IF IT’S SUMMER, it must be Just for Laughs.
The festival is currently in its fourth year, July 6 to 11 in Toronto, and this edition promises “over 100 acts, 14 venues and a million laughs.”
Until we learn how to clone ourselves, choices must be made. My first rule is to avoid rushing to see comics who could be seen at other times of the year. So, I wouldn’t rush to see Brad Garrett — he’s a frequent performer on the casino circuit, as is Wayne Brady. And the acerbic Louis C. K., hot as he is, is touring a lot.
But the hosts of the other two galas, Demitri Martin and Garry Shandling, are another story. You may have seen Martin in his eponymously named comedy series, which showcases his gentle mathematical surrealism. He evokes the spirit of a young Steven Wright, but his use of charts and diagrams gives him the feel of a cute and clever grad student.
But it’s Garry Shandling that’s the must-see booking of the festival. A great stand-up of the ’80s in the neurotic-Jewishconfessional mode of Richard Lewis, Shandling rarely performs live.
His two groundbreaking TV series, It’s Garry Shandling’s Show and The Larry Sanders Show, both took the meta-sitcom to new heights.
Lately there’s been a renewed interest in Shandling with the release of these series on DVD coupled with a star turn in Iron Man 2. But he is not a ubiquitous celebrity; he picks his appearances carefully, which is why his appearance here is such a coup.
If you like sophisticated urbane humour, go see him. Another unusual booking is the Young @ Heart chorus, a choir of Massachusetts octogenarians who sing modern rock and punk songs. More fun than funny, they were the subjects of a hit documentary a few years ago.
A show I’m excited to see is the North American premiere of the German comedian Martin Mittermeier. Since the two words “German” and “comedian” are rarely uttered in the same sentence, I’m really curious to see what Mittermeier will do in his act, performed entirely in English.
Ditto for Mike Birbiglia, the New York stand-up who’s evolved into a performance-based storyteller. His last one-man show, Sleepwalk with Me, ran for over a year off-Broadway, and his new show, My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend, is being given a road test before it opens in NYC with a $70 ticket. See it now for a fraction of the price.
Toronto prides itself on its multiculturalism, and two shows focus on ethnic humour. The Ethnic Show is hosted by the always entertaining Sugar Sammy, but I’m most excited to see Gabriel Iglesias, a portly Latino with great material about his Hispanic heritage.
And then there’s The Nasty Show, which is exactly as it sounds.This is the show that runs for an entire week in Montreal.
Lots of uncensored sex material, racial epithets and religious blasphemy, cheerily delivered with hard-core speed by comics like host Bobby Slayton, nicknamed “the pit bull of comedy.” Don’t bring your bubbe.