JFL Update: Neal Brennan Says Comedy Is Not Under Attack at Just for Laughs Montreal Keynote Address
Marty Younge is at Just for Laughs all week covering the 40th annual Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal.
By Thursday at Just for Laughs, the ego is thick. People are competitive and swirling. Teams of assistants with more cellphones than they can handle shoot judgmental looks as they race to catch up. News teams cover big names and shuffle people out of their shots. The comedians are tired. Some of them are charged up on their accomplishments. By Thursday the coveted New Faces Showcases have happened. The paced of JFL was always grueling, and even moreso after we all haven’t done it in 2 years.
Neal Brennan is always one of my unmissable acts at JFL. On THursday he delivered a keynote on the state of comedy. Entitled comedy is good. Although he is never boxed in by traditional structure. This is a rare time where what you have to say is secondary to the humour.
He opened saying about the physical attacks on Chapelle and Chris Rock were the only real attacks on comedy. His Keynote was a reframing, arguing that comedy is not under attack and how comedy is simply under more scrutiny because of its changing status in main stream culture.
He shared some brilliant examples of how comedians are trusted, beloved and welcomed before sharing personal stories of how comedy has given him his wildest dreams and also that it takes work. Hard work. He closed with some earnest advice. “When you are down the industry will look through you. You can’t be in comedy without thinking your career is over 3 or 4 times.”
The talk was moving yet all too true.
He also summed up Just for Laughs in this way: “The festival is a lot of sweaty managers I barely know in shorts asking me if I’m going to see John Mulaney.”
As the talk finished I went outside to write, away from the glaring eyes of pass holders.
I had a moment when Jeffery Gurian told me he liked my outfit– a white dress with French Graffiti on it ….that was enough of an encouragement. I slid in the elevator- I had a deadline. As I sat to write I gave Marc Maron a peace sign
Soon it started to rain and, worried that the judgmental looks would become career ruining if I went back into that hotel, I trekked in the rain back to my Hotel my white French graffiti dress becoming increasingly more seethrough.
With every rain drop Neal’s talk began to wash over me more. Comedy is grueling and vulnerable as I kept walking in the rain, finally reaching my hotel, I bought an umbrella and resolved no matter what, I was going back out.
The rain stopped but I carried my umbrella for the remainder of the evening.
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Marty Younge
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