Jumping Around Montreal Just For Laughs with Jeffrey Gurian Friday Edition

Montreal Just for Laughs with Jeffrey Gurian Friday Yesterday was Friday July 25, and the entire Montreal Just for Laughs Comedy Festival was focused around the comedy award show luncheon. I, of course, was on the red carpet and they saved a really good spot for me. It was nonstop insanity this year but I managed to talk to everyone!  Bill Burr won stand up comedian of the year, and I managed to make a fool of myself in front of him by getting confused about his work. I insisted he played a cop on Entourage, and then I corrected it to Breaking Bad, and it turned out of course, that he was in Breaking Bad, but not as a cop and I was just wrong.  He said, “Jeffrey, you have to do better homework next time!”

I also got to talk with Andy Samberg about Adam Sandler, because Sandler was a mentor and influence for him.   I talked with Seth Rogen who showed up to accept the comedy director of the year award with Evan Goldberg. Evan first showed up alone and jokingly told me that Seth wasn’t coming because he didn’t want to share the award.   And Seth is also up in Montreal to do Hilarity for Charity. Seth and I shared a moment when we were in the same sketch, “Blisteritos” on the season finale of Kroll Show, so it was great to see him.

I got to bond with Joe LoTruglio, who I felt like I knew already, because his compatriots in The State, Michael Ian Black and Ben Garant and I wrote a movie together many years ago called I’m Your Man. It was the first interactive film that SONY ever made and this was before they created The State on MTV, so I felt like we were old old friends.  But he came down the carpet with Terry Crews, which I was a little nervous about.  Doing a red carpet is like improv.  It’s really tough. And talking with two people at the same time is even tougher.  But fortunately, Terry remembered meeting me a few days ago, and gave me a big warm hello, so it all worked out great.

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We were exhausted from the day but no time to rest though, we only had thirty minutes to get ready for my book signing and the premier of Eat Drink Laugh which is the story of The Comic Strip and the subject of my book, “Make Em Laugh.”   What a night!  There was a buzz around the whole hotel about the film, everybody knew about it and about the book. Richie Tienken, was with us, the owner and the founder of the Comic Strip and the guy who discovered both Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock.  And we arrived with a full entourage of comedy greats– Paul Provenza, George Wallace, Judy Gold and Robert Wuhl all came with us and participated in the Q&A at the end.

George Wallace took us all out to dinner, and we were joined at our table by my friend Russell Peters who was commenting on my outfit, and told me that it looked like a tourist exploded on me.  He may have a point.  And Rich Vos and Bonnie MacFarlane joined us and let us know that they are releasing their documentary “Women Aren’t Funny” at a world premier on iTunes on August 26.

The star studded day didn’t end though, because at midnight the Funny or Die Party was just getting started at the Place des Artes.  The party is just huge- they take over the entertainment center where all the galas are held and the party is incredible. I went over with Richie Tienken, George Wallace and my producer Rob Krieg. Walking into the party with George Wallace was like walking in with Obama. People ran over to him like he was the President of the United States. They were so happy to see him because he gave up his ten year residency in Las Vegas and now he’s starting all over again with new projects, and going on the road.

My producer and I saw a couple of attractive Montreal ladies who asked us to dance, but they were playing old rock and roll.  So I asked the DJ to spin some hip hop music and that’s when the party really started. Some of our group were  astonished cause they didn’t know I could dance, and especially to hip hop music. That happens to be my thing, so we had a blast. But we weren’t the only people on the dance floor.  Russell Peters was out there, former SNL castmember Brooks Wheelan too, and a few members of the cast of NBC’s Undateable were spotted spending some time on the dance floor, like Chris D’Elia, Ron Funches and Rick Glassman.

But most eyes were on Gina Yashere dancing with Loni Love;  they were busting moves like crazy. Gina Yashere just made the move permanently back to New York from LA and she’s excited to be back in NY. She was also sporting a brand new nose piercing that looked fantastic. Fortune Feimster came in and joined in, and pulled a move nobody expected– she did like a twerking kind of thing.

I ran into Chelsea Peretti at the food cart and we decided to try one of the local favorites- they were serving a Pulled Pork Poutine. In Montreal, Poutine is  french fries smothered in toppings. Chelsea said she didn’t like to eat anything that had the word “poo” in it but she decided to try it anyway and it was a hit.

Later Dan Levy came over to introduce himself. He’s a writer/producer on Mulaney, John Mulaney’s new show that’s starring on FOX in the fall. He knew that John and I are good friends so he came to say hello and he invited me to his HBO taping tonight. I’m already planning to attend Seth Rogan’s Hilarity for Charity event to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s, so it looks like I’ll have to jump around.

I also had another nice surprise, when Rick Jenkins who owns The Comedy Studio near Harvard told me he buys copies of my book to hand out to comedians who perform at his club, because he finds it to be such an inspiring book.

We stayed till the party ended at 3:30. There was an after party at the Theater Saint Catherine, but nothing good happens after 3am. So Rob and I looked at each other, realized all good things must end and staggered up to the room.

More From Montreal Just for Laughs with Jeffrey Gurian tomorrow as I continue to Jump Around!

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make em laughYou can order Jeffrey Gurian’s book “Make ‘Em Laugh: 35 Years of the Comic Strip, the Greatest Comedy Club of All Time!” on Amazon.com and at booksellers everywhere.  
 

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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.