Funny Fest in Sydney
Mr Gilbert Rozon is the founder and CEO of Just For Laughs, Canada’s funniest festival. He is in Australia for the Just For Laughs Festival at the Opera House, and tells us about the concept of this festival and why he wanted to have one in Sydney.
Just For Laughs/Juste pour Rire was founded in 1983 with the English component being introduced in 1985. The festival is widely seen as the most important humour festival in the world, where about 80% of the big stars have been discovered including Mister Bean, Jim Carey, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Ray Romano and Chris Rock.
Through their New Faces annual recruitment program, Just for Laughs programmers compose a secret list of 30 new top comedians. Mr. Rozon’s team is looking for new talent all around the world.
Mr. Rozon was hoping that the beautiful city of Sydney would help to attract the best comedians and shows in the world. He also believes there is much comedy talent in Australia as important comedy festivals are already hosted in Adelaide and Melbourne.
He advises Canadian entrepreneurs to export Canadian culture as there are some great ideas in Canada which are not shared with the rest of the world. Mr. Rozon will be the Commissioner of the Montreal 375th Anniversary in 2017.
