Neil Patrick Harris, Alan Cumming and Jane Lynch Join 33rd JUST FOR LAUGHS Festival This July

The Just For Laughs Festival, presented by Videotron in association with Loto-Québec, returns this summer for its 33rd edition with more laughs and more stars. This year, Broadway stars Neil Patrick Harris, Alan Cumming and Jane Lynch will appear alongside a comedian line-up that includes Mike Myers, Kevin Hart, Dave Chappelle, Wanda Sykes, Trevor Noah, Bill Burr, Patton Oswalt, Weird Al Yankovic, Jason Reitman, Omid Djalili and Ellie Kemper.

Adam Blanshay, the CEO of Just For Laughs Theatricals and a Montreal native, commented "We're so pleased to welcome some of Broadway's biggest stars to this year's festival. We want to foster a relationship between Just for Laughs and Broadway, so I am especially honored for members of the Broadway theatre community to experience the institution that the Just For Laughs Festival has become in Montreal."

This year's festival adds 35% more ticket inventory and three additional venues to the line-up, with additional names and shows to be announced. This year's festival will host some of the comedy industry's biggest names at Just For Laughs ComedyPRO and will honor them at the much-anticipated Just For Laughs Awards Show.

This year's star line-up includes:

- Tony and Emmy Award-winner Neil Patrick Harris (Broadway's Hedwig and the Angry Inch, "How I Met Your Mother," and host of Oscar, Emmy and Tony Award broadcasts), who will headline the festival's closing Gala with a dazzling variety show.

- Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award-winner Jane Lynch ("Glee," The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Broadway's Annie), who will host a Gala at Place des Arts on July 22.

- Tony Award winner Alan Cumming (Broadway's Cabaret, co-host of the 2015 Tony Awards), who will hit the Place des Arts stage on July 25 to host a Gala.

The comedian line-up for the Festival includes:

- Mike Myers, who makes his Just For Laughs Festival debut on July 24 at 7:00 pm at Maison Symphonique with An Evening with Mike Myers. This "in conversation" event will cover Myers' memorable career, from his Canadian comedy roots, to his turn as one of the most successful "Saturday Night Live" alums in its 40-year history, going on to become one of comedy's biggest movie stars.

- Kevin Hart (The Wedding Ringer, Get Hard, and a veteran of the Just For Laughs New Faces Series), who will perform an indoor show on Friday, July 24 at the Bell Centre.

- Dave Chappelle, the comedy genius behind "Chappelle's Show" and a Just For Laughs ticket-selling record holder, who returns for six performances. His previous shows sold out within minutes in 2013, when he returned to Just For Laughs after a 13 year absence.

- Trevor Noah, the new host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," will host a Gala on July 23 on the Place des Arts stage.

- Wanda Sykes, Executive Producer of Last Comic Standing, who will host a Gala on July 23.

Founded in 1983, the Just For Laughs Group has had but one goal in its 30-plus years of operation: Make People Happy. To achieve this goal, the Just For Laughs Group has focused on four major products: festivals in Montreal, Toronto and Sydney; television production including Gags seen in over 140 countries and on over 100 airlines and stand-up specials; live shows, such as Canadian tour dates for Jerry Seinfeld, Louis C.K., Jim Gaffigan and the Capital One Just For Laughs Comedy Tour; and talent management. The Just For Laughs Montreal Comedy Festival is the world's largest and most prestigious comedy event welcoming on average 1.35 million visitors to Montreal each summer and generating approximately $80 million for the city's economy. The Group has offices in Montreal, Paris, Los Angeles, Toronto, London and they are all connected to each other via the Internet.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride