Just For Laughs: In conversation with Louie Anderson

I remember when comedian Louie Anderson made his Just For Laughs debut exactly 30 years ago. He was the closing act for the festival’s opening gala – which was hosted by Andrea Martin – at the St. Denis Theatre. Anderson’s routine that dealt with his family, especially his grumpy father and mild-mannered, overfeeding mother, won over the audience very easily.

However, Anderson’s killer set wasn’t the only thing the audience remembered that night in July of 1986. They also remembered when the theatre’s air conditioning system was deliberately shut down for a visual act: a Spanish performer named Pep Bou, who did an act with soap bubbles; and the air conditioning was turned off, so that it wouldn’t interfere with his bubble act. As a result, everyone in the theatre sweltered in the heat, to say the least.

“I remembered that show. Everybody in the theatre was hot, but in the end, it was a good show,” recalled Anderson during a recent phone interview. “That was a special moment in time for me; it was something that you just can’t explain to anyone. It reminded me of the time when I performed in Las Vegas, and the power went out in the venue, so I did the entire show with a flashlight. Situations like these bring audiences together, and they really support you when that happens.”

Since that “hot” performance at the 1986 festival, Anderson has toured consistently, appeared in a number of movies such as “Coming To America”, has written three best selling books such as “Dear Dad” and “Goodbye Jumbo, Hello Cruel World”, created and starred in his own animated TV series during the 90s called “Life with Louie”, and is now up for an Emmy nomination for supporting actor in a comedy series for his role in the offbeat FX series “Buckets”.

And now, exactly 30 years since his festival debut, Anderson returns to Just For Laughs with three solo shows as part of the OFF-JFL series, and as part of the line-up of the David Cross gala.

A native of Minnesota, and one of 11 children, Anderson originally worked as a social worker, and decided to embark upon stand-up comedy on a dare. “I was at a club with a friend of mine and he dared me to go onstage. I felt I had to, because the comics who performed there that night weren’t quite funny. I liked it, and as I continued to do more stand-up, and everyone I knew came to see me perform. Shortly after that, I got signed up with an agent and 37 years later, I’m still performing,” he said.

Anderson mined his comedy material from growing up in Minnesota with his large family, which included his mother who liked to pile on the sweet potatoes every dinner time, and his loud, impatient, gruff father. “When you’re one of 11 children, the comedy sort of comes naturally,” he said. “I took all those elements from my upbringing – and believe me, it was not an easy life – and put a little razzle dazzle to it so it can be more palatable.”

He also enjoys the fact that his family-related material has found so much common ground with his audiences; it even goes as far as the widespread popularity of “Life with Louie”, which is even broadcast in Turkey, Romania and Poland. “People tell me that when they see me perform on stage, or watched my cartoon series, they say that the mother and father characters resemble their parents,” he said. “It’s like you hit the middle ground, where the majority of people can agree upon, and that’s a great thing for me.”

And that family element has played into his Emmy-nominated role of Christine Buckets (and he does wear a dress, wig and make-up for it) in “Buckets”. “My mom was the prototype for Christine Buckets. That role was a great opportunity for me, and I give my mom a lot of credit for the performance I deliver in that role,” he said. “She was a funny person, and I got my sense of humour from her. I’m sure she would be proud of the role and my very first Emmy nomination as a result of it.”

With a career that has risen like the temperature inside the St. Denis Theatre during that gala 30 years go, Anderson has also been grateful to Just For Laughs for accelerating that career. “Just For Laughs has always been good to me, and Andy (Nulman) always made sure I came back to perform at the festival numerous times,” he said. “Right now, there are comedy festivals all over the world, but it was Just For Laughs in Montreal that started the trend of the comedy festival that we know now; before 1986, it was something that many people didn’t know about before. It’s a fun festival to be at.”

For more information – or to purchase tickets for any Just For Laughs show – go to www.hahaha.com.

Just For Laughs: James Mullinger to preview autobiographical film July 29

James Buckley in a scene from "The Comedian's Guide to Survival"

Several years ago, British born comic James Mullinger got together with his old school friend, film director Mark Murphy. At the time, they were known in the UK for their humourous film review show “Movie Kingdom”, and were compiling interviews with some of Mullinger’s favorite comedians for a web series that would be broadcast on Comedy Central.

During their conversation, Mullinger – who currently lives in Saint John, New Brunswick with his wife and children – remarked how after conducting those interviews with his comedy heroes, he had to catch a train to the north of England, so he could perform on stage at an open mic showcase in front of a small, sometimes unappreciative, crowd. And there were times after he performed these small club gigs, he would miss his train ride home, and would end up sleeping on train station platforms or on the street. Murphy suggested they write a screenplay based on his rough and tumble experiences on his quest to success as a stand-up comic.

“We originally called it ‘Don’t Give Up Your Day Job’, and Mark found my situation as a juxtaposition to what I went through in order to chase my dream of becoming a better stand-up comic,” said Mullinger, during a recent phone interview from his Saint John home. “We started writing the script, but then got sidetracked and put it aside. Several years later, we rewrote and broadened the script, and inserted more true life aspects to it. I still ended up sleeping on train station platforms, but his time I brought my own pillow and blanket, but it was an indication of how passionate I had become to live out my dream.”

James Mullinger (left) and director Mark Murphy

The end result of this collaboration is “The Comedian’s Guide To Survival”, which will have an exclusive preview on July 29, 7 p.m., at the Cinema du Parc, as part of the Just For Laughs Film Series (the film’s official premiere will take place in London at the end of October). Mullinger and Murphy will be present at the screening, along with Montreal comedian Mike Ward, who is one of the many top comics who make cameo appearances in the film; a Q&A session will follow the screening.

One main decision regarding the making of “The Comedian’s Guide To Survival” was casting the lead role. Mullinger could have decided to portray himself in the film, but has happily chosen British actor James Buckley for the part, who is a major star in Britain, and starred in “The Inbetweeners”, which was a major box office hit in the UK (Mullinger does appear in the film, in a small role as Brad Macey, a rather vain, pompous British comedy star).

“As far as I’m concerned, I am an above average comedian and not an actor. I knew that if I did the lead role, I would have been terrible in it, because I cannot act and it would not have been a good idea to portray myself,” said Mullinger. “James Buckley is a huge talent. And what I liked about him is that he didn’t try to emulate me. He made the character his own and turned him into a sympathetic, believable person. When I saw his performance, especially when he did the stand-up sequences using my actual stand-up material, it was just amazing.”

Filming took place last summer over a period of six weeks – first for a week at last year’s Just For Laughs festival, and then in Britain for the remaining five weeks – in which during the Montreal shoot, Buckley’s character interviews some of his favorite comics, including Jimmy Carr, Gilbert Gottfried, Mike Wilmot, Brendan Burns, Mike Ward and Derek Seguin.

“Practically all of those interviews for the film were improvised. And because Buckley got some improvisation skills while working on a Judd Apatow film beforehand, he just didn’t stop improvising. As a result, we got some of the film’s funniest lines from those interview segments,” he said.

And Mullinger’s decision to have an exclusive preview of the film at Just For Laughs prior to its UK premiere is his way of expressing his gratitude to the festival for helping towards the success of the scenes they shot there last year.

“The festival has been so good to us, and there is no better place to come do, write, perform, produce and love comedy than at Just For Laughs. I adore this festival so much,” he said.

And a month prior to the film’s premiere, Mullinger has another project that will be premiered on CBC Television that he regards as a companion piece to “The Comedian’s Guide to Survival”: a documentary entitled “City on Fire”, which chronicles the events that led to Mullinger’s sold-out performance at the Harbour Station arena in Saint John, which is quite rare for a solo comedy show in that region.

“The documentary shows how organic the process was. The week of that show was quite nerve-wracking. I packed in a lot of gigs that week, including a fashion fundraiser at a high school, and club gigs to show the people of Saint John what I do,” he said. “I am very excited about this film, because it’s going to show people this organic process that they normally wouldn’t be able to witness.”

Along with “The Comedian’s Guide to Survival”, the Just For Laughs Film Series will also feature the following screenings: a special screening of the first-ever adult CG animated feature “Sausage Party” at the Imperial Theatre, in which the film’s producer-writer-star Seth Rogen will be in attendance (July 30, 8:30 p.m.); the world premiere of the documentary “Tickling Giants” about Bassem Youssef, the heart surgeon-turned popular satirical TV host, who was dubbed the “Egyptian John Stewart” (July 27, 9:15 p.m.); “Committed”, a documentary that tells the story of Vic Cohen and his doggedly determined 14-year quest to succeed as a stand-up comic, and Howie Mandel, the film’s producer, will be present at the screening (July 28, 9:15 p.m.); “Thank you Del: The Story of the Del Close Marathon”, a celebration of Del Close, the Second City legend who influenced the careers of such comics as Bill Murray and Amy Poehler (July 30, 9:15 p.m.); and screenings of the popular international comedy shorts showcases Eat My Shorts (July 28, 7 p.m.) and its French language counterpart Tout Court (July 29, 9:15 p.m.). With the exception of “Sausage Party”, all of the above mentioned film screenings will take place at the Cinema du Parc.

For more information on these or any other Just For Laughs shows, go to their website at www.hahaha.com.

(This article originally appeared in the July 23, 2016 edition of the Montreal Times).

Just For Laughs: Talking to three of the Mega Stars of Comedy

On the evening of Saturday, July 30, the stage of Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts will belong to the stars … the Mega Stars of Comedy, to be exact.

Starting at 7 p.m., the Just For Laughs festival will present a gala with a line-up filled with some of the brightest international stars in comedy over the past 15 years, who have carved out large-scale careers in comedy on the club circuit, TV, movies, and cable specials, as well as in past Just For Laughs festivals. They include Canada’s own Gerry Dee, Greg Proops from the U.S., Dave Hughes from Australia and Danny Bhoy from Scotland.

Over the course of an afternoon earlier this week, I managed to conduct a series of whirlwind phone interviews with three of the comics who are scheduled to perform at the Mega Stars Gala (who are also JFL veterans): Lewis Black, Iliza Shlesinger and JB Smoove.

* * *

I hooked up with veteran comic Lewis Black at his New York City home, as he was watching live coverage of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, in particular, the moment when presidential nominee Donald Trump made his grand arrival into the city.

“I love Montreal, it’s a great city. So this year, in the event that Trump does get elected president and I need to get out of the U.S., I am going to ask you Canadians to help us out,” he said. “Maybe you can sneak in and just vote him out, because there are some states that are happy if just anyone shows up and votes.”

Lewis Black

And while we’re on the subject of Canada and Canadians, Black is pleased about Justin Trudeau’s election as prime minister, especially after what Canadians went through with 10 years of Stephen Harper and his brand of conservatism.

“I also liked when the first Trudeau was prime minister with Maggie. Now how good was that? With those two, it was like Canada hit the nail on the head,” he said.

But now, back to the presidential election. During our conversation, Black was getting into his familiar, angry ranting self when he said the biggest problem during the Obama administration was that Congress was doing absolutely nothing, as they discussed issue after issue without any sense of compromise, which he found quite frustrating.

“In this election, you got a crank going up against someone who is always cranky; two candidates with the lowest trust levels ever in my lifetime, and they’re being nominated for the highest office in the land,” he remarked. “This is beyond my comprehension. I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it to the end of the campaign. They’ll probably find me lying on the sidewalk of some city in the Midwest drooling.”

And if you want to hear more of Lewis Black’s ranting takes on the presidential election and other relevant issues of the day, then also check out his solo performance on July 27 at Theatre Maisonneuve, as part of his Naked Truth Tour.

* * *

Iliza Shlesinger

Iliza Shlesinger, the Dallas native who was the winner of season six of NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” reality competition series, is a true JFL veteran, marking her fourth time performing at the festival, and marvels how Montreal audiences are true comedy fans.

“Montreal is a cosmopolitan city, and Montreal audiences who come see Just For Laughs shows are true comedy fans. They come to fill the many clubs and venues to catch good comedy, and not just go for the drinks,” she said.

Shlesinger developed her comedy chops first in her native Dallas as part of the Comedy Sportz Dallas troupe, and then when she studied film at Emerson College in Boston, where she joined the campus comedy group Jimmy’s Travelling All Stars, before going west to L.A. to pursue a career in comedy. “I was always really funny, and I knew I could be funny for a living,” she said. “It was the only option I had, because I couldn’t do math and wasn’t a fast runner.”

As well, she emphasizes that her material, which mainly deals with relationships and issues that concern women today, is actually more inclusive in nature. “There is definitely no male bashing here, and no one, male or female, are made to feel bad when they hear my routines onstage,” she added.

Besides her appearance at the Mega Stars Gala, Shlesinger will also perform her solo show on July 28 and 30 at Cinquieme Salle, as well as do a live taping of her podcast “Truth and Iliza” on July 30 at the Hyatt Hotel. She is also about to debut a new digital series she wrote and stars in for ABC called “Forever 31” (which is about a group of friends who deal with struggles and absurdities of modern adulthood); her new stand-up special for Netflix, “Confirmed Kills”, is scheduled to air on September 23; and next spring, her first book – Girl Logic – will be published by Weinstein Books.

* * *

JB Smoove, who has been performing stand-up comedy for over 25 years, is aware that he has to follow a rigid structure for the 12 minutes that he will be allotted for his set at the Mega Stars of Comedy Gala. But for him, he is more comfortable doing his stand-up comedy act in a loose, improvised-based structure.

JB Smoove

“I realize that doing a show with a structure is different than what I usually do onstage; it allows a comic to do what he does, as long as it fits into that certain pocket,” he said in a phone interview from Los Angeles. “However, I love performing for the moment and breaking the rules. It makes JB Smoove JB Smoove and it makes the crowd go crazy.”

“It feels like walking on a high tightrope without a net or painting pictures onstage,” he added.

Smoove, whose real name is Jerry Brooks (he adopted his stage name from the time he was a hip-hop dancer named J. Smooth; he developed the name from the initials of his birth name and the merging of his hip-hop last name with that of fellow dancer J. Groove), admits that about 30% of the jokes he uses for his act have never been done before, which provides him with the challenge he relishes every time he goes on stage. “I also have a good ear for my audience. I listen to what part of my jokes in my set the audience laughs at. As well, I observe their physicality and facial expressions that they use when they laugh at what I say, which lends to the honesty of my jokes. That is why when I do five shows a week, those five shows are never the same show,” he said.

Another unique aspect to Smoove’s comedy act is that before every show, he always checks out the club or venue that he will be performing at, to see what parts of the stage or any equipment that are at his disposal, so he can build a routine from scratch for that evening’s performance. “I just dive right in and build it with my own version of hammer, nails and screwdriver. Sometimes I’ll just write the premise and leave it up to the audience’s reactions, which works for me,” he said. “At one club I performed at, I saw the stage had a curtain. So I developed a routine that lasted 10 minutes, in which I portrayed three characters in a restaurant, and one of the customers confronts the chef … and I did the whole routine behind the curtain!”

Smoove is currently on his cross country tour that’s entitle “Profounity”, and he will soon revise his popular character of Leon Black, Larry David’s fast-talking friend and houseguest, in the upcoming new season of HBO’s sitcom “Curb Your Enthusiasm”.

“I wouldn’t miss that for the world. I can’t ignore ‘Curb’, Leon and all the improvising that goes with it, and have the chance to mix it all together,” he said. “I am definitely coming back to ‘Curb”, so that I can get the chance to get on Larry David’s ass once again.”

* * *

For more information about the Mega Stars of Comedy Gala, or any other Just For Laughs show, go to the festival’s website at www.hahaha.com.

(This article originally appeared in the July 23, 2016 edition of the Montreal Times)

Dispatches from Montreal Comiccon 2016

 If you were a fan or aficionado of comic books, super heroes, science fiction, video games, fantasy, animation or any other aspect of pop culture, then Montreal Comiccon was the place to be, as record crowds jammed the aisles of the Palais de Congres between July 8 and 10.

Basically, it was a virtual “kid-in-a-candy-store” setting, with a multitude of kiosks of various shapes and sizes offering fans and collectors everything from comic books (both classic and current), memorabilia, video games and video game accessories, collectibles, movie posters, trading cards, model kits, t-shirts, hoodies and even authentic cosplay weapons (especially swords).

While strolling along the aisles of Montreal Comiccon throughout the entire three-day period, several things caught my attention. First of all, the costumes. I was so impressed by the effort and attention to detail many of the Comiccon went through with their costumes, whether it be Batman, Superman, Darth Vader, the X-Men, Captain America, or anyone from the Star Wars or Star Trek universes. However, the one character whom I saw represented the most was Harley Quinn, the harlequin-like, mallet-wielding companion of the Joker who is the star of her own comic book and is going to be portrayed by Australian actress Margot Robbie in the upcoming “Suicide Squad” film that is going to be released on August 5. Why is Harley Quinn so popular with female comic book fans?

Harley Quinn and The Joker

Kate Mulgrew

“Harley Quinn is a cute bad girl, who is spontaneous, happy, but is a totally whacked-out character who is a little less dangerous than the Joker,” said Kyle, an employee at Labyrinth, a Toronto-based comic book and collectibles store.

Second, the autographs and photo ops. One thing is for sure, there is no shortage of Comiccon fans who love to get an autograph of – or a photo with – one of their pop culture idols, and are determined to spend the time and money to get those celebrity signatures and photos. And this year’s line-up of celebrity appearances was quite an impressive one: William Shatner, Brent Spiner, Nichelle Nichols, Kate Mulgrew, Tom Felton from the Harry Potter movies (according to one source, when he appeared for his autograph session, he was greeting with loud screams similar to what greeted the Beatles more than 50 years ago), pro wrestlers Ric Flair and Eric Bischoff, Cary Elwes, Eliza Dushku, Billy Dee Williams and Alfonso Ribeiro, to name a few. I had the golden opportunity to join the foursome for a photo op with William Shatner on Friday afternoon. Shatner was friendly and amiable and wanted to have a brief chat with us; unfortunately, because of the high volume of fans who also purchased a photo op with the revered Captain Kirk, we had to be in and out of the area in a matter of seconds (but the photo came out quite nicely, I have to admit).

Alfonso Ribeiro

Third, the Q&A sessions. Fans also got the chance to see many of these celebrities talk about the shows and movies that made them famous in a series of 45-minute Q&A sessions that took place in one of the Palais’ large conference rooms on the fifth floor. I managed to catch four of these sessions and here are my highlights: William Shatner offered fond memories of growing up in NDG (as part of the Marcil Street Gang), his weakness for Ruby Foo’s garlic spareribs, why Canadians like to say “not bad”, and his unlikely musical career (and announced he is going to release a Christmas album later this year); Kate Mulgrew, accompanied by her niece Isabel, gave a fulfilling , inspirational session and talked about how significant her role as Captain Janeway on “Star Trek: Voyager” was for female actors, and how she developed her Russian accent for the character of “Red” Reznikov on “Orange is the New Black”;  the bubbly, sassy Eliza Dushku spoke about one piece of advice Arnold Schwarzenegger gave her on the set of “True Lies”, one of her first onscreen appearances: “Don’t ever change your paternal name”; and Alfonso Ribeiro shared some great behind-the-scenes stories from “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”, including his famous dance to Tom Jones’ hit “It’s Not Unusual”, and admitted that at first, he wasn’t a fan of his music, but grew to appreciate him when appeared on an episode of the show (“He is an incredible gentleman … but he now owes me a lot of money,” he jokingly added).

Finally, the merchandise. It is impossible to go to Montreal Comiccon (or any other Comiccon across North America) and not leave without purchasing some sort of pop culture-type merchandise. In fact, the displays and kiosks were so eye catching, that you were automatically drawn to them and tempted to buy something to add to your collection, whatever that may be. For me, it’s t-shirts. And thanks to one vendor’s huge selection of shirts that represented Marvel, DC, movies and classic TV, I added two new t-shirts to my vast collection: Monty Python’s Flying Circus (featuring the Ministry of Silly Walks) and the 1966 Batman TV series logo. And then there’s all those comic books. As I was going from comic book kiosk to kiosk, I rifled through their stacks and found many of the DC and Marvel comic books (especially Batman and Howard the Duck) that I bought as a teenager for about 20 to 30 cents each (not to mention those special giant-sized editions for $1) back in the 1970s. And as I saw the price tags for these books going for $20, $30 and as much as $60 each, my heart began to ache in retrospect, wishing that somehow I should have held onto those comic books and not relegate them to the garbage can. Oh, well…..

Just For Laughs: A chat with Mark Watson

In a comedy career that has spanned 15 years, British comedian Mark Watson has described his style of comedy as trying to push things as far as he could.

And comedy fans will get the chance to see Mark push the comedy envelope in his own inimitable way on two occasions at this year’s Just For Laughs festival: first as  host of the Brit(ish) show at Club Soda on July 26 and 27, and then as part of the line-up of the Nathan Lane Showstoppers Gala on July 28.

“This is going to be my fourth time at Just For Laughs,” said Watson during a recent phone interview from his home in London. “I’ve done Zoofest and some smaller scale shows at the festival. But I remember being part of the Britcom Gala line-up in 2009, when John Cleese was supposed to host it, but ended up becoming ill and was replaced by Lewis Black. I hope this time, I won’t cause anything bad to happen to Nathan Lane; I don’t want to have a reputation of being poisonous!”

Watson began his comedy career by entering an open mic competition, basically to see what would happen with it and how far he could go. When he entered Cambridge University, he went the classic comedy route that was followed by such immortals as John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Jonathan Miller nearly 60 years ago: join the legendary Cambridge Footlights Club, and then create a show to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

“I fell into stand-up comedy quite by accident. I didn’t expect to be there for the long term. But when I decided to go into comedy for the long term, I wanted to do things that weren’t traditional and see how I can challenge myself with different types of shows that would be rather interesting experiments,” he said.

And those “interesting experiments” in comedy that Mark undertook had their roots at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. For example, in 2006, he did a show called “Mark Watson, and His Audience, Write A Novel”, in which he aimed to write a complete novel throughout the duration of the festival – at a rate of 2000 words a day – using solely suggestions from the audience; in 2007, he hosted with fellow comics Tim Key and Alex Horne a show called “We Need Answers”, a knock-out quiz show that challenged 16 comedians to answer a variety of general knowledge questions that came from the text service Any Question Answered. It later evolved into a TV series that had a brief run on the BBC.

But perhaps Watson’s best-known comedy experiment began during the 2004 festival. Called “Mark Watson’s Overambitious 24-Hour Show”, it was a 24-hour comedy marathon that he did for charity, which included guest appearances from other comics (and Just For Laughs veterans) such as Tim Minchin, Adam Hills and David O’Doherty. Since then, he has done other comedy marathons of that nature at Edinburgh, and most recently, at last year’s Comic Relief fundraiser.

Watson was amazed when I told him that Francophone comedian Jean-Marc Parent did comedy marathons similar to his at Juste pour rire during the 90s (including a landmark gig at the Montreal Forum). “When I started doing the comedy marathons at Edinburgh, I did them at smaller venues for audiences of no more than 200 people. But I wasn’t aware that more people were doing it, and having it at a large hockey arena is quite a commitment; you have to be a superstar to pull that one off,” he said. “I would love to do a comedy marathon in the future with Jean-Marc Parent; it would be a great way to promote harmonious relations between the English and French through comedy.”

As well, Watson is an accomplished bestselling novelist. He has written eight novels since 2004 such as Bullet Points, Hotel Alpha, A Light-Hearted Look at Murder and Eleven (which is also available in North America), and has a new novel scheduled for publication this month. “The books are mostly humourous novels with a tragicomic twist to them and deal with subjects that I normally wouldn’t tackle in comedy,” he added.

Watson is also a keen observer about the comedy scene in his native Britain, as well as in North America. While doing a Just For Laughs spring tour across Ontario, he noted that Canadian audiences have a similar sensibility than those of their British counterparts. “It’s a rather slightly gloomy sense of humour with a shade of gentleness and a slight underdog mentality,” he said.

He also noted that over the last 10 years, there are far more stand-up comedians in Britain, and are regarding stand-up comedy more as a path towards getting their own TV series. “Comics in New York and Los Angeles are basically working for TV, and are finely honing their performances as a means of auditioning for Hollywood. This is true in the UK, but not to the same extent. British comedy has more of a sense of informality to it,” said Watson.

When his Just For Laughs gigs are done, Watson will continue with his latest tour, called “I’m Not Here”, which he has performed in 65 shows so far across the UK. “I’m going to take it to Edinburgh, and then complete the tour by the end of the year,” he said. “After that, I am going to take a break, because I know I will be getting tired of the jokes by then!”

For more information about the Brit(ish) show, the Nathan Lane Showstoppers Gala or any other Just For Laughs show, go to the festival’s website at hahaha.com.

(This article originally appeared in the July 16, 2016 edition of The Montreal Times)

It’s springtime for the Segal Centre, as its triumphantly concludes its season with first-ever Yiddish production of “The Producers”

The Segal Centre for Performing Arts has concluded its 2015-2016 season in a blaze of glory, as the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre and the Cote St. Luc Dramatic Society teamed up to present the first ever Yiddish language version of Mel Brooks' blockbuster Broadway musical “The Producers”.

Elan Kunin as Franz Liebkind

If you were a fan of the original 1968 classic comedy movie that was written and directed by Brooks (which earned him an Oscar for best original screenplay), or saw the Broadway musical version that won 12 Tony Awards, the plot is quite familiar. Max Bialystock, (Sam Stein) is a Broadway producer who was once “the King of Broadway”, but is now past his prime after staging a string of improbable flops. Facing imminent bankruptcy, he is visited by a shy, timid, insecure accountant named Leo Bloom (Mikey Samra), and while trying to fix his books, accidentally comes upon a plot for Bialystock to make a pile of money. All he has to do is to find the worst Broadway musical ever written, hire a grade Z director and performers, and get his network of little old ladies to invest a lot of money in the show. And after the show opens – and closes – on Broadway on the same night, Bialystock pockets practically all of the investors’ cash (minus the minimal costs to stage the single performance of the show in question).

Simple isn’t it? So Bialystock and Bloom team up to initiate this scheme and find what they believe to be is THE worst Broadway musical ever – “Springtime for Hitler” by a rather shell shocked playwright named Franz Liebkind  (Elan Kunin).. It looks like easy money in the bank for Bialystock & Bloom; however, there is one slight problem: “Springtime for Hitler” turns into a surprise smash hit on Broadway!

Both the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre and the Cote St. Luc Dramatic Society faced a monumental challenge in staging a classic comedy that is “The Producers” into a Yiddish language production; however, they have succeeded tremendously. The musical numbers were done with so much Broadway quality to them, and that is especially so with the “Springtime for Hitler” number that opens the show’s secnd half; It is done with a great deal of subtlety and good taste (tap dancing storm troopers and all), that it never loses its sense of absurdity, and was easily the showstopper of the entire production.  The actors who perform such Brooksian main characters as Max Bialystock, Leo Bloom, and Franz Liebkind will have you chuckling a lot (especially those who are familiar with the original 1968 film version), and they portray them in keeping with the original spirit of the ’68 movie (which is another salute to the highly absurd comic vision of Mel Brooks). And for those who are familiar with the Yiddish language, there is a good mix of Yiddish and English that offers a realistic linguistic balance of the old school world of the onstage and offstage world of Broadway (the only Yiddish interaction is between Bialystock and Bloom, and there are simultaneous translations in English and French that are a great help).

The Segal Centre’s production of “The Producers” in Yiddish will certainly make Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder and the late Zero Mostel proud of this production (and hopefully, Brooks – who recently celebrated his 90^th birthday --  will make the trip to Montreal to see it). It’s a definite must-see; it runs at the Segal Centre from now until July 10. To buy your tickets, call 514-739-7944, or go to www.segalcentre.org.

Sam Stein (left) as Max Bialystock and Mikey Samra as Leo Bloom

(This article originally appeared in the June 29, 2016 edition of "Wednesday")