COMEDY makes the world go around and breaks down barriers and from August 21 to August 24 Bermuda's self-described "Chief Chuckler" Richard Simon will be bringing some of the top comics from North America to perform at the Just For Laughs Bermuda Festival Summer Edition at the Fairmont Southampton Princess Mid Ocean Amphitheatre.

Just For Laughs was started in 1983 in Montreal, Canada and has grown to be the largest comedy festival in the world.

Mr. Simon, who is from Montreal, said: "Just For Laughs Bermuda generally runs once a year however this will be the third show in two years. Typically it's been a January golf and spa season event and it's been a big success. Given its success I thought we could do two a year.

"I met with the Just for Laughs people before I moved from Montreal to Bermuda full time and said I was moving here and I'd like to do a show. After I was established here in my other business, the payback reward programme and selling t-shirts, I went back to them and said 'Let's do it' and we did. I go to Montreal and attend the Just For Laughs Festival which is the largest comedy event on the planet. It's a comedy Mecca every July and if I see someone I particularly like I will ask my producer if we can bring them to Bermuda. Sometimes they are available, sometimes not and sometimes we can't afford them. I have been responsible for some of the acts you see, but really it's up to the producer because that's what he does for a living is hires comics."

"When I said to my producer that I wanted to do an August show he said 'let's not try to go head-to-head with the January shows. Let's not do the same thing twice a year because we don't want to cannibalise our audience from January.

"So what we've decided is to do a different format. In January we have five international comedians fly in, one of which is a host and then four doing sets. What we've done for the August show is we have a host and two headliners instead of four and they are doing extended sets. So instead of seeing a 10-to-12 minute set they are getting a full 30-35 minutes from each of the comedians, which meant that we had to make sure we had to find killer comedians because you can't afford to have a weak link and have that kind of show. And our ticket price has dropped from $75 to $55 for the August show."

Headliners for the August show are Saturday Night Live starand bestselling author Finesse Mitchell, stand-up sensation Jo Koy, Canadian comic Derek Edwards and Bermuda's own Jonathan Young.

Mr. Simon, who left Montreal to move to Bermuda to start a company, explained what his business is. He said: "The name of my company is Incentis Limited. Within that umbrella we have the Island Advertising Specialities, the Payback card, the Just For Laughs Bermuda shows, and just recently we have started Bermuda Tix which is the newest box office kid in town. Bermuda Tix is a new full-service box office system where you can buy tickets online or at one of our three physical ticketing centres in Bermuda you can walk into.

"We also have telephone orders with a local Bermuda number as well as a 1-800 number and we have technical support 12 hours a day and we have print at-home tickets. All our tickets are barcoded that we scan at our events for security. We really wanted to put a professional ticketing system in place."

Mr. Simon said he's always been keen on helping to promote Bermuda tourism and said: "My idea was to try and help the tourist product by offering tourists around the island at this time of the year some really excellent world class entertainment. Not only did I have to target the locals as I've always done, but this time I had to try to target the tourists as well. I didn't really have to do that before because in January, right after Christmas, there aren't a whole lot of tourists on the island and it's very quiet.

"We pretty much sell out of the 800 seats for the January show and we are hoping to repeat that with the August show."

Mr. Simon also wants people to know the Just For Laughs Bermuda events are not vulgar and are kept as clean as possible. He explained: "We are always aware of the Bermuda dynamic in that we have to keep our show clean. Certain things fly and certain things don't fly. We can never guarantee people that there won't be any swear words and we try to keep it topically cleanish. It's a middle-of-the-road show; it's not an edgy show. We try to keep the guys that are up and coming and are the really sharp ones."

Mr. Simon goes on to speak about his involvement with helping to establish Bermuda comics both here and abroad. He said: "We are supporting comedy in Bermuda by having our Digicel Fresh Faces of Comedy contest and we are hoping to grow on that.

"What I'd like to do is be able to have auditions for that which will increase the level of talent and help support comedy in Bermuda. This past event we had 15 people show up and we had Alonzo Boden and Bruce Hills, the COO of Just for Laughs, judging. Jonathan Young was the winner this year and now he gets to do an opening set.

"My goal is to have somebody at Just For Laughs in Montreal or Toronto representing Bermuda and being able to have them to market Bermuda."

There is also a different seating plan for the show this time and Mr. Simon told us: "This time out with Just For Laughs Bermuda there will be reserved seating. The first two times out it was general admission and it just creates a nightmare for our volunteers because people want to sit together and some people show up late and want to sit together and the way we finally addressed the seating issue was to make it a reserved seating event. Fairmont to is offering a special dinner menu at three of their restaurants, Bacci, Ocean Club or Waterlot Inn, at a fixed price menu with the grats in. So with the reserve seating people can go eat a nice, leisurely dinner and when they get to the show their seat is waiting for them and they don't have to worry they will arrive at the last minute and they won't be able to sit together."

Mr. Simon went on to say: "What I'm really hoping for is that people will really enjoy the show. There should be a real mix between tourists and locals and that makes for a wonderful dynamic when you could be sitting next to somebody from Paget and someone next to you from New York City. Getting all those different cultures and backgrounds together to sit and watch comedy is great."

People looking for tickets may go to www.bdatix.bm or to Steppin Up Menswear, Transact, or Picture Perfect