Just how friendly Montrealers are becomes apparent when you spend all day being sick in bins. They’re all very concerned, they want to help: in London I’m pretty sure they’d just assume I was drunk. I’m not, but I am considering it — it might help with the nerves. It’s 1pm on Saturday: just nine more hours before I go on stage as part of the Best of the Fest show at the biggest comedy festival in the world, Just for Laughs. I retch again.
First held in 1983, Just for Laughs takes place every August; a month when comedians, talent scouts and producers all converge on the city to find the next big thing, make deals, and, presumably, to have a laugh. In 2016 it pulled in 2.5 million visitors. It’s a big deal.
I’m not a newbie comedian but neither do I have the comedy chops of some of the big names here (Jane Krakowski, Jerry Seinfeld, Trevor Noah, to name just a few) — or even the medium names. Performing on the UK’s open mic circuit for three years, I’m not exactly big stuff. So when I approached Just for Laughs about performing, it was to my considerable surprise that they agreed. Even after they’d seen videos of my act.