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From July 12th to the 29th, comedians of all sorts will descend upon Montreal for the 30th Just For Laughs festival. Performers include: Kevin Hart, Aziz Ansari, Bill Hader, Bob Saget, John Pinette, Lewis Black, Jim Gaffigan, Patton Oswalt (who will also be the keynote speaker), Wayne Brady, Mario Cantone, and The Muppets. Chelsea Handler will be there accepting and, if her reputation serves her correctly, celebrating, her Comedy Person of the Year award. Also, Key & Peele will be receiving the Breakout Comedy Star award and Hannibal "The Accolade Machine" Buress will be named the Rising Comedy Star. We should all go but we have to make sure [...]

You know you’re in Canada when a shmuck like me is allowed into a star-studded comedy awards ceremony and the security guard actually apologizes for making me wait in line.

One of the premiere events at this year’s Just For Laughs Festival is the Awards Luncheon, which honored Modern Family Creators Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd for Comedy Writers of the Year, Ken Jeong for Breakout Comedy Star of the Year, Paul Feig for Comedy Director of the Year, Garry Shandling for the Lifetime Achievement Award, and Louis C.K. for Comedy Person of the Year.

Maybe “premiere event” is a little too strong. As MC and Comedy Central Roast [...]

The Just for Laughs festival has named Louis CK the Comedy Person of the Year. So is this sort of like the Golden Globes in which this will help predict the Comedy Awards' Johnny Carson Award For Comedic Excellence? I'm going to just assume so. You got this on lock, Louis!

The Just For Laughs Chicago comedy festival hits the Windy City on June 12-17 this summer, and they've just announced the initial lineup. It's pretty stacked, with acts that include Vince Vaughn, Aziz Ansari, Stephen Merchant, Bill Engvall, Billy Gardell, John Pinette, Patton Oswalt, John Oliver, Kevin Smith, Mike Birbiglia, Jeff Ross, Amy Schumer, The Dan Band and Henson Alternative’s Stuffed and Unstrung. More comedians are set to be announced in the near future, but if you're in Chicago or will be there this summer, this looks pretty awesome already. Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 10am. The full press release is after the jump.

Marc Maron delivered the keynote speech at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal today, and the newly-redesigned Comic's Comic has posted the entire thing. It's pretty great! He talks about his own journey as a comedian and how he's finally found stability in his life in ways he couldn't have previously imagined. He also talks about the untimely passings of Greg Giraldo, Robert Schimmel and Mike DeStefano. The whole thing is very much worth a read. Here's a taste: We risk all sense of security and the possibility of living stable lives to do comedy. We are out there in B rooms, dive bars, coffee shops, bookstores [...]

If you think it’s tough going to music festivals and deciding between which bands you want to see, try going to Montreal’s Just For Laughs Festival.

What do you do when your plans to see a new comic everyone says is the next big thing are interrupted by a sudden announcement that simultaneously one of your favorite comedians will be performing a surprise set to 40 people at an underground club across town? That pretty much sums up Just For Laughs. It’s maddening.

Being a Just For Laughs newbie, I went where the crowds were. Here’s a recap of some of the final weekend’s events.

Plenty of comedy festivals tack on the word “international” to the end of their titles, but usually the worldliest name on their roster hails from New Zealand. What I’m saying is most comedians at international comedy festivals are from countries once ruled by, and possibly still ruled by, the Queen of England. Okay, okay, fine, sure this rule would apply to India. Right, of course there’s also Hong Kong. And Singapore. British Guyana.  Look, British imperialism was sprawling, I realize there are holes in my logic. The point I’m trying to make, as your comedy tour guide, is that when picking your comedy festivals to attend — what is [...]