Peter Black
Local Journalism Initiative reporter
Quebec City’s ComediHa! entertainment enterprise is stepping into the void the demise of Montreal’s Just for Laughs festival created, by presenting a new comedy event in the big city in July.
ComediHa! founder and president Sylvain Parent-Bédard made the announcement May 8, saying the sortie into Montreal coincides with the 25th anniversary of his Quebec City-based company, which had been considering an event outside the capital to celebrate the milestone.
Parent-Bédard told the QCT his company was equipped to kickstart another comedy festival once the news broke in March that the long-running Just for Laughs festival had succumbed to financial trouble.
The festival venture took a cue from ComediHa!’s move to take over the Just For Laughs production of the musical Waitress, which would have been cancelled otherwise. The show will now go on in Quebec City in August and Montreal in June.
Parent-Bédard said the support of sponsors will be needed to shore up the $10-million budget for the 10-day Montreal festival, to be called ComediHa! Salue Montréal. He said he also has unofficial promises of financial support from government sources.
He said there will be some English content in the programming, but the short time span to organize the shows may preclude extensive shows this year.
Parent-Bédard said this inaugural edition of the new festival won’t be on the same scale as the indoor Just for Laughs shows, but the free outdoor events would likely draw the same size crowds.
He said he takes some personal satisfaction in organizing a comedy festival in Montreal because he started his company when Just for Laughs rejected the idea of mounting a festival in the Quebec capital.
The full program for the Montreal festival is to be unveiled in the coming weeks. Shows will take place between July 18 and 28 in Place des Arts, at Espace St-Denis and at the Théâtre du Vieux-Terrebonne.
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Sylvain Parent-Bedard, president of ComediHa!, is planning a Montreal festival this summer to fill the void caused by the cancellation of the long-running Just For Laughs comedy extravaganza.
Photo from ComediHa!
Quebec City’s ComediHa! Festival is holding a special edition in Montreal from July 18-28.
Photo by Cassandra Kerwin from QCT archives