Montreal's Just for Laughs Comedy Festival turns 25 this year, but the well-established mecca of merriment isn't afraid to try something new. Organizers announced Tuesday that July's edition will include a brand-new industry conference called Just Comedy, and that in conjunction with it they've named Judd Apatow Comedy Person of the Year.

This will presumably be an annual award given out during the conference, which is aimed at industry types and filled with panels, workshops, etc. (unlike the festival as a whole, which is aimed at regular comedy audiences). Apatow is certainly an industry type, having established himself as the go-to writer, producer, and director for successful comedies. Given that the Just for Laughs folks wanted to establish a "Comedy Person of the Year" award, I don't know who else they could have given it to right now.


Apatow created TV gems Freaks & Geeks and Undeclared, then produced the beloved Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. (He also appears in the newsroom as the guy who says that Paul Rudd's cologne "smells like a turd covered in burnt hair.") But he really hit the big-time when he wrote, directed, and produced The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up. On a roll, he produced Superbad, co-wrote and produced Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, and has the upcoming Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Step Brothers, and Pineapple Express ready to enhance his reputation as a ribald and robust comedy producer. (We prefer to forget that he also produced Drillbit Taylor. Nobody's perfect.)

The Just for Laughs Comedy Festival runs July 10-20, with the Just Comedy conference taking place July 17-18. I'd love to be there when he accepts his award. Heck, I'd love to be there anyway. I like comedy, I like festivals, and I like Judd Apatow. Sounds perfect.

[Via Variety and CBC News.]