Jeffrey Gurian Jumps Around Just For Laughs 2017 Part 2: Kevin Hart, Jeff Ross, Trevor Noah, and More!

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Jeffrey Gurian is a writer and comedian in New York who loves to Jump Around. Follow his regular column right here, to find out what’s happening in comedy, and who Jeffrey Gurian ran into this week in and around New York. This week Jeffrey headed north and covered the scene at Just for Laughs in Montreal!

It’s a very special time up here because you’re running into people constantly. I was approved to shoot both red carpets- The Kevin Hart red carpet and the Just for Laughs awards red carpet. And the Kevin Hart red carpet was held at the Imperial Theatre, and it was for the short filmmakers for the competition Eat My Shorts. It’s a small theater and a small red carpet and as you can imagine it was packed to the rafters with press wanting to talk to Kevin. One of the special things was Dan Perlman was there who did a film called Flatbush Misdemeanors, and he had Kevin Iso in it, and Kareem Green and Jeffrey Joseph in it- comedians we all know and it was so cool to see him on the red carpet. And then when Kevin Hart finally came in, it was very packed and we were at the end of the line. And some people talk longer than other on the red carpet. At the very end- they were going to take Kevin away before he got the chance to speak to me. But luckily he talked to me and told security that we’re friends and he came over and we got a fun interview with Kevin before he ran into the show.

I ran into Jeffrey Ross who told me that he was doing a new special on immigration for Comedy Central. They’re in the process of editing it now. Paul Provenza and I spent a very meaningful time after one of the shows– Whats Your Fucking Deal. We walked back together. He said to me, I might be his oldest friend in comedy- that’s how far back we go- back to the early 80s.  And it was very special and we stopped into a Tim Hortons and he treated me to a doughnut and iced tea, and we talked about doing a project together. More on that in my wrap column which will come out Monday morning.

We were at the big Just for Laughs Awards Red Carpet, and that was very, very special.  The night before the Just for Laugh Awards, I went to see the panel for Showtime’s I’m Dying Up Here hoping to get to see Jim Carrey. It’s a very rare opportunity that he would come out for something and the entire cast was on stage and I’m a real fan of the show. I don’t usually get excited about meeting people, but I was very excited about the opportunity to see Jim Carrey.  It was a great panel with Michael Angarano, and Erik Griffin and Andrew Santino– just about all the cast- and they spoke really in depth about what their experience was like. And the next day at the red carpet, we had a good spot and I got to speak to everybody. Trevor Noah, Jeffrey Ross, Jim Carrey actually came by and I got to speak to him which was a great video interview that I can’t wait to show people.  Mike Birbiglia got an award and we did a great interview with he and Jimmy Carr. And then Ali Wong came along and she’s pregnant again! I got to talk to Kamau again, he gave Ali her award. The only one who skipped the line was Craig Ferguson, he didn’t really talk to anybody, but Jay Baruchel came by- he gave Craig his award for the Alumni Tribute. It’s the first time they created that award and they gave it to Craig Ferguson and now he’s doing radio on SiriusXM. Kenya Barris created Black-ish and I talked to him about how his marriage survived him creating America’s Next Top Model because he’s very close with his wife and six kids. Natasha Leggero came by – she gave the award to Kenya, and Moshe Kasher, her husband joined her on the carpet.  Afterwards we stayed for the show and everyone gave such great speeches.

Especially Trevor Noah who thanked Jim Carrey who had the courage to talk about getting through his depression to the world. Judd Apatow gave a great history of Jim Carrey’s rise in the comedy world and told some very personal stories about the two of them including how he introduced Jim Carrey to his original manager, Jimmy Miller. Because he knew Jim from the very early days and actually wrote sketches for him when Jim was on In Living Color.  More on that in my Monday morning Column.

Alonzo Bodden was the host and did a running gag with every person about possibly hiring him as a security guard in their next project. He carried that through the entire thing and it was very funny.

Of course, I stayed for Andy Kindler‘s State of the Industry and it was very funny.

Friday night was Comedy 101 which was an amazing night- of course Ron Bennington and Gail Bennington hosted and Tommy Johnagin and Jim Norton and Dan Soder and Jimmy Shubert were the mentors.  It was a great show and it was so kind of Ron to give me a shout out.

The Funny or Die Party was beyond amazing. I got to meet the rest of the cast from I’m Dying Up Here. Erik Griffin was there, Andrew Santino and Michael Angarano, the three that I really wanted to talk to. We got some pretty in depth interviews on how they feel about the show and their characters. We stayed at the party till 3:00 and then went to the after party with Annie Lederman and Jeffrey Ross. It was on Ste Catherine Street. And we were partying with Yamaneika and Calise Hawkins and it was insane.  Agents were there, and everybody was there.  I left at 4:30 and the party was still going.  More to come tomorrow!

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Jeffrey Gurian is a comedy writer, comedian, author, producer, comedy connoisseur, comedy journalist, and an all around bon vivant. You can find him on red carpets, at comedy events across the country and hosting Comedy Matters TV. He’s the author of the book Make ‘Em Laugh with an intro by Chris Rock”. You've seen him on Comedy Central's Kroll Show and he's a regular on SiriusXM's Bennington Show and it's predecessor the Ron and Fez Show. He's also A BIG BELIEVER in Happiness and Love.
Jeffrey Gurian
Jeffrey Gurian
Jeffrey Gurian is a comedy writer, comedian, author, producer, comedy connoisseur, comedy journalist, and an all around bon vivant. You can find him on red carpets, at comedy events across the country and hosting Comedy Matters TV. He’s the author of the book Make ‘Em Laugh with an intro by Chris Rock”. You've seen him on Comedy Central's Kroll Show and he's a regular on SiriusXM's Bennington Show and it's predecessor the Ron and Fez Show. He's also A BIG BELIEVER in Happiness and Love.