AEG Presents and Just for Laughs (JFL) have apologised after security dragged two acts from the stage at The O2 in London after the show they were performing ran late.

Chortle reports that comedian Jazz Emu and host Zach Zucker were forcibly removed from the stage of the venue’s Spiegeltent during the comedy festival’s inaugural UK edition earlier this month. The incident took place two weeks ago but was not reported at the time.

“On Friday 3 March at the Stamptown event at Just For Laughs London, there was an attempt to remove one of the artists from the stage, due to the event running significantly past curfew,” says a statement by co-organisers AEG and JFL.

“This is not usual protocol for events at The O2, or events conducted by AEG Presents or Just For Laughs”

“We sincerely apologise to the artists and fans present for any distress caused. This is not usual protocol for events at The O2, or events conducted by AEG Presents or Just For Laughs. We have reached out to Jazz Emu’s team to apologise and address this directly.”

AEG announced a collaboration with JFL, the world’s largest comedy festival, held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada each July, in January 2022.

Just For Laughs London debuted from 2-5 March at various venues across The O2 complex, headlined by Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds. It is intended to become an annual event at the venue.

Just for Laughs Group was acquired in 2018 by an investor group led by ICM Partners and its longtime client, Canadian comedian and actor Howie Mandel.

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On the heels of the appointment of Lucy Noble as AEG Presents’ inaugural artistic director, the company has named Georgie Donnelly as its first head of comedy.

Previously head of comedy & podcasts at Moment House, Donnelly has also served stints as an agent at UTA and established the comedy department at promoter Kilimanjaro Live.

Donnelly’s hiring is considered central to AEG’s plans to expand its footprint beyond music and exponentially grow its comedy portfolio, which includes the London debut of Just For Laughs festival, which takes place at The O2 from 2-5 March 2023.

“I am absolutely delighted to join the team at AEG Presents who are synonymous with live music and entertainment,” says Donnelly, who has worked with the likes of Jonathan Van Ness, Hasan Minhaj, Daniel Howell, Yvonne Orji, and Russell Peters. “I am so excited to be expanding the live comedy aspect of the business and look forward to bringing some of the biggest stars and events in global comedy to the UK.”

“With Just for Laughs, as well as the arrival of Georgie to this newly created role, our plan is to really accelerate our comedic footprint”

AEG Presents UK CEO Steve Homer adds: “Georgie is immersed in the comedy world and has incredible experience booking and running tours and shows across multiple comedic genres. It’s an area AEG Presents is increasingly taking up residence and with Just for Laughs, as well as the arrival of Georgie to this newly created role, our plan is to really accelerate our comedic footprint.”

Donnelly’s arrival comes just weeks after it was announced that Royal Albert Hall artistic director Lucy Noble will be joining AEG’s European senior leadership team, assuming responsibility for setting the artistic direction across the company’s live touring and events business.

Noble, who is tasked with overseeing content creation as well as the production of new events, also assumes responsibility for promoting and touring shows, with an initial focus on the UK, followed by an eventual expansion into Europe and other territories.

Meanwhile, Stormzy has been announced as the first headliner of AEG’s All Points East 2023 festival in Victoria Park, London. In a UK exclusive, the grime artist will star in his own curated This Is What We Mean Day on Friday 18 August.

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Just for Laughs Group, the company behind Montreal’s Just for Laughs, the world’s largest international comedy festival, has been acquired by an investor group led by booking agency ICM Partners and its longtime client, Canadian comedian and actor Howie Mandel.

In addition to Just for Laughs Montreal, the company organises comedy tours, TV specialists and festivals around the world, including in Toronto, Vancouver and Sydney, and has subsidiaries in the US and France and production/distribution business in some 135 other countries.

“Just For Laughs has done a phenomenal job of producing the world’s most respected comedy festival for decades and have built that into a very successful global comedy business,” says Chris Silbermann, managing director of LA-based ICM Partners.

“We see a great opportunity to work with Just for Laughs to grow the global comedy brand”

“We see a great opportunity to work with them to grow the global comedy brand, in both French- and English-speaking comedy, while allowing the team on the ground in Montreal to continue to produce the festival as they have so successfully for all these years.”

ICM made two acquisitions last year, of broadcast news agency Headline Media Management in March and speakers business Royce Carlton in October. Its music roster includes Celine Dion, the Beach Boys, Barry Gibb, Anderson Paak, Dave Stewart, the Skins, Little Simz and Mike Will Made It.

The 36th Just For Laughs Festival will take place in Montreal from 14 to 28 July.

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Around five years ago, Dan Steinberg received a call from his trusted friend TJ Markwalter at The Gersh Agency asking him to put on some shows by the then little-known (at least in the adult offline world) YouTube star Miranda Sings.

“He said: ‘Don’t ask what it is. Don’t even look at the video. Just put it on sale and trust me,’” recalls Steinberg, who runs US-based promoter Emporium Presents. “In the midst of confirming the shows, my marketing director sent me a link to her YouTube channel. I immediately called TJ and I was like: ‘Seriously? Is this a joke?’ He said: ‘I told you not to look at it. Just watch the ticket sales.’”

Sure enough, the show sold out instantly, prompting Steinberg to travel to Montreal’s Just For Laughs Festival to watch Miranda Sings perform a matinee concert in front of 2,000 screaming pre-teen girls in person. “It was the loudest show I’ve ever been at,” he remembers. “I quickly decided two things: ‘One, I never need to be front of house for one of these shows again. And two, we really need to get into this space.’”

“‘Don’t ask what it is. Don’t even look at the video. Just put it on sale and trust me'”

Half a decade later, tours by comedy YouTube stars and new media artists now make up between 15–18% of Emporium’s revenue, with the company’s expansion into the non-traditional entertainment sector mirroring one of the fastest-growing areas of the touring business as more and more vloggers, musicians and social media personalities break out of the online realm and into the live arena.

“We’re still living in rock’n’roll and country tours, but YouTube and multimedia sensations are definitely becoming a larger part of our business, and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon,” says Steinberg, pointing to the global reach of Miranda Sings, whose one-woman show – a satirical mix of off-key singing, comedy, lecturing and lame magic, performed by classically trained singer and actress Colleen Ballinger – continues to pack out venues around the world.

Read the rest of this feature in issue 70 of IQ
Magazine.

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