We loop back to where we started sitting down with John Catucci, and this time discuss if a hot dog is a sandwich instead of a hamburger, but if feels like we are returning to our roots on this final episode. On top of that, we get a bit saucy and have a lot of fun.
JFL Toronto Interview: Scottish comedian John Mostyn
Posted by: Matthew Ardill • October 5, 2025 @ 2:02pm
I got a chance to chat over Zoom with comedian John Mostyn to catch up on storytelling, comedy, and their shared love of Britpop bands.
This is the hardest thing I've ever had to write. I took these tickets with reckless abandon and now here I sit, like a fool caught in a Faustian bargain.
How do you describe a Maria Bamford show? How do you even explain Maria Bamford? For reference, Judd Apatow is currently working on a documentary about her, because even he can't explain it.
Modern improv is a relatively new art form. Birthed from Viola Spolin's Improvisation for the Theatre, it started out as the back bone of performers' acts like Nichols and May, who were part of the Compass Players, an improvisational theatre company including Paul Sils as well as Ted Flicker and Del Close.
Tonight I had the absolute joy of seeing Ava Val and Patti Harrison share a stage, and it was so good the only adjective I have left after leaving the theatre is bananas. It was bananas good. A great big hand o' bananas.
It used to be Ava was a Toronto treat, but in the last couple of years she's been spreading her wings and playing across the country and around the world.
If there is a black belt in comedy, or better yet a Nobel Peace Prize, give it to Chloe Radcliffe.
I know in comedy there's that cliché of "never blame the audience", but wow what a terrible audience. This was especially weird for a festival.
One thing certain about the newly-returned Just for Laughs Toronto is they've branched out into a variety of venues that we would have never seen before, including the Randolph Theatre in the Randolph Centre for the Arts, a Methodist church turned into a community arts space and education centre.
First of all, I want to continue my trend of pointing out under-appreciated Canadian treasures. Nour Hadidi absolutely crushed it as Hari's opener. She was so good that Hari was able to get laughs off of callbacks to her jokes. I've never seen that before.
Order Up! - Jason Chatfield - What heaven is made of
Posted by: Matthew Ardill • September 21, 2025 @ 2:16pm
Kelly and Cari sit down with writer, cartoonist, and comedian Jason Chat field, and of course the day Matt can't make it they chat with an artist who worked in Mad magazine. He is in no way angry at himself for not being there and is certainly not sitting in a corner rocking back and forth cursing the universe. What, me worry?
JFL Toronto Interview: Stand-up, writer, and actress Chloe Radcliffe
Posted by: Paul Little • September 21, 2025 @ 2:05pm
Stand-up comic, writer, and actress Chloe Radcliffe has been hitting milestone after milestone the last several years.
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