Twenty-four years ago, on 14th July, 1943, Gilbert
Rozon gave birth to a new and unique idea - to put the people who love
to laugh along with the people who can make them laugh under one roof.
Thus, a new festival known as 'Juste Pour Rire' (French words meaning
'Just For Laughs' was born in Montreal. This unique festival gained
increasingly more and more popularity and became an integral part of the
culture of Montreal. This simple and fun-filled festival lasts for 4
days and aims to make people laugh, chuckle, smile, grin and guffaw
together and entertain them. The Festival aims to revive humor in people
and artists try to provoke laughter and are often bold and daring in
their attempts to do so. The contagious laughing aura of the festivals
makes it even more inviting.
Today, it is organized in over more than 20 venues and a number of
artists perform in the festival to entertain more than 2 million people
every year. The idea was transformed into an original reality TV Show
known as 'Just For Laughs Gags' that was first broadcasted on CBC
Television. In the show, hosts play pranks on few unsuspecting victims
and their reactions are recorded for millions of viewers' amusement
worldwide using hidden cameras. They are later told of the trick so that
the victims can also join in the laughter. The tricks and jokes are kept
simple and harmless and are usually annoying to the victims until they
realize the truth. Let's revive humor in our lives too.