The Just for Laughs festival may have excluded comedy galas from its poster, but at ComediHa! Fest-Québec, these evenings with varied menus are and will remain the cornerstone of the program, and for a long time. The broadcasting agreement with Radio-Canada has even just been renewed for another three years.
Sylvain Parent-Bédard, president and founder of ComediHa!, puffed out his chest when he announced the news to La Presse earlier this week, when the ink was not yet completely dry on the contract. The ComediHa! Fest will thus be relayed to ICI Télé at least until 2026.
Each of the six ComediHa! of three hours in theaters is split into two one-hour TV shows, for a total of 13 60-minute appointments to watch in our living rooms, including a montage of best moments. The editions presented this week at ComediHa! Fest can be seen this fall on ICI Télé.
Both the producer’s smile and his explanations attest to it: while his Montreal counterpart with the green mascot questions the relevance of comic galas due to the proliferation of forums, in Quebec City, the formula is still a godsend. . The answer is good among festival-goers; the presale of tickets for the shows led this year by Marc Dupré, Laurent Paquin, Anthony Kavanagh, Dominic and Martin, Cathy Gauthier and Silvi Tourigny and Michel Courtemanche even reached record figures a few months ago. The ratings in the Friday box at 9 p.m. on ICI Télé also reflect the enthusiasm, mentions Sylvain Parent-Bédard, who mentions market shares of 15 to 25% in his niche.
“The formula is not worn out. If, one year, you go for a walk, you do themes, it can become complicated. But a stand-up comedy gala that remains a stand-up comedy gala, where artists come to deliver performances and where we give free rein to creation, we find ourselves there, ”says the businessman.
“We’ve never had a problem with the quality of our galas. We have achieved a good balance between the star who already has his career going well, and the possibility of being a springboard for the next generation, ”he says.
Dean of the Just for Laughs gala pilots (he has led 18 in his career), Laurent Paquin, who was rehearsing Wednesday afternoon for his gala on the schedule the same evening, for his part was as disappointed as categorical about it.
“They shouldn’t have done that,” the comedian says of Just for Laughs’ decision to drop the galas. I would have continued, even if it meant not broadcasting them. It might have been even better! The galas would have become rarer, more sought after, more intimate. »
Another important part of the ComediHa! Fest-Québec, the Grands Bien-cuits are broadcast on TVA, and talks are underway with Noovo to develop other ideas to materialize. The Bell Media channel broadcast the Roast Battles also from the festival for five years.
We therefore guess that the galas for the 25th anniversary of ComediHa! Fest, next year, will be great. Faith of Sylvain Parent-Bédard, we will hear a lot about this important milestone that his “baby” will cross, which he describes as “the biggest festival of French-speaking humor in the world”. Bigger than Just for Laughs? Our manitou smiles.
“In the French-speaking world, it’s the biggest,” he insists. If we look at Just For Laughs, we’re way back and they’re looking at us in their solid rear view mirror! But we went from two days of festivities for a budget of $300,000 to a company that today has an overall budget of nearly 40 million, and a French-language festival of 15 to 16 million. Do we have the same notoriety as Just for Laughs? Internationally, I don’t think so. But we are on the way to having it. »
The party had been baptized the Grand Rire Bleue (to honor the sponsor at the time, Labatt), and was based on two galas, hosted by Jean-Michel Anctil and Mario Grenier, and an outdoor show by the 3 tenors of humor (Steeve Diamond, Michaël Rancourt and Louis-Philippe Beaulieu)… which had to be postponed for two days due to rain. The same year, Jean-Marc Parent also kept his audience captive in the open air until 3 a.m.
The event then grew and grew. Was renamed ComediHa! Fest-Québec in 2015 for the sake of understanding elsewhere in the world. Attracted some international big names (Whoopi Goldberg, John Malkovich, Roberto Benigni, Jerry Seinfeld…), even if the original DNA of ComediHa! French-language content remains. And generated some memorable moments in the room, such as the copious hoot that awaited the band of The evening is (still) young, in 2016, or the reunion of the actors of Radio Hell, last year.
If he gently teases his counterpart at the end of Highway 20, Sylvain Parent-Bédard has never wanted to maintain any unhealthy competition with Just for Laughs.
“I do this out of passion. Even today, I have trouble navigating this world of competition. I work for the product, for the artisans. The idea has always been to complete, to offer the citizens of the capital and eastern Quebec a major comedy festival. When you leave from Saguenay, Rimouski, Gaspé and Beauce, getting to Montreal is a long way. We never played chess, Just for Laughs and us, ”says the one whose empire ComediHa! also manages careers and produces shows (including Michel Charette’s upcoming one-man show) and TV series (About Antoine, La Confrérie).
