Jerry Seinfeld, Elon Gold and Russell Peters will be among the veterans coming to town, with American standup Elon Gold first up.
Fret not, Montrealers. The city may have missed out on the Taylor Swift gravy train, but citizens will be able to forget and to laugh it all off — literally — with a rare holiday season comedy explosion, beginning this week.
Local theatre buffs also have something to get chuffed about, although not until next summer: at long last, among the most successful Broadway shows of all, the multi-award-winning Hamilton: An American Musical, will be heading to Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier in Place des Arts for 24 shows in August/September.
For more immediate gratification on the chuckles front, Just for Laughs serial visitor and American standup Elon Gold kicks it all off with a show Wednesday at Club Soda. On Thursday, one of the most popular U.S. wits ever to play the city, Sebastian Maniscalco, another Just for Laughs vet, returns to the Bell Centre.
Russell Peters, Brampton, Ont.’s gift to the comedy universe, brings his Relax World Tour to the Bell Centre on Dec. 6. On Dec. 11, fast-talking Moroccan funnyman Gad Elmaleh brings his act to the Bell Centre.
And save some of your holiday season cash for a formidable Jan. 12 double bill at the Bell Centre featuring two of the sharpest minds in the humour biz, Jerry Seinfeld and Jim Gaffigan. One of the few upsides for those bummed out by recent U.S. presidential election results is that the hilarious Gaffigan — who was a blast doing impressions of veepee candidate Tim Walz on Saturday Night Live — has a little more free time on his hands these days.
Also expected to be announced here shortly is up-and-comer Matt Rife, fast blowing up on the North American laugh scene.
This comedy onslaught now would appear to be a bit of an anomaly. In the golden days of Just for Laughs — before it came apart at the seams last summer and was acquired by Quebec City’s ComediHa! — the aforementioned standups could be counted upon to let loose here in July. The stars tend to hibernate on exotic beaches or hang out with their kin over the holidays in December/January.
Nick Farkas, vice-president of concerts and events at Evenko, rarely gets time to hibernate any time of the year, and he certainly isn’t now. When not bringing almost every major musical act on the planet — except Swift — to the city or programming summer fests Osheaga, ÎleSoniq and Lasso, he has his ears and eyes open for comedy and theatre.
Except for the Gold show at Club Soda, Evenko has involvement with the other aforementioned comedy spectacles coming here. These shows tend to be less difficult to book, provided there is space availability at opportune times at the Bell Centre or elsewhere, because they are generally part of world or national tours.
Landing Hamilton here was a whole other matter.
“Honestly, the whole process to get it here started almost seven years ago,” Farkas says. “Getting the hottest show in musical history, at least in the last 10 years, was one of the most difficult shows to land. Getting the timing when they were available to do dates and then seeing if Place des Arts was available was really something. Then, finally, the stars aligned. I can’t wait for the city to see it. I can’t wait to see it here, either.”
The game-changing musical tells the story of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton in two parts. Based on the Ron Chernow biography Alexander Hamilton, the play’s music, lyrics and book were created by Lin-Manuel Miranda, also the original star of the piece. Hamilton premièred at New York City’s Public Theater nearly 10 years ago before conquering stages everywhere else it went.
Miranda probably won’t be hitting the stage here, but the explosiveness of the original production will certainly be replicated by the touring company. Tickets will be going on sale for just Hamilton alone in March, but those interested in purchasing tickets for Hamilton along with the previously announced Tina: The Tina Turner Musical and Mean Girls, also Evenko-produced, can purchase them in a package now.
Evenko may no longer be involved with Just for Laughs — as it was prior to the festival’s sale to ComediHa! — but it clearly hasn’t given up on comedy.
“We’ve always done really well with comedy, but I think it’s more coincidental the shows are all falling now,” Farkas says. “It wasn’t really a plan on our part. It just seemed to happen that way. People realize Montreal is a more viable comedy stop these days, not just at the Bell Centre but also at Place Bell, the Beanfield Theatre, Le Studio D and Place des Arts, among other venues.”
A sure sign that English comedy works here is that the likes of Maniscalso, Peters and Gaffigan can sell out the Bell Centre — admittedly in more condensed spaces than on hockey nights.
“What’s handy about the Bell Centre is we can change the configurations for different shows, but still give the full concert experience,” notes Farkas, pointing out that the Bell Centre can accommodate up to 13,000 for the big-name comedy shows.
“So we don’t have Swift, but we do have Seinfeld — and we will have Hamilton, finally.”