Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan drew comparisons between the Canadian Indigenous experience and Ireland’s history of colonialism and institutionalized abuse, but his routine was not well received at Just for Laughs.
“Maybe mainstream comedy has become so degenerate that a showcase of humour derived from all that’s putrid and vile doesn’t make sense anymore. That or my polluted millennial mind has spent so much time in the gutter that nothing fazes me.”
We spoke to the Daily Show correspondent, actor and standup comic ahead of his upcoming Just for Laughs Gala hosting gig.
“As a comedian, you desperately want to be liked, but it’s okay for people to be offended and to not like it. I mean, there are those who turn it off and say, ‘That’s a bit much for me and I don’t like it,’ but to say, ‘I don’t think anyone should be allowed to hear that,’ those are two different things.”
“An hour and a half of wide-ranging, often rapid-fire humour that had me doubled over in laughter nearly without pause. Do whatever you can to get tickets and thank me later.”
“I’m a queer, small business, and that weird amount of shame that artists have specifically about selling out — I don’t have that bone. If I’m Walt Disney, Trixie is my Mickey Mouse. And that means I’m gonna put this horrorshow on lunchboxes.”
The festival announced this morning that the actor and his son will be leading a Comedy PRO panel about their podcast Summer in Argyle.
JFL President Bruce Hills spoke to us about the festival’s mammoth impact on stand-up comedy and the careers of comedy stars, just ahead of its 40th anniversary edition.
We spoke to the Montreal comic about the local stand-up scene and being offended by comedy.
The already stacked 40th anniversary edition has also added Maria Bamford, Jimmy Carr and Rick Mercer, among others.
