There was a strong sentiment of True North strong and free at Just For Laughs’ (JFL) ComedyPRO conference as Canadian talents no longer ponder how to leave Canada, but how to grow here.

The industry-focused conference was hosted by JFL from July 23 to 25 at the Delta Hotel and UQAM’s The Agora. It’s a place where key executives, agents and producers congregate to explore the future of funny and connect directly with Canadian talent.

Ben Miner, VP of standup and podcasts at New Metric Media, tells Playback Daily he is optimistic about the future of Canadian comedy and wants to help create more opportunities for homegrown talent to flourish without heading elsewhere.

“[New Metric] sees the value of building something here, of helping people build careers without needing to leave the country,” he says.

One of the building blocks for New Metric is the Eh List, a slate of comedy albums and specials from Canadian comics. The company announced the first six comedians featured in July, with more to come in the fall. “These aren’t comics that need development. These are comics that need acknowledging,” says Miner. “They’re some of the most consistently funny human beings I’ve ever seen in comedy. And I say this as someone who programmed the comedy channel for SiriusXM for 20 years.”

Miner, who got his start working on The Tom Green Show, ponders if Green would have ever left Canada had there been the infrastructure in place now. “Some people want to leave for new challenges. That’s fine. But too many leave because they feel like there’s nothing left here. That’s what we want to fix.”

Miner sees the conference and JFL at large as a reminder to Canadian comics that they can build a life for themselves without heading south of the border.

New Metric’s approach, Miner says, reflects a larger shift in how Canadian comedy is being produced and positioned. Following the success of shows like Letterkenny and Shoresy, Canadian comedy has hit a stride in nationwide appeal, with international demand following suit.

“The commitment to building talent and then taking Canadian properties and selling them around the world — that’s what drew me in,” explains Miner, who has been with the entertainment studio since December.

“[New Metric COO Jeff Hersh] talked a lot about the value of IP and how Canadian comedy has become something that can be turned into valuable, exportable properties — whether it’s drinks, merch, NHL partnerships, you name it,” adds Miner.

Anthony Q. Farrell, creator and showrunner of New Metric’s upcoming GameTV and Paramount+ original miniseries Hate the Player: The Ben Johnson Story, has seen equal success working in Canada and the U.S.

Best known for his writing credits on The Office and The Thundermans, Farrell returned to his hometown of Toronto in the early 2010s for family and creative reasons.

The move home coincided with a renaissance of Canadian comedy and, at long last, a model for homegrown talent to succeed without having to leave the Great White North.

“Comedy was starting to pick up. Schitt’s Creek was blowing up,” says Farrell. “I’d done a season of Little Mosque on the Prairie in 2010 and 2011, so I had some experience on the Canadian side. But having U.S. credits helped. In Canada, the more you’ve done in the States, the more Canadians respect your work … the more artists go abroad and come back, the stronger our industry can become.”

While he sees international success as a win, he believes there is still work to be done when it comes to building sustainable infrastructure.

“Canada’s industry is smaller and more connected,” he says. “Everyone knows each other after a while … It’s not a shortage of ideas or talent. We’ve got both in spades. What we need is funding: more money for more shows, more networks creating original Canadian content.”

Another problem? “We still have a gatekeeper issue,” says Farrell. “There’s only a few people who are deciding what shows [get made]. The more gatekeepers we have, the more opportunity we’ll have to make some of them people of colour and more diverse, and then have access to more inclusivity in different spaces.”

During his time at ComedyPRO, Farrell led two workshops — one on writer’s rooms, and another on pilot structure — with hopes of demystifying the industry for aspiring talent.

“A lot of people don’t know how this business actually operates,” he says. “Most things aren’t as complicated as they seem. I like helping people understand what’s really going on. It makes it all way less intimidating.”

Canadian casting director Colleen Rush, who attended ComedyPRO for the first time this year and helped to cast Hate the Player, echoed the sentiment about investing in homegrown talent.

“As a Canadian casting director, it’s always a challenge proving that Canadian talent can carry a show,” she explains. “We share the same language with the U.S., but the States have Hollywood … There’s a tendency to pull from there, and we end up needing to constantly prove that our actors can do just as well. But they can.”

Attendees in 2025 garnered insight from executives at Dropout TV, the BBC and Funny or Die, among others. On the national front, CBC Comedy’s director of development Greig Dymond (pictured right) and Bell Media’s original production head of development Rachel Goldstein-Couto (pictured centre) compared notes on everything from measurements of success, to what stories they look to tell and how to approach pitching to each entity.

While Dymond pointed to “character-driven stories with heart and humour” as some of the characteristics CBC strives for in their comedy slate, Goldstein-Couto pointed to half-hour series as a particular area of success for Crave on the comedy front.

In a fireside conversation with JFL programmer Spencer Griffin, Dropout TV founder Sam Reich pointed to the growing relevance of niche streaming platforms, citing his own service and genre-specific players like Shudder. Rather than chasing mass-market appeal, Reich advocated for a “farm-to-table” model of content creation — a strategy offering a meaningful pathway towards a loyal and bespoke audience.

Looking to future editions of ComedyPRO, JFL owner Sylvain Parent-Bedard says he hopes to expand the conference to include French-language programming in an effort to expand its international reach. He’s no stranger to the French comedy market, having owned and operated Quebec City’s ComediHa! Fest since 2000. He says this year’s conference included guests from France, Switzerland and Belgium.

JFL’s head of programming and talent Nick Brazao says the organization wants to grow ComedyPRO into a marketplace where “brands can find comedic talent.”

“Comedy adds so much value, especially in advertising,” he says. “We’re creating a space where conversations and connections can happen — where you plant a seed, and maybe two years later it turns into something real.”

Photo by Patrick Seguin