Each year, Just for Laughs in Montreal hosts the Just for Laughs Awards show that honors breakthroughs and icons in the world of comedy. This year’s concert will take place at 3pm on July 29 at the DoubleTree Grand Salon Opera.
Amy Schumer
Comedian character of the year
After Will Smith slaps Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards, energy is sucked out of the room. The producers decided to continue the show without stopping. Then Amy Schumer, one of the night’s three hosts, dropped out.
“I came out of this Spider-Man costume, did I miss anything?” Schumer sneered while the audience laughed with a sigh of relief. “There’s a different feeling here,” she added, clasping her fist.
Tiffany Haddish.
It’s no surprise that Schumer was able to break the tension, having been known for her no-nonsense style of joke-making for years now. But this year, it changed tracks quite a bit. After a series of stand-up specials and a highly personal 2020 docuseries “Expecting an Emmy,” which chronicled her pregnancy complications, Schumer is expanding her collection.
She started the year with her semi-biographical drama “Life & Beth,” which premiered on Hulu in March. In July, she gave a cameo role in the second season of “Only Murders in the Building”, playing another masterful version of herself. Co-hosting one of the most iconic Academy Awards in history will surely become part of her legacy, but through all of her work, Schumer has proven that she can create her own unique brand without avoiding any jokes in the process.
– Sasha Urban
Hassan Minhaj
Best Comedian of the Year
Known for his intimate comedic accounts of growing up first-generation Amerindians in the predominantly white and wealthy city of Davis, he uses his stage platform as a partner in his actions. He attracts the audience with his lively rhetoric, and supports his stories with extensive visual elements. Minhaj is not a comedian who stands still with his hands in his pockets and makes jokes as if the theater is the size of a small box. He moves as if he had just been hit by connecting cables, using his hand and body movements to add focus – and fun – to his uniquely American stories.
But Minhaj’s real skill lies in his ability to weave tragedy into comedy. He’s no stranger to being exposed to racism or hatred in any way, but he does use this hate as a weapon in his standing actions – a weapon of laughter, of course.
His latest tour, “The King’s Jester,” saw Minhaj bring his signature style to audiences from all over the world. After the global impact of his beloved Netflix comedy show “Patriot Law,” the comedian has returned to his roots in storytelling, sharing his true thoughts about America while delving into what it means to be a good father, a loving husband, and a responsible citizen.
Minhaj, who explained in his 2017 comedy special “Homecoming King” that he truly loves his country, is a vivid and tumultuous portrait of what it means to be an American in a country that often underestimates identities like its own.
– Carson Burton
Taylor Tomlinson
Breakout comedy star of the year
alum diverseThe 10 must-see comedies Tomlinson has been performing since the age of 16. Netflix hit its first “Quarterly Crisis” special in March 2020 and it’s likely to gain it a massive following even if the world isn’t locked down. To prove it wasn’t luck, her latest Netflix special, Look At You, premiered in March and cemented Tomlinson as a major talent who can make audiences laugh while addressing topics from her bipolar disorder to her mother’s death. (She suggests 8 years is a good time to lose a parent. “The only people I know with deceased mothers are Disney princesses. So, that’s annoying but am I about to get hot?”)
As for being named Breakout Comedy Star of the Year, Tomlinson said, “I’m honored! Getting new faces in the JFL was a huge deal for me when I was younger, and it’s great to be back at this festival at a different point in my career.”
Next, Tomlinson says she is writing and producing a film for Village Roadshow and is preparing for her second nationwide tour, “The Have It All Tour”, which will launch in October.
– Jenelle Riley
Jerrod Carmichael, “Rothaniel”
Special Comedy of the Year
Carmichael has been a successful comedian for a long time, but the fourth comedy special, “Ruthaniel” on HBO Max is feeling a fresh start in his career. The special was released in April, and immediately made headlines for fans of Carmichael appearing in the middle of his set, recording at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York. But the special, which features sharp guidance from fellow comedian Bo Burnham, is a great hour of comedy alongside the news it generates.
As he weaves through his material—which revolves around the lies and secrets his family keeps from one another—Carmichael is an excellent narrator, funny, and open-minded while also showing raw weaknesses. As he describes his complex relationship with his parents and brother, he has a knack for providing candid and insightful insights that can be both funny and insightful.
“Rothaniel” is named after Carmichael’s real first name, which he describes as a combination of his two grandparents’ first names. The featured begins by saying that he keeps his real first name a secret from the people around him, and shuts down his group to cheers by revealing it to his fans. She is a powerful and poignant coda, giving the sense that the comedian is just beginning to live his truth.
– Wilson Chapman
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