Los Espookys Fred Armisen Julio Torres and Ana Fabrega Bring Big Night of Great Comedy to JFL42

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Toronto’s annual JFL42 comedy festival is in full swing, and if you’ve never been, its the perfect comedy pilgrimage. Not only does the Just for Laughs team pick an incredible lineup each year, but the city of Toronto itself is such a worthy destination for comedy fans and travelers alike. The local clubs and rooms are first rate. The history of comedy is deeply embedded there. And to top it off, the food and bar scene are not to be missed. Marty Younge is in Toronto covering all the best shows for us, and she’s the perfect guide. Toronto is her home city, and she lives in the venues all year round.

The first show of the festival was Los Espookys, a stand up show populated with the stars of HBO’s offbeat comedy: Ana Fabrega, Julio Torres and Fred Armisen. For those unfamiliar, Los Espookys is a thoroughly unconventional comedy series from its wonderfully quirky premise, to its fabulously talented cast and even its language- the show is bilingual. The series follows the adventures of Renaldo, a horror and gore enthusiast who forms a unique business that creates horror themed experiences for others.

As you might expect, the JFL42 version of Los Espookys was a night of very abstract comedy from a show that is really on the forefront of the artform. Each act performed their stand up set with little to no mention of the series the the evening was built around, which was great. Pure stand up from these talented artists, whose skills reach all areas of comedic performance– sketch, stand up and acting.

The crowd was a beautiful cross section of Spanish speakers, quiet thinkers, groups of friends together in punky and Goth attire, and Gen Zs in wide leg pants.

In a very unusual move, the shows most famous member, Fred Armisen opened. He was very humble in the spotlight and did bits fused with music. He didn’t play any character– just himself– and the bulk of his set was his tour impressions of the guitar styles of the world. It was a fusion of the best character work fused with the new energy that Fabrega and Torres have breathed into his comedic process.

Ana Fabrega was second and did a set that was hard to follow, but that was sort of the point. Done without the frill of structure of any kind it felt like switching channels of the same person. Short stories, voices, statement all done quickly, loosely in a manner allowing people to take from it what they wanted to. Micro impressions are a result of tiktok culture and are clearly here to say.

But the crowd favorite was Torres who is such a niche talent, he had legions of fans who were just waiting on him. He tapped into his own weird mind and did bits about the color of sentences and the “energy of certain alphabet characters.” After watching him live, I get how much he resonate with people as well as why his stand up isn’t for everyone. He is a comic who is very beloved by his fans because he is tapping into something they can feel, and that few other comedians and shows have spoken to!

So while other comedy fans were crowded in a stadium watching an under construction John Mulaney, I sat watching a master sketch comic staying hungry, relevant and weird.

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