive interviewed Jimmy, about the upcoming festival. He said he thought this was his 15th JFL – but, technically, it was his 17th (assuming you include the virtual one).
Brit(ish)
Just a note on Brit(ish) first – Jimmy wasn’t involved in Brit(ish) this year. It was hosted by Tom Allen and featured:
- Dara O’Briain
- Fern Brady
- Phil Wang
- Nish Kumar
- Sindhu Vee
July 25/26th / Neal Brennan
Judging by this post from Neal – Jimmy probably arrived in Montreal around the 25th or 26th.
There is an overview on Interrobang.
July 26th / Tommy Tiernan
Tommy Tiernan was at Le Gesù on the 26th and this article says:
Of note: Comedian Jimmy Carr was in attendance, and his trademark laugh bellowed through the Gesù, appreciating a Carr-esque twist to Tiernan’s routine from an anonymous audience member.
July 27th / Terribly Funny 2.0
Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place Des Arts was the place to see 90 minutes of Terribly Funny 2.0, at 8pm.
MTL Times reviewed the show and the writer praised the fact that, over 20 years of watching Jimmy perform at JFL, he’s never heard him tell the same joke twice.
Interrobang described it as a “pleasurable lashing”.
July 28th / Keynote Speech
The blurb for this year’s ComedyPRO events can be viewed in this PDF.
This year the Keynote Speech (starting at 12.30pm) was delivered by Neal Brennan – who was introduced by Jimmy.
July 28th / The Nasty Show
Hosted by Big Jay Oakerson it would appear that Jimmy was a last minute addition as he wasn’t listed in any of the pre-show articles – apart from this brief listing on Sirius XM. Comments under various posts on social media confirmed that he had performed.
July 29th / Jimmy Carr and Friends
This was a charity evening and proceeds went to Comedy Gives Back. It was at Club Soda and started at 11.59pm. Featuring:
- Jimmy Carr
- Iliza Shlesinger
- Tommy Tiernan
- Neal Brennan
- Marc Maron
Marc Maron mentioned in his blog getting to “do a spot on Jimmy Carr’s show at midnight one night which was FUN.”
July 30th / 40th Anniversary Gala
Place des Arts was the place to be for JFL’s 40 Anniversary Gala, filmed by and aired on CBC on November 22nd 2022.
Presenters and performers included:
- Jimmy Carr
- Russell Peters
- Nikki Glaser
- Dave Merheje
- Fortune Feimster
- Tommy Tiernan
- Caroline Rhea
- Matteo Lane
- Katherine Ryan
- Chris Redd
- Rick Mercer
Some nice images on TheTVWaterCooler.com.
July 27th to 30th / ComedyPRO
Just For Laughs ComedyPRO took place July 27-30, 2022 at the DoubleTree by Hilton. This red-carpet video is undated, so I can only assume that it was on one of these days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UCEzNBu0h8 One of the ComedyPRO events had Pete Holmes, doing his You Made It Weird podcast from a stage. Jimmy was one his guests and you can see the Interview – here.
July 31st / The Worst Show
The Worst Show ran from 27-30 July, at Café Cléopatré, and was hosted by Big Jay Oakerson. The Saturday 30th show started at midnight so, technically, was on the 31st.
Although not advertised beforehand it would appear that Jimmy appeared in the show.
JFL finished on the 31st and then it was back to the UK for continuation of his Terribly Funny 2.0 tour.
Other comics at JFL 2022 included:
- Kevin Hart
- John Mulaney
- Chelsea Handler
- Bill Burr
- Amy Schumer
- Rick Mercer
- Hasan Minhaj
- Hannah Gadsby
- Jo Koy
- Iliza Shlesinger
- Patton Oswalt
- Marc Maron
- Celeste Barber
- Rosebud Baker
- Maria Bamford
- Matteo Lane
- Ronny Chieng
- Jimmy O. Yang
- James Acaster
- Robert Kelly
For previous Montreal events – see here.
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