Just for Laughs: 3 sure-fire bets for the comedy fest’s final weekend!

Chelsea Handler, The Muppets, Bill Hader, Bob Saget, Lewis Black, Howie Mandel… Needless to say, the 30th anniversary edition of our venerable comedy institution has been as star-studded, pimped-out and irreverent as ever. Careers have taken off, ticketgoers have been offended and the livers of JFL staffers have taken a serious hit. But before you’re done indulging in all the festival’s food trucks, parades, conferences and free outdoor zaniness, how about catching one last stand-up act? These three shows are what you’d call iron-hot.

 

Mario Cantone
Saturday, July 28 at 9:30 p.m.
Gesù | 1200 Bleury

After much theatre, musical comedy and monologue work, it was Mario Cantone’s hilarious recurring turn on Sex in the City as Anthony Marentino, Charlotte’s flamboyantly gay wedding planner, that found the actor rapidly building a broad cult following. Anthony’s motor-mouth, bossy-pants attitude is actually based on the type-A stand-up persona Cantone has refined over the years.

Known for his celebrity impersonations (think Liza, Judy Garland and Joan!) and memorable bits that riff off his experiences as a gay Italian-American, Cantone brings all the sassiness and pizazz he can muster to Montreal for the very first time.

 

Amy Schumer’s Slaughterhouse
Saturday, July 28 at 9 p.m.
Katacombes | 1635 St. Laurent

Gotta love a girl who doesn’t back down from death threats. The 31-year-old comedian, who’s shone on more than one occasion at Just for Laughs and as a finalist on NBC’s Last Comic Standing, saw her career skyrocket last fall when she dealt a number of crushing comedic blows on Comedy Central’s Roast of Charlie Sheen. Beyond taking jabs at Mr. ‘Media Meltdown’ himself as well as Mike Tyson’s tattooed face, she shocked many Jackass fans when she directed a particularly corrosive bit at Steve-O regarding his deceased castmate, Ryan Dunn. As one would expect, hate mail/death threats promptly followed suit.

Clearly, nothing is off-limits for this blond, bubbly queen of raunch: date rape, blackout drinking, her wheelchair-bound dad… This might be your last chance to catch Schumer in town for a while, as her star is unquestionably on the rise with an upcoming Comedy Central special and two indie films released this year – the Sundance-approved Price Check, with Parker Posey, and Focus Features’ Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, with Steve Carell and Keira Knightly.

 

The Nasty Show
Host Bobby Slayton
With Paula Bel, Mike Wilmot, Briand Keith Etheridge, Mike Lawrence, Ben Roy, Matt Davis
Saturday, July 28 at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.
Club Soda | 1225 St. Laurent

The Nasty Show is a longstanding JFL staple. If conventional stand-up comedy doesn’t do it for you – thinking middle-aged men whining about their wives’ remote control privileges, or douchebag bros delivering tired bits about one-night stands and meeting the in-laws – then do yourself a favour and head to The Nasty Show. We’ve heard some of the filthiest, lewdest, most horrifically inappropriate things to ever be broadcast from a stage microphone. Just don’t sit too close to the stage… unless you fancy the thought of comedians inflicting years' worth of psychological baggage to be worked out with your therapist.

 

Just For Laughs is part of Festimania, the Montreal Collective that offers you five continuous weeks of festivals this summer. The Festi+ pass will give you lots of perks and privileges, so you might want to check it out!

Just for Laughs Festival | Until July 31 | hahaha.com