Writer, Director & Producer Judd Apatow Honored with Just For Laughs 2016 Generation Award

Writer, director and producer Judd Apatow is to be honoured with the 2016 Generation Award at the Just For Laughs Awards presented by Air Canada.

A longtime friend of the festival, Apatow is being honoured as one of the most important comedic minds of his generation. His career achievements include highly successful films and television series as well as a career in stand-up, which have inspired many in the industry.

Apatow joins a list that includes AZIZ ANSARI (Comedy Person of the Year), Sebastian Maniscalco (Stand-Up Comedian of the Year), Maria Bamford (Breakout Comedy Star of the Year), and Mike Judge and Alec Berg (Comedy Writers of the Year). Awards will be handed out on Friday, July 29 at 4:30 pm at the Grand Salon Opera, Hyatt Regency Montreal.

Judd Apatow wrote and directed the films The 40-Year-Old Virgin (co-written with Steve Carell), Knocked Up, Funny People, and This is 40. He also directed last summer's Trainwreck. His producing credits include Superbad, Bridesmaids, and Anchorman. Apatow is the executive producer of HBO's Girls and the co-creator of Love on Netflix. He was also the executive producer of Freaks and Geeks. Most recently, he produced the films Pee-Wee's Big Holiday and Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, and is currently producing the HBO series Crashing, starring Pete Holmes. After a 20-year hiatus, Apatow recently returned to the stand-up stage, performing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and at Carnegie Hall.

The Just For Laughs Awards Show presented by Air Canada will be preceded by a red carpet that includes the recipients, host JB Smoove and awards presenters Nick Kroll, Pete Correale, Jackie Kashian and Andy Dick.

The Just For Laughs Festival presented by Videotron in association with Loto-Quebec runs from July 13 to August 1, 2016 in Montreal, Canada. Just For Laughs ComedyPRO runs from July 27-30, 2016 at the Hyatt Regency Montreal, Canada.

The Just For Laughs Festival presented by Videotron in association with Loto-Quebec would like to thank their partners and sponsors: Vidéotron, Loto-Québec, Tangerine, Sleeman, KIA, Tim Hortons, Sirius XM, Le Lait, SAQ, Air Canada, V8, Appleton Estate, Eska, Lolita, Pepito Sangria, Gouvernement du Québec, Government of Canada, City of Montréal and Tourisme Montréal.

Founded in 1983, the Just For Laughs Group has had but one goal in its 30-plus years of operation: Make People Happy. To achieve this goal, the Just For Laughs Group has focused on four major products: festivals in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Sydney; television production including Gags seen in over 130 countries and on over 75 airlines and stand-up specials; live shows, such as Canadian tour dates for Jerry Seinfeld, Louis C.K., Jim Gaffigan and the Just For Laughs Comedy Tour; and talent management. The Just For Laughs Montreal Comedy Festival is the world's largest and most prestigious comedy event welcoming on average 1.35 million visitors to Montreal each summer and generating approximately $80 million for the city's economy. The Group has offices in Montreal, Paris, Los Angeles, Toronto, London and they are all connected to each other via the Internet.