The Just for Laughs comedy festival unveiled its 2026 lineup Monday, with organizers calling this year’s edition the largest and most expansive yet.
The festival will run July 15 to 26 across 25 downtown venues, featuring headliners including Jerry Seinfeld, Weird Al Yankovic and Gabriel Iglesias. Organizers said Seinfeld added a second show after the first sold out within hours.
Outdoor performances are scheduled for the Quartier des Spectacles, including at Place des Festivals, while headline acts will also take place at venues including Olympia Theatre, MTELUS, Club Soda, Le Gesù and Espace St-Denis.
“We’re in even more venues this year. We just keep growing,” said Just for Laughs programmer Nick Brazeau at a news conference Monday. “We’re in Quartier des Spectacles and beyond. We’re stand-up, we’re sketch, we’re improv, we’re magic, we’re drag, we’re format shows, we’re podcasts, we’re internet sensations.”
Brazeau says he scouted 30 stand-ups and eight acts from around the world for this year’s club shows, intimate, high-energy showcases that have long been considered the festivals proving ground for emerging talent.
“I’m really excited about our club shows this year,” said Ariane Thibault, programmer for Just for Laughs programming. “The Nasty show, the Culture show, lineups scouted across the world to bring to Montreal. And they’re just going to be fantastic showcases of talent.”
Among those performers is Kě, a queer comic whose set promises to push boundaries, while keeping things, in their words, classy.
“My comedy is very queer, it’s very trans,” Kě said. “It’s a little raunchy but still classy.”
Also on the bill is Jesse Daniel, a first-time performer at Queer Show on the Off Festival this year on July 17. “There’s going to be comedy for sure, maybe some standing up, unless there’s a stool,” Daniel joked. “Laughter is the L in LGBTQ, right? But it’s going to be a fun night. A bunch of Queers get together. I’m a gay dad, so I’ll be like getting a babysitter and complaining about my kids to drunken people on public.
Alongside comedy acts, there will be multiple productions from across Quebec including Les Misérables, which is back at Scene St Denis with five new dates. La Florida, meanwhile, wraps its run at the end of June, ahead of the festivals launch.
New this year, is a series spotlighting local talent through JFL Live Session – raw, unfiltered tape sets showcasing what organizers are calling “la crème de la crème” of Montreal’s comedy scene.
The festival is also opening its awards show to the public for the first time. The ceremony is expected to draw 15,000 spectators to the Quartier des Spectacle where Weird Al Yankovic will headline a free outdoor concert.
For the City of Montreal, the stakes extend well beyond laughs, Sarah Justine LeDuc Villeneuve, Director of Tourism Montreal says the festival generates at least $10 million in economic activity. The Montreal festival is part of wider economic development and bilingual programming objectives for cultural infrastructure and tourism economy.
City councillor for Ensemble Montréal, Josué Corvil echoed the sentiment, framing this year’s edition as a tool to revitalize downtown, celebrate francophone humour and amplify Montreal’s international profile.
Ticketed and free programming runs throughout the festival, spanning drag, roast battles, poetry, fan fiction, readings, podcasts, and open mic nights. The full schedule is available at hahaha.com.
