Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin Hart, Mike Birbiglia, and More Take the Stage at JUST FOR LAUGHS

It was a big day for the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal, now with its 35th annual event in full swing.

Jerry Seinfeld made his return to the festival since his performance in the 1980s, bringing him face-to-face with his French doppelgänger, Gad Elmelah, on stage for the first time in a shared co-headlined event. Elmelah, an emerging comedic superstar around the world, is often referred to as the "Jerry Seinfeld of France" and the two comedians have even joked that their similarities go way beyond similar comedy styles as it's been said that they also share similar physical appearances.

Kevin Hart, who is attending the festival this week to announce the winners of "Eat My Shorts", a talent search competition for his LOL Network, gave a surprise midnight performance to excited festival goers, bringing him back to his stand-up roots at the very same festival that gave him his start when he was named a "New Face" in 2001. Hart's set touched on his life experiences as a parent, including his excitement (and anxiety) over his forthcoming third child.

Check out this photo from the "Stand Up On The Spot" show. One the best parts of this festival is that it shows the comedian camaraderie. It's "comedian summer camp" where they all want to hang out with each other, and do pop up sets at each other's shows. From left to right: David Kau, Tom Segura, Jeffrey Ross, Judd Apatow, Russell Peters, Chris D'Elia and Wayne Federman. Credit: Just For Laughs/ Joseph Fuda

The day also featured galas hosted by David Spade, as well as SNL's Michael Che and Colin Jost, showcasing a range of talent from today's top comedians, including Jeff Ross, The Lucas Bros., Katherine Ryan, K. Trevor Wilson, Godfrey, Arj Barker, Jim Norton, Lil Rey Howery, Sarah Millican, Steve Byrne, Ivan Decker, Phil Hanley, and David Baddiel.

Audiences were also treated to stand-up sets from Mike Birbiglia and Tom Segura.

Finally, always a highly-anticipated annual event, Just for Laugh's "New Faces" showcase introduced 2017's top emerging names in comedy to watch out for. The event previously introduced some of today's comedic heavy hitters, including Kevin Hart, Amy Schumer, Hannibal Buress, and Demetri Martin. Hosted by Montreal's very own, Sugar Sammy, this year's talent showcase included Jared Freid, Taylor Tomlinson, Martin Urbano, Preacher Lawson, Blair Socci, Yedoye Travis, Charles Gould, Danny Jolles, Rae Sanni, and JR De Guzman.

 

---

Join Team BroadwayWorld

Are you an avid theatergoer? We're looking for people like you to share your thoughts and insights with our readers. Team BroadwayWorld members get access to shows to review, conduct interviews with artists, and the opportunity to meet and network with fellow theatre lovers and arts workers.

Interested? Learn more here.

---