Solomon Georgio Joins The Alternate Show This Year at JFL! Available to Stream Now!

In some ways, Solomon Georgio surprised himself with his return to Montreal’s Just for Laughs festival.

Four years ago, he made his first appearance at the festival as part of the coveted New Faces showcase. In the years since, he’s made his mark on the comedy world through writing stints with TruTV’s Adam Ruins Everything and Hulu’s Shrill and High Fidelity, a Comedy Central half-hour, and a memorable appearance on Drunk History. And it somehow felt both steady and surprising the whole way.

“When I got started I just sort of assumed that it’d just be a hobby with no intention for a career. So it’s all been a steady and pleasant [and] wonderful surpassing of all my expectations,” Georgio shared with me ahead of his appearance “in” Montreal. He’s a part of the festival’s Alternative Show, being taped this year from Los Angeles, broadcast via JFL’s online platform a few days later, and featuring Andy Kindler, Laurie Kilmartin, Maria Bamford, Tart and Tarver, and more.

With “alt comedy” being as broad of a term as it is, I asked Georgio how he felt about it, and how he felt that label applied to him. His answer offered insight into a sense of agency that the term doesn’t often consider:

The term “alt comedy” itself, it’s pretty unique. It’s not generally saying [that] it’s a different kind of comedy, it’s saying when the scene started, “we’re not getting into the clubs,” or “we’re trying to do stuff outside of the clubs […] Some of us are a little different from what the club standard is, but that doesn’t mean that the club comic can’t be within that realm at all. So it’s really more along the lines of not following the standard path of comedy, and just doing it as you please.

“That’s the great thing about comedy,” he went on. “There’s a way to separate things, but also [to] specifically find overlap. From standup, to sketch, [to] improv – there’s always ways things can come together, and stay in their own area.”

Just for Laughs has found ways to create a haven of appreciation for many of these types of comedy, between shows like the Alternative Show, and the addition of a Characters category for New Faces recognition. It’s shown its adaptiveness as a festival all the more in the age of COVID, using the energy of live crowds local to NYC and LA to stoke enjoyment for viewers internationally. The Alternative Show is one of several being presented this way, but Georgio remains focused on delivering a set that pleases the crowd right in front of him.

“When we were first reopening, the rust was there, and it was terrifying – I was nervous for shows like [it was] my first year” he said of his first few face-to-face shows, “but thankfully, a couple shows in, that fear dissipated.” Even as the questions of what material to bring to his festival set surfaced, he was able to reassure himself: “writing isn’t the part I’m afraid of anymore. The material itself, I know I can sharpen in my own head. It’s just making sure that I have the ability to stand in front of the microphone and speak clearly.”

And speaking of that standing in front of the microphone…it’s no longer interesting to ask comics their stance on Zoom shows, but Georgio was able to articulate a difference about the experience that I hadn’t heard before: indifferent to the method, but didn’t like the feeling of working that way.

“I’m not gonna say I hated Zoom shows, per se; I hated how they made me feel, which is that sad, lonely feeling of telling jokes to no laughter and then, at the end of your set, slowly closing your laptop,” he said with a laugh. “The itch that I have is not being scratched, so I might as well be itchy!” he added.

Absent the validation that comes from immediate laughter (coming through at an appropriate volume) and the surprise element that comes from crowds at live shows, he says it simply felt like another art form. “It’s a talking head, which is fine – I can do that, but I’m not going to call it ‘standup’. I need more!”

Thankfully, even though his contribution to Just for Laughs will look a little different from the last time he took to the festival stage, it’ll be closer to the atmosphere that he knows, loves, and thrives in. “The intimacy of the crowd is gonna be my first focus, because that interaction resonates on film. I will always focus on the live audience first.”

You can see Solomon, alongside the rest of the Alternative Show lineup, on Just for Laughs’ website; the show will go live for on-demand viewing between July 29th and August 31st, 2021.

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Amma Marfo

Amma Marfo is a writer, speaker, and podcaster based in Boston, MA. Her writing has appeared in Femsplain, The Good Men Project, Pacific Standard, and Talking Points Memo. Chances are good that as you're reading this, she's somewhere laughing.
Amma Marfo
Amma Marfo
Amma Marfo is a writer, speaker, and podcaster based in Boston, MA. Her writing has appeared in Femsplain, The Good Men Project, Pacific Standard, and Talking Points Memo. Chances are good that as you're reading this, she's somewhere laughing.