Awards shows for comedians are often glorified roasts with lots of zingers and one-liners.
But they can have tender moments too, as when Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, the first comic to sell outDodger Stadium, received the generation award at the Just for Laughs comedy festival with his trademark tough-love comedy.
“If I can leave you with anything, it’s do [comedy] because you love it. Don’t expect to be paid. If you’re looking to be paid, you’re doing it for the wrong reason. Do it because it makes you feel good to be onstage in front of people, making people smile, making people laugh, making people forget, making people feel good,” Iglesias told the MTelus audience in Montreal.
“And if you do that well, you’re going to drive a nice car one day. But don’t be in a rush,” he added.
Of course, there were sharp jabs elsewhere during the comedy awards show, including from host Tone Bell, who mentioned the newly resurrected Just for Laughs was evidently diligent in balancing the books after the Montreal comedy festival emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2024.
“I got here last night, and they’re pushing me out in the morning,” Bell said before introducing award winners. Canadian actress and comic Lisa Gilroy, when honored with rising comedy star of the year award, gave the ground rules on how to accept a comedy prize in Canada.
“I fucking love being Canadian. I’m really honored to receive this award,” Gilroy said. “And I make comedy for the same reason so many of us in this room make comedy, because we’re deeply, deeply mentally ill, and nothing will ever fix that. Maybe this will help.”
Chris Fleming, who went from YouTube sensation to hosting hisChris Fleming: Live at the Palacespecial, had his own rapid-fire barbs when receiving the comedy performance of the year trophy for his HBO special.
“I do love it here in Montreal. It feels like the last place on Earth that will get driverless cars. My one note about Montreal, though, if I was an acting teacher, I’d say the performance of French rings false. I don’t buy it. There’s an awareness of the audience that feels a lot like when Austin Butler played Elvis … I hear tepid laughs from the balcony,” Fleming joked.
In otherprize-giving, Atsuko Okatsuka, a viral comic with Hulu, HBO and an upcoming Netflix comedy special among her credits, took exception with the “breakout” part of her tribute. “I looked up the definition of ‘to break out.’ Dictionary.com said a violent and/or forceful break from a restraining condition or situation. I didn’t know I had it this bad, before this,” Okatsuka observed while grasping the breakout comedy star of the year trophy.
“Really, as comedians, we’re seen as the weirdos of the industry, the raccoons of Hollywood, basement dwellers of show business, and these are just some of the things I’ve said about us. So imagine what other things other people might be saying — and still we rise,” she added.
In another emotional high point, Iglesias returned to the main stage to introduce former Just for Laughs programming topper Bruce Hillsto receive the JFL Legacy Tribute Award. “I’m basically here because Dave Chappelle said no. Bill Burr said no. Kevin Hart said no. So in keeping with tradition, here’s another Mexican doing a job nobody else wanted,” Iglesias said.
That was before he thanked Hills for giving him a career break when inviting him to appear at the Montreal comedy festival, as the comedy festival king did for so many others. “So many shows, so many years, so many opportunities that you’ve given not only to myself, but to other comedians over the years, you’ve always been kind. You’ve always been so gracious,” Iglesias added.
When he came onstage after Chappelle, Hart and a slew of other comedy veterans thanked him via taped video tributes, Hills recalled 41 years earlier driving comedians around to comedy clubs after joining the fledgling festival at age 19.
“Jerry Lewis, Sandra Bernhard hated each other,” he recalled. “That’s the biggest lesson I learned over 39 years: Success is never about one person. It’s about you. It’s about the comics, do you believe in the team you built, the people around you, to make you better?” Hills insisted.