From a media release:
Just For Laughs and CraveTV announced today that they will once again partner on three hour-long CraveTV Original stand-up comedy specials, exclusively for the premium streaming service. Showcasing Canada’s own Robby Hoffman, DJ Demers, and Mark Forward, the new stand-up specials will be taped in front of a live audience at Toronto’s Longboat Hall as part of JFL42, Toronto’s Just For Laughs comedy festival, before landing on CraveTV later this year.
Heading into its seventh edition, JFL42, running from September 20-29, 2018, is a pass-based interactive comedy festival allowing comedy fans to access more shows than ever before, establishing itself as one of today’s most successful and innovative comedy events.
The new stand-up specials join the long list of projects that Just For Laughs and Bell Media have partnered on in the past, including six seasons of JUST FOR LAUGHS: ALL ACCESS and HOMEGROWN COMICS HOSTED BY K. TREVOR WILSON (premiering on Monday, September 3 at 9 p.m. ET on The Comedy Network). CraveTV’s first three original stand-up specials taped at JFL42 in 2017: DARCY MICHAEL GOES TO CHURCH, DEB DIGIOVANNI: HERE’S THE THING, and GRAHAM CHITTENDEN: RELUCTANT ADULT, which are all currently streaming on CraveTV.
Robby Hoffman is a writer and performer who just wrapped writing for TruTV’s THE CHRIS GETHARD SHOW. This year, she was named one of Comedy Central’s ‘Up Next’ comedians. She was recently a writer on the CBC shows WORKIN’ MOMS, and BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW, and won an Emmy for her work on PBS’ ODD SQUAD. As a comedian, Hoffman has performed in many renowned festivals, including the Montréal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, Bridgetown, and Denver’s Crom Festival.
DJ Demers is an award-winning stand-up comedian. Demers appeared on Season 11 of NBC’s AMERICA’S GOT TALENT, and has performed stand-up on TBS’ CONAN. Winner of the 2014 Homegrown Comics Competition at the prestigious Montréal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, Demers has also performed as part of Toronto’s JFL42 Comedy Festival. Winner of the 2013 Toronto Comedy Brawl, and finalist on NBC’s STAND-UP FOR DIVERSITY, Demers also won ‘Best Breakout Artist’ at the 2015 Canadian Comedy Awards. In 2018, his album, [Indistinct Chatter], was nominated for a JUNO Award for Best Comedy Album.
Mark Forward is a multi-award-winning comedian. He has performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and made his 10th return to the Montréal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival this summer. He’s been on Comedy Central’s JOHN OLIVER’S NEW YORK STAND-UP SHOW and has made a number of appearances on CBS’ THE LATE LATE SHOW. An accomplished actor, Forward was featured in the third season of FX’s FARGO, was a writer and cast member on IFC and The Comedy Network’s THE JON DORE TELEVISION SHOW, and is a series regular on CraveTV’s LETTERKENNY. Loved for stealing almost every scene he is in, Forward has also self-distributed a phenomenal comedy special- and it’s only 99 cents!
The CraveTV Original stand-up specials are co-produced by Just For Laughs Television and Counterfeit Pictures in association with Bell Media’s CraveTV. Executive producers are Bruce Hills from Just For Laughs and Dan Bennett, Shane Corkery, and Anton Leo from Counterfeit Pictures. The specials are directed by Shelagh O’Brien.
