This year’s Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal has been called off the company behind it is cancelling the festival as it tries to avoid bankruptcy it’s blaming a difficult Financial landscape Amplified by the pandemic that forced the show to be cancelled for two years the festival was founded in the
1980s and can draw millions of visitors from around the world that makes it also a key economic driver for the Montreal economy the festival typically runs for several weeks during the summer and joining to discuss further is Cassie cow Just for Laughs new faces Alum and the first Chinese Canadian woman at the
Festival Cassie thanks for being here with us today thanks for having me hi hi so such devastating news I want to ask what is your reaction to this development I mean I had heard a few things uh coming out of Montreal recently but overall very surprised because they just did their Festival in
Vancouver to a lot of success and with a lot of TV tapings there as well and uh showcases for the uh summer one have already started so I do think this is a big shock for all Comics across this country what will this mean for comedy
In Canada do you think because this is such an iconic uh thing for Canada yeah absolutely it’s the biggest Festival in the world and and you know our our home Festival it’s uh it it’s what employs a lot of The Comedians in our country and discovers new Talent and
New faces especially is a really important industry showcase uh which I was lucky enough to be a part of I think it’s really sad that for the comics that have been working all year this year they don’t get to Showcase so what is talk about maybe
Just for laughs a little bit uh for anyone who uh maybe isn’t aware maybe there’s somebody out there what makes it so special it is the biggest Comedy Festival in the world and I do think that especially the new faces show Cas is really unlike any other it’s a real
Uh industry Milestone to show that you’re officially being launched into the industry uh lots of people work years to get to new faces uh like it’s not actually for brand new comedians lots of people work 10 years before they can get a chance to Showcase it new
Faces and everyone in the world is there every year uh so it’s a real big pillar of our industry and the fact that it’s in Canada is so important to us given that our industry is so little being compared immediately to the United States how much of a loss is this for
The comedians themselves definitely a big loss I think uh in fact just last night I was at a show talking with some friends who were like trying to Showcase this year and talking about how much they’d worked on their showcase sets it’s something that like our industry in Canada revolves
Around like yearly everybody prepares for the showcases in order to try to get a spot uh either on the gallers or on the new faces for August as for the future of the organization are you hearing anything uh I mean I’m hopeful that they’re doing okay they don’t seem to be
Shutting down everything only the Summer Festival which certainly is their Flagship event but in recent years they’ve also acquired a lot of satellite uh festivals and last year I was on the road with them so they have quite a few Road shows as well uh I
Would be interested to know if those are being affective or not so I do think that there are other avenues for them to still be operating and employing comedians which would make me feel better I think well we will continue to F follow uh this story Cassie cow Just
For Laughs new faces Alum thanks so much for being here today and all the best to you thank you you
Comedian Cassie Cao shares reaction to the cancellation of Canada’s iconic comedy festival Just For Laughs amid bankruptcy fears.
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