“Mom, it’s over!!!!”
The cry from the little man's heart that ended Just for Laughs broadcasts for years took on full meaning Tuesday.
It's over for the 2024 festival, in French and in English, over for 75 employees, over for the musical Waitress.
It's sad for the employees, artists and craftsmen. Sad for everyone who would have benefited from the economic benefits of the festival this summer. Sad for the next generation who won't have this showcase to showcase themselves and make a name for themselves. Sad for the city of Montreal, which is losing a little of its DNA, its trademark, its international calling card.
But it's also sad for us taxpayers…
The Rozon effect?
Allow me to be surprised. With all the public money (local, provincial and federal) that has gone into the Just for Laughs brand over the years, it is still strange that the coffers are empty today.
We are not talking about the “poor relations of culture”, we are not talking about an experimental theater festival, a contemporary dance event or an international pantomime conference! We're talking humor, damn it, it should be the cash cow of the Quebec cultural community!
At my microphone at the QUB on Tuesday, the Minister for Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, told me that at the same time as everyone else in the media, he had learned that the Just for Laughs group was experiencing large influxes of visitors and was canceling the festival and turning himself in under the protection of his creditors!
Still, it is strange that the group did not even deign to warn their “partners” and presented them with a fait accompli.
“We have about $2 million in government subsidies,” the minister told me, taking into account the funds provided by the Ministry of Tourism.
How much public money still needs to be spent to save this flagship?
It's impossible to miss the elephant in the room. An elephant named Gilbert Rozon. It's not because the comedy mogul hasn't had a physical and financial presence in the Just for Laughs group for years that his shadow doesn't continue to hang over the group. Like the Phantom of the Opera, he still “haunts” the company.
On February 27, Étienne Paré wrote a shocking article in Le Devoir with the alarming title: “Only for Laughing in Serious Difficulties.”
Among the issues cited, he wrote that the fall of Gilbert Rozon, who was targeted for sexual assault, had “permanently damaged the brand image” of Just for Laughs Group.
“According to our information, potential partners are even more reluctant to join the festival today,” he wrote. Finding sponsors sometimes proved difficult.”
It is regrettable that the festival, which no longer had anything to do with its founder, was undermined “by association”.
No laughing matter
One day we must shed light on “The Fall of the House of Laughter.” Where did the money go? Was it well managed?
Mom, how did the “flagship” of humor fade like this?