Only for Laughs owes cash to comedians, firms: courtroom paperwork

Paperwork made public by an insolvency trustee present Montreal comedy pageant Only for Laughs and affiliated firms owe tens of millions of {dollars} in unpaid money owed past what was included in a courtroom submitting final week.

Groupe Juste pour rire inc., the father or mother firm of the pageant and several other different comedy-related companies, introduced earlier this month that it’s bancrupt and looking for creditor safety.

Paperwork launched this week by insolvency trustee PwC, previously referred to as PricewaterhouseCoopers, present an extra $5 million in unpaid money owed owed by the pageant and different affiliated companies.

That cash is along with the $22.5 million owed by one of many firms within the group, disclosed in paperwork filed on the Montreal courthouse final week.

Included within the $5 million of newly disclosed money owed is $3.4 million owed by the comedy pageant, whose collectors embody inns, venues and manufacturing firms.

As properly, Only for Laughs and one other affiliated pageant, ZooFest, owe greater than $78,000 to a Montreal comfort retailer.

Among the many collectors named within the paperwork just lately made public are:

• Greater than 4 dozen tv stations, in addition to radio stations and newspapers throughout Canada, that are owed greater than $100,000.
• Comic Mike Ward is owed $301; singer Ginette Reno is owed $2,000.
• Massive Yellow Taxi Productions, which has produced Australian Only for Laughs tv applications shot in Montreal and Australia, is owed greater than $200,000.
• Comfort retailer Depanneur L’distinctive is owed $78,355.
• Comedy Provides Again, a non-profit that helps comedians in want, is owed $8,886.
• The largest creditor named within the new set of paperwork is Cartier Communication Advertising and marketing Inc., a Montreal promoting firm, which is owed $720,347.
• Different collectors embody Australian comic Jim Jefferies and Montreal’s ambulance service, Urgences-santé.