This July, the organisers of Quebec’s Just For Laughs comedy festival – which has been held every year without interruption since 1983 – were forced to cancel this year’s event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the largest international comedy festival in the world is back, in the form of a two day online extravaganza. On Wednesday, the organisers announced that Just For Laughs 2020 will feature over a hundred comedians over 9-10 October, and that all the programming will be 100% digital and 100% free!

The first set of comedians confirmed to be on the lineup includes Hannah Gadsby and Howie Mandel, along with Jo Koy, Kenya Barris, Sarah Cooper, Amber Ruffin, Titus Burgess, Nicole Bayer, Trixie Mattel, Deanne Smith, Jenny Hagel and Andy Kindler.

Just For Laughs has partnered with Kevin Hart and his LOL comedy network this year, with the network also curating their own lineup within the festival under the Comedy In Color banner. The festival team has spent the past few months creating a unique comedy experience that will include multiple digital comedy rooms that will host performances, conversations and panel discussions.

“As a leader in the global comedy industry, but also as a true digital comedy pioneer, we are very proud to offer this special edition in an optimised free edition format, enabling us to do what we do best, curating and creating the best of comedy, while making it more accessible than ever, to all fans across the globe”, Charles Décarie, President and CEO of the Just for Laughs Group, said in a statement. “We are truly able to deliver a festival that lives up to Just for Laughs standards. Our spectators will be thrilled to safely reunite with their favourite artists. Rest assured that we will be back in a big way in 2021 with exciting plans for the comedy fans and industry who travel to join us every summer”.