Ferguson, Mandell lead comedy festival

Toronto Star - Toronto, Ontario, Canada - Across the ocean, south of the border and back at home in Hogtown.

Toronto’s first Just For Laughs festival will feature three gala events from July 26 to 28, featuring headliners like Scotland-born Craig Ferguson, host of CBS’s The Late Late Show, Latino-American comedian George Lopez and homegrown talent Howie Mandel, star of Deal Or No Deal.

Organizers also promise two days of free “European-style” street theatre set in and around Dundas Square featuring 80 performers and live shows, including a performance by Brampton native Russell Peters, the first comedian ever to sell out the Air Canada Centre.

Circus Orange, a Canadian troupe, will also perform a brand new show called The Aviator, featuring pyrotechnics, dance and stunt performances.

The festival will also feature programming geared towards the city’s vast multicultural mix, including the Ethnic Heroes of Comedy show, starring Toronto native Frank Spadone and Montreal native Angelo Tsarouchas.

Laughingly referring to the show as the “food court of comedy,” Spadone said it will highlight the backgrounds and experiences comics “from the four

corners of the world” bring to the table, including his own upbringing in North York.

“It’s the struggle to try to be come a Canadian kid while dealing with old traditions. We want to go out and play hockey but we’ve got to press the wine,” said Spadone.

Other Canadian talent includes Elvira Kurt, Derek Edwards and Jeremy Hotz.