The Just for Laughs Museum (french: Muséé Juste pour rire) was a Canadian

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

that opened in 1993, dedicated to humour (mainly stand-up comedy) located in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. The museum closed in 2011. It had been visited by more than two million people since its opening.

History

The Just for Laughs Museum was created by

Gilbert Rozon Gilbert Rozon (born October 26, 1954) is a Canadian impresario and founder of the '' Just for Laughs'' (french: Juste pour Rire) comedy festival, which he created on July 14, 1983. He is also responsible for the development and international deplo ...

, founder of the Just for Laughs festival in the same city 10 years earlier. Opened in 1993, the museum was a venue for all things funny with displays, exhibitions, and a multi-functional space for the presentation of public, private or professional events. The museum was located at 2111, boulevard Saint Laurent (2111,

Saint Laurent Boulevard Saint Laurent Boulevard, also known as Saint Lawrence Boulevard (officially in french: boulevard Saint-Laurent), is a major street in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A commercial artery and cultural heritage site, the street runs north–south through ...

), Montreal, QC, Canada. Perhaps coincidentally, ''St-Laurent'' is the French name of

Lawrence of Rome Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman ...

, the patron saint of comedians. The museum was affiliated with the

Canadian Museums Association The Canadian Museums Association (CMA; french: Association des musées canadiens, ''ACM''), is a national non-profit organization for the promotion of museums in Canada. It represents Canadian museum professionals both within Canada and internat ...

, the

Canadian Heritage Information Network , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = Logo of Canadian Heritage Information Network.png , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = , picture_width = , picture_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = ...

, and the

Virtual Museum of Canada The Digital Museums Canada (DMC; , ''MNC'') is a funding program in Canada "dedicated to online projects by the museum and heritage community," helping organizations to build digital capacity. Administered by the Canadian Museum of History (CMH) ...

Closure

The museum closed its doors permanently on January 1, 2011, due to loss of profits associated with the maintenance costs for the over one hundred-year-old building.

References

External links

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Just for Laughs
{{Authority control Museums in Montreal Media museums Performing arts museums Defunct museums in Canada Just for Laughs Museums established in 1993 Museums disestablished in 2010 1993 establishments in Quebec 2010 disestablishments in Quebec