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Update, July 13: Just For Laughs Montreal has announced that Hacks star Jean Smart will be honored with its Comedy Performance of the Year award. Hosting the Just For Laughs Awards Show will be Amber Ruffin.

Previous, June 29: Just For Laughs Montreal on Tuesday took the wraps off its 2021 comedy festival, saying it will run July 26-31 and feature in-person stand-up shows in Montreal as well as for the first time shows in Los Angeles and New York City in a nod to travel restrictions due to the pandemic.

The festival, which went online-only in 2020, also announced a lineup that includes Kevin Hart, Bert Kreischer, Maria Bamford, Patton Oswalt, Yamaneika Saunders, Gina Yashere, and SNL‘s Bowen Yang, among others.

Dave Chappelle will receive this year’s Comedy Person of the Year Award from the fest and also will appear. Other honorees announced today include Jason Sudeikis and Bill Lawrence of Ted Lasso,...

This week on Jay Leno’s Garage, Jay discovers his inner child as he takes to the wheel of a motorized dinosaur and checks out a giant train track. Jay heads to Pixar/Disney boss John Lasseter’s amazing 85-acre park that has some of the coolest big boy toys you can imagine. Jay checks out a giant train track, some drifting trikes and even a fire breathing mech dinosaur you can control. He looks a bit uneasy on the trike but he soon gets the hang of it and Also on this episode, Jay and comedian Jeremy Hotz head to America’s oldest...read more...

"Family Ties" actor Michael Gross, who played the ex-hippie father of Michael J. Fox's Alex Keaton in NBC's hit '80s sitcom, will be joining the cast of the Canadian comedy "Call Me Fitz" for a five-episode arc during its upcoming season.

The Hollywood Reporter has the news, saying that 10 new episodes of the HBO Canada and DirecTV Audience Network dark comedy are being filmed in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Gross will play "Pat Childs, an eco-industrialist looking to destroy the used-car industry as part of a Fitzpatrick family smackdown."

"He's decided to take on the car industry. He becomes a formidable foe," "Fitz" showrunner Sheri Elwood says of the character, adding that this role is going to be a big change from Gross's nice-guy image in "Family Ties."

In addition, THR learned that Canadian stand-up comedian and actor Jeremy Hotz will play a "disillusioned social worker investigating the Fitzpatrick...

Toronto – Family Ties’ Michael Gross has joined the cast of Call Me Fitz, the Jason Priestley-starring HBO Canada and DirecTV Audience Network comedy. Gross over a five-episode arc will play Pat Childs, an eco-industrialist looking to destroy the used-car industry as part of a Fitzpatrick family smackdown. And Canadian stand-up comic and actor Jeremy Hotz will guest star in the fourth season of Call Me Fitz as a disillusioned social worker investigating the Fitzpatrick clan. Sheri Elwood, creator and showrunner of the Canadian comedy series, said Gross’s nice-guy image born of his star

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TBS Just For Laughs Chicago to include advance screening of "That's My Boy," with Adam Sandler making an appearance. Conan O.Brien, Aziz Ansari, Vince Vaughn, Sarah Silverman and Kevin Smith Take Center Stage at Fourth Annual TBS Just for Laughs Chicago Comedy Festival at The Chicago Theatre, from June 11-17. Founded in 1983, the Just For Laughs Group.s growth is concentrated on four major focal points: Festivals (in Montreal, Toronto and Chicago); television production, live shows (Canadian tour dates for Jerry Seinfeld, Jeremy Hotz, John Pinette, Louis C.K., the Capital One Just For Laughs Comedy Tour, North American dates for Family Guy Live!); and talent management. Its inaugural Montreal Festival launched 30 years ago is now the world.s largest comedy...

Chicago – Martin Short, the classic comic performer of Sctv, Saturday Night Live and film, came to Chicago as part of Superstation TBS “Just for Laughs” Festival, hosting and performing in the “Let Freedom Hum” revue on June 17th.

Martin Short (as Lawrence Orbach) and friend as part of ‘Just for Laughs’ Chicago

Photo credit: ©2009 Jeremy Freeman for TBS ‘Just for Laughs’ Chicago Dusting off some of his famous characters, like inept talk show host Jiminy Glick, Short also introduced some of the top comedy stand-up talent in the country, including John Pinnette, Tom Papa, Greg Giraldo, Jeremy Hotz and Kathleen Madigan.

HollywoodChicago.com caught up with Short right after the taping of the special, which will air June 26th on TBS (check listings). He spoke about the Canadian sensibility of comedy, the two second cities and some memories of then and now.

HollywoodChicago.com: How did being born and raised...

David Alan Grier may have not felt the love from the "Dancing with the Stars" judges this season, but Dag has comedic skills and TBS is using them to bring an evening of comedy in June. Comedy superstar Martin Short has also signed on to host a showcase from TBS Presents A .Very Funny. Festival: Just For Laughs, joining Ellen DeGeneres and David Alan Grier in presenting TBS televised specials from the premiere Chicago event. Let Freedom Hum . An Evening of Comedy hosted by Martin Short will also feature stand up kingpins John Pinette, Kathleen Madigan, Greg Giraldo, Tom Papa and Jeremy Hotz The shows will be taped during the Festival, which takes place Wednesday, June...

New York -- Martin Short has signed on to host a televised special from this summer's "TBS presents a "Very Funny" Festival: Just For Laughs" in Chicago.

He joins Ellen DeGeneres and David Alan Grier in presenting TBS specials from the inaugural festival, which takes place June 17-June 21 and is organized by TBS and Montreal-based Just for Laughs.

"Let Freedom Hum -- An Evening of Comedy Hosted by Martin Short" will not only put the spotlight on the host, but also feature John Pinette, Kathleen Madigan, Greg Giraldo, Tom Papa and Jeremy Hotz, the festival organizers said Monday.

They also unveiled talent for the special "Comedy You Can Believe In with David Alan Grier," namely Bruce Bruce, Jo Koy, Mark Curry, Aries Spears and Marina Franklin.

The Short special will air Friday, June 26, followed by DeGeneres's "Ellen's Bigger Longer and Wider Show" on June 27 and the Grier event on June...

Related story: Wrap-up of Montreal's JFL

TORONTO -- Canada's Just for Laughs Festival is set to take over Toronto's Elgin Theater this week as it continues branching out from its Montreal roots at home and internationally.

Coming just days after the wrap of the parent JFL comedy festival in Montreal, veteran comics Howie Mandel, Craig Ferguson and Lewis Black will introduce a host of American comics to audiences here as part of the inaugural Just for Laughs Toronto, among them John Pinnette, Alonzo Bodden, Bill Burr, Kathleen Madigan and John Mendoza (HR 7/23).

Other comics booked for Toronto include Americans Richard Lewis, Jo Koy, Bob Marley, Greg Giraldo and Tom Papa as well as Canadians Jeremy Hotz, Russell Peters, Derek Edwards and Elvira Kurt.

Just for Laughs COO Bruce Hills describes the Toronto edition, which wraps Saturday, as a mini-Montreal.

"Our idea for Toronto, to a large degree, is part of our 25th celebration. We've done many things around the world, and will continue this week," he said.

Hometown boy Howie Mandel, Craig Ferguson and George Lopez are to headline the inaugural Just For Laughs Toronto Festival in July, organizers said Tuesday.

Montreal-based Just For Laughs said that The Three Comedians will host main-stage galas July 26-28. Stand-up acts booked for Toronto include Richard Lewis, Just For Laughs veteran John Pinette and Canadian comic Russell Peters.

Just For Laughs also has called on a host of other Montreal festival veterans to entertain Toronto crowds, including Kathleen Madigan and Alonzo Bodden, both from "Last Comic Standing", Canadian comics Jeremy Hotz, Elvira Kurt and Derek Edwards as well as Greg Giraldo, Bob Marley, Bill Burr and Tom Papa.

Just for Laughs COO Bruce Hill said that the 30 comics lined up for Toronto represent a mix of established names and festival veterans. "It's a luxury of riches", Hill said of his bookings for the $2.25 million inaugural Toronto event.

Following the Montreal tradition, Just For Laughs also has drawn on international talent for its first-ever Toronto edition, including Ireland's Ardal O'Hanlon ("Father Ted") and the U.K.'s Frank Skinner.