Saturday, July 18, 2009

Montreal Tourist Tip #1


Visit during the Just for Laughs comedy festival. Perhaps the Jazz fest is just as good, but I am bigger fan of comedy. We saw the "Nasty Show" last night, where the humor is, well, pretty aggressive. Bobby Slayton, perhaps seen as a latter-day Don Rickles/insult comic, was the host and in good form or bad form, depending on your perspective. The other comedians were very funny as well.

They paid the proper attention to the folks in the front row, and really focused on one guy. If you don't want attention at an event like this, don't wear a colorful shirt (lime green) or be one guy in a sea of attractive women. Although we have been close to the stage in the past (including the front row at our first Just for Laughs when we were living in Vermont and got much attention from Bobby and Dom Irrera), we were out of the line of fire this time.

We have two shows to go: Bubbling with Laughter, which is just a regular set of 5-6 comedians and then one of the Galas--a bigger theatre and somewhat bigger names with a more eclectic combination of folks. The Gala will be the yearly opportunity to bring our daughter to a show and then regret it due to some of the material.

A few regrets this year: discovered belatedly shows by the Improvised Shakespeare Company and Broken Lizard. We had already purchased tickets to the three shows and couldn't really do another show. Another regret is that the Reduced Shakespeare Company is not playing the fest, and have not in quite a long time.

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