Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac (formerly McElhenney), executive producers of Welcome to Wrexham, are bringing their creative partnership to Montreal for the Just For Laughs comedy festival.
Mac, who recently legally changed his name, will receive the Generation Award during prize-giving at the upcoming Montreal comedy festival’s industry event set to run July 23 to 25. Reynolds, who along with Mac is a co-owner of the Wrexham AFC football (soccer for Americans) club that inspired the FX docuseries Welcome to Wrexham and its spinoff series, Necaxa, will bring his own comic edge when presenting the award to Mac.
Other prize winners unveiled on Tuesday include Roy Wood Jr. presenting a lifetime achievement award to Amazon’s Clean Slate comedy co-star George Wallace; and Benito Skinner, known for his online persona Benny Drama and as the creator and star of the Prime Video comedy Overcompensating, will receive a breakout comedy star of the year prize from Mary Beth Barone.
The rising comedy star of the year award will go to Hannah Berner, the reality star turned podcaster and stand-up comedian. The Just For Laughs Award Show will be part of the ComedyPRO 2025 industry programming in Montreal.
The returning New Faces of Comedy program, to showcase undiscovered new comic talent, will be hosted by Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla of SMOSH. Just For Laughs is launching this year a New Faces Writers program in partnership with Rob Mac’s More Better Productions.
Also set for Montreal is the Just For Laughs comedy shorts and pilots showcase and competition presented in partnership with Will Arnett’s Electric Avenue banner. Just For Laughs, a once-dominant stand-up comedy showcase for Hollywood, is returning this year under new owner ComediHa! after a post-bankruptcy restructuring.
The Montreal-based festival group got its start in the 1980s as an annual gathering where Hollywood discovered the next big thing for sitcoms and movie roles. But the rise of the internet and social media as discovery platforms for self-promoting comedians has pushed the Canadian festival down the assembly line for nascent comedy talent.
Despite that disruption, Los Angeles and New York talent scouts will be thick on the ground in Montreal later this month for keynote addresses and panels, including ones for adapting comedy for the world market and casting comedy talent in a shifting entertainment landscape.
The 11-day Just For Laughs festival, including indoor and outdoor comedy showcases, is set to run in Montreal from July 16 to 27.
