Just for Laughs comes to Chicago

Montreal’s Just for Laughs comedy festival gets a Chicago clone.
As if Degrassi Junior High and William Shatner weren’t enough, our northern neighbor is sending us another nugget of Canadian goodness. The Just for Laughs comedy festival, which has been yukking it up for 27 years in Montreal (where nearly 2,000 performers and 2 million audience members gather for ten days of laughter and joke throwing), is launching its first American version in Chicago, June 17–21. Comics Ellen DeGeneres, Louis CK (pictured), Jimmy Fallon, Andy Dick and others will headline five days of funny. (Local contributions include a Late Night Late Show reunion at iO, an all-star Schadenfreude Rent Party and the return of Don’t Spit the Water.) If it’s any good, we’ll forgive Canada for dumping Pamela Anderson on us. Visit justforlaughschicago.com for yuks.

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