Netflix Canada has announced its first homegrown commission: the debut comedy special of Quebec comic Mathieu Dufour at Just For Laughs Montreal.

The standup show was filmed at the Bell Centre as part of the comedy festival on Saturday (July 23). Details about the special will be revealed later this year, according to a news release.

A Netflix Canada spokesperson tells Playback Daily the commission was done in collaboration with the streamer’s standup team in Los Angeles, which includes Robbie Praw, VP of standup and comedy formats at Netflix.

Toronto-based Tara Woodbury, Netflix’s manager of Canada series, and Danielle Woodrow, the streamer’s director of Canada series, have been meeting with homegrown producers to greenlight Canadian projects since January. While their remit is focused on adult scripted series — drama and comedy, both French and English-language — they’ve told Playback they’re “open to a range of content.”

During last month’s Banff World Media Festival, they said they were in negotiations on some projects and setting up pitch days for the fall. They want Canadian stories primarily set in Canada, that are from Canadian creators and Canadian producers.

This is the first Netflix original standup comedy special from Dufour (pictured), who is originally from Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean. The taping was confirmed “barely a month ago,” he said in a statement, noting the partnership with Netflix has “felt completely surreal.”

Woodbury called Dufour “a unique comedic voice and a perfect example of the amazing talent in Quebec.”

Patrick Rozon, VP of French content at Just For Laughs TV, called Dufour an “exceptional artist.”

Just For Laughs recently struck its first deal with Amazon’s Prime Video for a four-part French-language standup series featuring a number of Quebec-based comedians.

Photo credit: Andréanne Gauthier