A Brief History of The Just For Laughs Film Festival (1997-2009)
Since our first edition in 1997 where a then little-known short film, “The Spirit of Christmas” played as part of the Eat My Shorts series of short films to 2008 where that film’s directors, Matt Stone and Trey Parker were back in town as the creators of one of the ‘Best 100 TV show of all time’ (Time Magazine), The Just For Laughs Film Festival has always been on the lookout for the best in comedy film programming. 1999 saw Jason Reitman (Juno) bring his short “Operation” to Eat My Shorts, which would later be followed by “H@” in 1999, “In God We Trust” in 2000, and then, “Consent” in 2001. This year, Jason Reitman returned to interview his own father Ivan Reitman and to give a Master Class with Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) as part of Just For Laughs Film Festival events at Just Comedy the industry conference produced by Just For Laughs and Achilles Media, July 16-17.
A feature film element was added to the more and more popular Eat My Shorts series in 2000 and the event was renamed CoMedia – comedy and media… together! Notable film premieres have included the North American premiere of Mr. Bean’s Holiday presented by Rowan Atkinson; The Aristocrats, presented by director Paul Provenza and producer Penn Jillette; Hairspray; Clerks II; Wedding Crashers; American Splendor; Strangers with Candy; Austin Powers in Goldmember; Osmosis Jones; and the creators of the hit show Family Guy were on hand for a screening of Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story.
Comedia continued to grow, adding special tributes to such comedy legends as Monthy Python, hosted by Terry Jones and special guest Eric Idle, Carl Reiner, Robert Smigel (SNL and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog), Joseph Barbera, June Foray (the voice of Rocky on “Rocky & Bullwinkle”) and Chuck Jones’ animated series.
In 2008, we have changed our name to the Just For Laughs Film Festival to better reflect our growing status as a world class film event.
For photos and programming from past editions of The Just For Laughs Film Festival, please visit our Archives.
