Posts Tagged ‘Just for Laughs’

Richard at Just for Laughs In Conversation with Nicholas Stoller!

img168Richard hosted a “ComedyPRO In Conversation” session with director Nicholas Stoller on Thursday July 24, 2014 at Just for Laughs in Montreal.

From JFL’s websiteFilmmaker Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek) is this year’s ‘In Conversation’ subject. His latest film, Neighbors, starring Seth Rogen and Zac Efron, laughed its way to a $51.1 million US debut over Mother’s Day weekend, and has grossed over $220 million worldwide thus far. In Conversation with Nicholas Stoller takes place at ComedyPRO on Thursday, July 24, 3 pm, at the Hyatt Regency Montreal. It is presented by the Telefilm Canada Feature Comedy Exchange, a CFC initiative in collaboration with Just For Laughs.

 

 

 

 

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Just For Laughs! “In Conversation” w Neighbors Director Nicholas Stoller

Nicholas-Stoller-Zac-Efron-400CFC is pleased to announce that filmmaker Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek) is this year’s ‘In Conversation’ subject at Just For Laughs Festival, hosted by Richard Crouse. His latest film, Neighbors, starring Seth Rogen and Zac Efron, has grossed over $220 million worldwide thus far. In Conversation with Nicholas Stoller takes place at ComedyPRO on Thursday, July 24, 3 pm, at the Hyatt Regency Montreal. It is presented by the Telefilm Canada Feature Comedy Exchange, a CFC initiative in collaboration with Just For Laughs.

To learn more about Nicholas Stoller, CLICK HERE!

To find out more about this year’s Just For Laughs Festival, CLICK HERE!

Richard hosts “In Conversation” with Nicholas Stoller JFL!

a7d38968-ba10-4764-9f35-8cacdb708ed2Richard is hosting the Nicholas Stoller “In Conversation”: at Just for Laughs this year!

Filmmaker Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek) is this year’s ‘In Conversation’ subject. His latest film, Neighbors, starring Seth Rogen and Zac Efron, laughed its way to a $51.1 million US debut over Mother’s Day weekend, and has grossed over $220 million worldwide thus far. In Conversation with Nicholas Stoller takes place at ComedyPRO on Thursday, July 24, 3 pm, at the Hyatt Regency Montreal. It is presented by the Telefilm Canada Feature Comedy Exchange, a CFC initiative in collaboration with Just For Laughs.

For film tickets by phone, online or in person: The Just For Laughs Box Office, 514-845-2322, hahaha.com presented by Videotron

The critically acclaimed The Trial Of Ken Gass returns with a star studded cast!

stage-gass-0801_largeFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

“The mishmash of Kafka’s bureaucratic frustration, Beckett’s oddness, and Del Rio’s sense of humour puts an entertaining spin on the Canadian theatre controversy.” -Mooney on Theatre

Del Rio’s dialogue is lively, and Salgueiro has fun being the aggressor, twisting Gass’s statements into politically correct pretzels of incoherence.” -NOW Magazine

Monday February 24, 2014 (Toronto): By popular demand, HLIBKA ENTERTAINMENT INC. in association with BIG PICTURE CINEMA are bringing back the critically acclaimed comedy THE TRIAL OF KEN GASS from Friday March 21st to Thursday April 3rd.

The remount has a STAR-STUDDED cast including: Stratford veteran David Fox, actor/playwright Matthew Edison, Canadian comedy legend Kenny Robinson, movie reviewer Richard Crouse, Second City mainstage alum Anand Rajaram, Kids in the Hall alum Paul Bellini, performer and personality Ryan G. Hinds, Caitlin Driscoll, indie film darling Robert Nolan, Just for Laughs comedian Sandra Battaglini, and many more.

The Trial of Ken Gass is a play based on the famous dismissal of Canadian theatre legend Ken Gass. In a Kafkaesque series of interrogations, Ken Gass is continually put on trial for crimes he is not aware of.  The absurdist comedy is a metaphor for the power institutions wield over artists and individuals.

The play is being put up by producer / conceptual artist Jonathan Hlibka and will again be directed by acclaimed playwright Bobby Del Rio.  Every show, the spectacular Jess Salgueiro returns to play SARAH BRIGHT opposite DIFFERENT ACTORS PLAYING KEN GASS!!  It is highly encouraged to see multiple performances as each performer will bring their own unique interpretation to the role of Ken Gass.  Lighting and set design will be a collision of minimalistic expressionism and pop art design styled by Jonathan Hlibka.

Opening March 21st: Matthew Edison – 8:00pm

March 22: David Fox – 8:00pm

March 23: Amish Patel 2:30pm matinee,  Kenny Robinson – 8:00pm

March 24: Richard Crouse – 8:00pm

March 25: Caitlin Driscoll – 8:00pm

March 26: Anand Rajaram – 8:00pm

March 27: Ryan G. Hinds – 8:00pm

March 29: Paul Bellini – 8:00pm

March 30: 2:30pm matinee TBA, Robert Nolan – 8:00pm

March 31: Sandra Battaglini – 8:00pm

April 1: Derrick Chua – 8:00pm

April 2: TBA

April 3: TBA

In 2013, at the Sterling Studio Theatre’s first one-act playwriting competition, The Trial of Ken Gass ended up as a top-3 finalist. The original production was at Sterling Studio Theatre in July 2013.  Highlight performances from the first run include: Peter Keleghan (The Newsroom), Diane Flacks, Huse Madhavji (Saving Hope), Pat Thornton and Julian DeZotti.

The play will open Friday, March 21st @ 8pm. It will close on Thursday, April 3rd @ 8pm. All shows will be @ 8pm. The show will run every night from March 21 – April 3 (except Friday March 28th). On Sundays, there will also be matinees @ 2:30pm. All tix are $15, with PWYC Sundays for both shows. Passes for all performances for the run of the show are available for $35. Big Picture Cinema is located at 1035 Gerrard St East. Tickets can be purchased at the door, or online at www.bigpicturecinema.com

Louis CK, “The way to improve is to reject everything you’re doing” By Richard Crouse

2013-09-25-louis_ck_660Louis CK has added some nuance to his humor since the first time he made an audience laugh.

“I was in class at school,” he told me during Just for Laughs in Montréal last week, “and they were talking about the parts of the skull. They asked the class to name them, and I said ‘noggin’.”

All his friends doubled up, he remembers, and since then he has been refining the art of making people guffaw.

“I know how I sort of do it now,” he said. “I generate material from whatever thoughts are burning in my brain. I used to ignore that.”

That has led to an emotional honesty in his work that has earned him comparisons to Richard Pryor, another comedian who pushed the boundaries of cathartic comedy. Whether he is talking about Sarah Palin, changing his daughter’s diaper or his hatred of deers, the material is intensely personal and, one gets the sense, therapeutic. But it doesn’t come easily.

Every year the comic abandons his entire act and starts over. A recent GQ profile noted he is “taking stuff that other comics only dream of and throwing it away.”

“The way to improve is to reject everything you’re doing,” he told me. “You have to create a void by destroying everything. You have to kill it. Otherwise you’ll just say the same jokes every night for years and years.”

The process is the same every 365 days. Material that has been buffed to a high polish is discarded, replaced by new untried jokes.

“Ever year I’m an open mic-er again,” he says. “It’s really good pressure. I like pressure. It’s enabling.”

He’s one of the hottest comedian in the world—the deadspin blog calls him “the flat-out best comedian alive on Earth right now”—with sold out live shows and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (“I don’t deserve an Emmy Award,” he says) for Louie, his semi-autobiographical show (Thursday nights on FX) but he’s philosophical about his success.

“You don’t sell tickets forever,” he says. “I know it’ll go down from where it is now.”

But for now there are moments to savor. Recently his kids stood backstage while he appeared on the Letterman show. Afterwards his daughter said, “I felt like you were falling and falling and every joke was like a plane that took you and brought you back up.”

“And now that’s a memory she has,” he says. “That meant a lot.”