While Gilbert Rozon is delighted that he and his Just for Laughs/Juste Pour Rire festival will receive the Banff World Television Festival’s top comedy achievement prize this year, the entertainment mogul prefers not to dwell on the past.

Rozon, who started his festival on a shoestring budget 25 years ago in Montreal and now presides over an internationally recognized, multimillion-dollar entertainment empire, is this year’s recipient of the Sir Peter Ustinov Comedy Award, named after the late British performer, director and author. With the award -­ which recognizes ‘excellence in a body of work’ – Rozon and his festival join the ranks of Quebec comic Guy A. Lepage, John Candy, Barry Humphries (aka Dame Edna), Bob Newhart, Martin Short, Tracy Ullman, Kelsey Grammer, John Cleese and Rick Mercer.

‘Honors are always flattering, but I am always looking forward and thinking about what there is to do next,’ says Rozon from Paris, where JFL has a corporate office. (The company also recruits and manages comedians from locales in Los Angeles and London.)

In fact, Rozon says his ultimate goal is to make JFL the ‘most well-known comedy brand’ in the world. And he’s off to a good start. After operating at a deficit in its early years, the Montreal festival now attracts big-name comedy talent from around the globe and has a $33.5-million operating budget. The event (slated for a return July 8-29) drew two million people last year and sold $9 million in tickets. Rozon also started a satellite comedy festival in Nantes, France, and will debut one in Toronto this summer.

The fest has also spawned Just for Laughs Gags, the seven-year-old comedy clips TV program Rozon affectionately refers to as ‘the funniest show in the world,’ and which has sold to 125 countries and to 95 airlines. And, in a major coup, Rozon sold six half-hour Gags episodes to ABC in the U.S. last summer. The hidden-camera, practical-joke series will be revamped in the same style as ABC’s America’s Funniest Home Videos.

‘I’m very proud of that sale. TV is incredibly important to us. Just for Laughs Gags is how the world knows us,’ says Rozon, who believes the time is ripe for his company to start producing dramatic comedies for TV and the silver screen.

In that direction, JFL recently signed a deal with Montreal-based Muse Entertainment to produce O’Cannabis, a movie about life in Canada following the legalization of marijuana. Rozon hopes to sign similar joint venture agreements with TV and film producers in France and England.

‘We always want to be bigger,’ he says. ‘The more we dream and things work out, the more we want to continue. I’ve realized over the years that sometimes the craziest ideas can work.’

This marks the second consecutive year that Banff has honored a Quebec comedy figure, following Lepage’s win last year, underlining the province’s thriving comedy scene.

While its stage-show industry – including dance, theater and singing acts – grew by 40% between 1998 and 2004 (according to industry group APIH), in that same period, the comedy sector ballooned by nearly 300% – meaning the number of people buying tickets for stand-up comedy quadrupled. Quebec comedy even has its own annual awards show, Les Oliviers, which is watched by more than one million viewers.

Rozon will receive his award at the Banff awards show on June 11.

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