American comedian, writer, podcaster, and actor Fortune Feimster hosted her Just For Laughs gala on Saturday night to an energetic and engaged sold out crowd at Place des Arts Théâtre Maisonneuve. The popular American comic headlined one of the largest and most anticipated events of this year’s new and improved comedy festival known worldwide for showcasing the best of the best of established as well as up and coming comedy talent. The show, which was taped for broadcast at a later date, lived up to the hype with laughs a plenty and delivered on its promise of a fun filled evening of largely G rated comedy. The international line up featured a selection of hysterically funny people from Canada, the US, UK, and Australia.
Aside from her stand up, Feimster is perhaps best known for her television work on programs such as The Mindy Project (2015-2017) and most recently costarring with Arnold Schwarzenegger in FUBAR (2023-2025). In 2024 Feimster also had her own Netflix comedy special entitled Fortune Feimster: Crushing It. Feimster is also familiar to fans for the popular podcast “Handsome” in which she shares hosting duties with fellow queer comics Tig Notaro and Mae Martin.
Saturday night’s gala included an impressive array of comedy talent including Nick Mohammed, Gianmarco Soresi, Adam Christie, Wally Baram, Wil Anderson, and Mae Martin. Mohammed (from Apple TV’s hit show Ted Lasso) delivered his set on roller skates during which he almost seamlessly solved a Rubik’s Cube onstage in a matter of mere minutes. Stand up Gianmarco Soresi played it casual while entertaining the crowd with his animated comic musings. While Canadian standup/writer/actor Adam Christie, who has written for several popular Canuck sitcoms including This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Baroness von Sketch Show, had the audiences in stitches with his observations on the absurdities of life and death.
Mexican Syrian comic/writer Wally Baram used her time on stage to talk about her personal life. As a straight woman she discussed topics related to dating, finding a boyfriend, growing up as Gen Z, as well as the perils and prejudices against single people in modern society. Baram not only stars in but also serves as the supervising producer on Amazon’s hit series Overcompensating. Australian comic Wil Anderson’s set was spent musing about his conservative dairy farming family and the recent news that bags of cocaine are being washed up on the shores of Australia; a situation which no doubt is giving Aussie beachcombers something to get excited about.
Delightfully funny Mae Martin, who headlined her own show Friday night, topped off the gala with her own brand of casual yet relatable comedy. Martin was a definite crowd favorite as she spoke about living in Los Angeles, her strained relationship with one of her mother’s best friends while growing up in Toronto, and the fact that she recently started smoking cigarettes again partially because it’s the one thing that AI will never be able to replace humans in doing.
Although the tone of the evening was lighthearted and accessible, many of the performers discussed an array of serious topics such as divorce, the current strained political environment, and medically assisted suicide. Saturday’s international line up of talented comedians demonstrated that despite all of our differences the language of comedy is universal and as human beings we all have more in common than the things that separate us. If Just For Laughs proves anything it’s that comedy and our collective love of laughing at others (and ourselves) is alive and well in 2025.
Bravo to all those involved in this year’s Just For Laughs Festival and let’s hope that this new version of our city’s premiere world renown comedy fest will continue to grow and attract the best of the best in the world of comedy for years to come.
For info, tickets, schedules for next year’s JFL, check out the JFL site- montreal.hahaha.com
