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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Just for Laughs: The Montreal International Comedy Festival 1991

Various

Showtime · 1991

Mary Tyler Moore hosts a 1991 Montreal showcase.

A live broadcast from the final weekend of the 1991 Montreal comedy festival, originally aired as a 90-minute showcase on Showtime. Mary Tyler Moore serves as the host, bringing a television veteran’s presence to an event built for working road comics.

The early nineties iteration of Just for Laughs functioned as a primary scouting ground for networks looking to cast sitcoms. The 1991 festival captured a transitional era in the industry, featuring sets from stand-ups like Norm Macdonald, Mario Joyner, and Ray Romano. Macdonald relies on his signature cadence for early material about smokers’ lungs, while Tim Allen’s appearance at the showcase earned him a CableACE Award, arriving just as his career shifted toward network television.

The set list

3 bits

  1. Playing New Kids on the Block backwards

    Argues that if you play their music backwards, they sound better.

  2. The Persian Gulf War

    Contends that there never was a war because a war requires two armies to actually be fighting.

  3. Strangers telling someone to smile

    Responds to the adage that it takes more energy to frown than smile by observing that it takes more energy to point that out than to leave him alone.

Backstory

In its ninth year in 1991, the Montreal festival had become a major event on the international comedy circuit, attended by crowds and heavily scouted by entertainment industry producers and talent agents.

Details

Released
Where
Showtime
Honors
Milton Berle inducted into newly established comedy hall of fame
Topics
After
BBC The Stand Up Show: Series 8 (2001)

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