THREE KINGS Lewis Black, Billy Connolly
and Eddy Izzard crack up in Paul
Provenza's Green Room.

The hundreds of shows that took place July 12–22 at the 25th annual Just for Laughs festival in Montreal ran the gamut from sublime to mediocre. A stand-up–heavy event with wide-ranging audience appeal, the fest always juxtaposes headlining legends with loads of middling comics doing stale material.

But 2007 also marked the second year of the Flying Solo series, which focuses on riskier (or at least more affecting) one-person shows, as well as the launch of sketch showcase the Line-Up (also a major success). I saw a lot of great talent in this, my fourth year at JFL—mostly because I knew what to avoid. From standing Os to offstage antics, here’s this year’s absolute best.

Biggest rock star: After doing an hour of new material—during which the laughter in the 500-seat Club Soda never once died down—Louis CK responded to encore calls by taking requests. Addressing the absurdity of someone screaming “Bag of dicks!,” he said, after telling the infamous joke, “That was the beginning of the end; I’m never doing that bit again.”

Biggest relief: Thirteen years after their TV show was cancelled, The Kids in the Hall staged a brand-new revue. And it was great. Only a couple of scenes fell flat—a better batting average than most old episodes.

Best rising stars: Several young stand-ups shone in this year’s New Faces showcase. Chicago-trained Matt Braunger scored with his boisterous, goofy stage presence. Both St. Louis’ Tommy Johnagin and London’s Michael McIntyre won audiences over with smart, flowing sets. Nikki Glaser (also from St. Louis) delivered wicked one-liners (“I wouldn’t call her an alcoholic. She’s a shopaholic, because she’s addicted to buying alcohol”). And Lucas Molandes, from Austin, impressed with political humor, which most up-and-comers shied away from in their measly few minutes. New York boys Julian McCullough and Kurt Metzger were also favorites. Of course, all this success shouldn’t be surprising, since the Faces aren’t quite as new these days as they’ve been in fests past—L.A.’s very funny Geoff Keith even mentioned his manager in a setup.

Funniest offstage bit: While scores of people with laminated credentials hanging from their necks schmoozed at the crowded Hyatt bar, NYC comic Jessica Kirson devilishy caused a ruckus by pratfalling into various things—including a chair, podium and sofa (which she hit after falling up a set of stairs).

Most rewarding inside joke: The Aristocrats’ Paul Provenza put backstage vibes front and center with the Green Room, which featured Louis CK, Billy Connolly, Lewis Black, Eddie Izzard and Dave Foley (all in other shows at the fest) doing bits, gabbing jovially and keeping the audience rapt for two straight hours. Here’s hoping that when Provenza brings the show to New York, it starts before 12:45am.

Most believable stunt: Eugene Cordero, from NYC group the Buffoons, capped off the sketch showcase by convincingly writhing in agony—with a wet iron plastered to his hand—for a full, hilarious minute, while Charlie Sanders and Bobby Moynihan stared on in horror.

Best use of candor: With his blunt-but-sweet and very funny true-life tales of sex, violence and mostly sex, the impossibly filthy Australian Jim Jeffries proved that words are only offensive when the meaning behind them is.

Best song: Each year, the same hacky chuckle-hut–sounding instrumental piece opens the majority of shows. And each year, L.A. stand-up and Alternative Show host Andy Kindler dances hilariously to it, forcing the sound guy to play it over and over again. This time around, Bob Odenkirk upped the ante by improvising lyrics: “It’s just for laughs! You don’t need to sign a contract—you can just juggle!” That’s easy for him to say; as he announced at a later show, he’d already sold two pilots that weekend—“Do You Want to Know What’s in My Pocket?” and the home-decorating show “A Gay Guy Wastes Your Time.”

Worst buzz: Speaking to scouts and development execs at the bar—in between Kirson’s screams of “I’m okay! Don’t worry!”—we’d all noticed the same thing: a lot of material about race. Some was clever, such as when Zach Galifianakis (whose one-man show was the fest’s biggest hit) said, “My girlfriend is black and I don’t want to stereotype, but she has the biggest dick.” Most, however, was not. Looks like Michael Richards’s outburst was less of an anomaly than an indicator of a widespread regression. As Kindler said of that ensuing media frenzy in his State of the Industry address, “Where’s Carlos Mencia’s apology? Where’s Lisa Lampanelli’s letter of resignation? Where’s Larry the Cable Guy’s mea culpa?”

Smallest surprise: Last Comic Standing’s Gerry Dee told the exact same jokes to a comedy-club audience that he had on NBC, and the set was far funnier. In other words, LCS literally kills comedy. Not that I needed a passport to figure that out.

Visit timeout.com/newyork/tonyblog to read more on Odenkirk and David Cross, the Kids in the Hall and Kindler’s State of the Industry address.