Sneak Peek's Norma Dell'Agnese sends us this exclusive Toronto report:
July 27, at Friday night's packed "Just for Laughs Festival" gala at Massey Hall, the excitement was so palpable, it was as if Toronto audiences wanted to give Montreal a run for their money: even if a joke wasn't that funny, you found yourself laughing as part of the enthusiastic crowd.
American Lewis Black was a surprisingly gracious host, apologizing for his country while riffing on the headlines of the day. He made the audience howl at his trenchant political and religious observations, wisely saving his "Daily Show" trademark 'rage voice' for punctuation when the audience wasn't responding enough-- an effective technique, I might add.
First up was Bob Marley, a lively and self-deprecating American who had great fun with anticipating pizza deliveries and neatly enacting a new 'dumb husband' routine.
Ireland's own Ardal O'Hanlon commented on Polish immigration to the newly prosperous Ireland: "Finally I can fill the 'XYZ' pages of my address book."
Looking like 'Captain Kirk's Rabbi', Richard Lewis was all kinetic energy, interrupting his own hilarious tangents with more exasperated sputtering about his declining 60 years of age.
Currently a "Now" magazine cover gal, Nova Scotia native Nikki Payne may have fulfilled the 'chick' quota, but she more than held her own, garnering great guffaws for brilliantly mining her own vulnerabilities: from pleasuring a man through 'motorcycle handle technique' to losing her virginity. Payne's US health system jokes took on a poignant resonance when she lifted her shirt to reveal a long scar: "Your Canadian tax dollars at work".
Jeremy Hotz finds everything he says to be funny-- and so do we. He's a sly master of coaxing an audience to share in his own cracking-up. Among his many silly observations, he comments on being a Canadian in L.A.: " I was born in Kenya, came to Canada when I was 1, and when I get my American citizenship, I'll be... an African-American."
And last up, the hysterically-funny L.A. native Jo Koy bookended the wife/women theme from a 'Female Admiration Society' perspective of husband and dad. Side-splitting stuff. Nice change from the usual.
Great show. Great night. Thanks, Toronto audiences...
