Here lies Just for Laughs Cancun: June 2002-August 2022. RIP.

Comedy festivals are my favorite thing on earth. When I saw that Tim Dillon was headlining JFL Cancun at a nice resort on a sunny beach in November, just as it is starting to get cold in Illinois, I knew I wanted to go. The grandmas agreed to take the kids, we had the United miles, and so we excitedly pulled the trigger just days after the festival was announced in June.

I knew this was going to be great. Just for Laughs is the name in comedy festivals. Just for Laughs Montreal is the biggest comedy festival in the world and has been in existence in 1983. We saw it in-person, having attended that festival in 2015 and had the time of our lives. JFL has also hosted long-running festivals in Toronto, Vancouver, and been on tour. JFL is an established, reputable name. As for JFL Cancun, this wasn’t its first rodeo. JFL Cancun had just launched in 2021 with Jim Jefferies, Tom Segura, and Nikki Glaser headlining and had been successful.

Just look at this dreamy lineup.

For 2022, Tim Dillon, Dane Cook, and Pete Holmes were set to headline. Heck yes. Tim Dillon posted a video promoting the festival to his instagram account. Rachel Feinstein was added late. Things were looking good.

Maybe the fact they called it a three-day festival and said it was taking place from November 2-November 6 in some places and November 3-November 5 in others (see email below) should have been a tip-off?

I started to suspect my vacation might not be happening after all when my brother in law mentioned to me at dinner that Pollen, the company hosting JFL Cancun, was going bankrupt. Well, this can’t be good.

Then I got the official email last Friday telling me the festival had been cancelled. Well, damn.

As I dug into it more, I learned that the company had cancelled other festivals and people were mad.

For months, any facebook post Pollen has made has been greeted with a flood of responses like this:

This was starting to look like fyre festival level stuff. How did Just for Laughs get tangled up in something like this? This seems like the stuff that Netflix documentaries are made of. How is this not in the news?

I hope that Just for Laughs protects their brand and comedy fans by apologizing for this and making sure Pollen gives everyone refunds. This is not a good look for them. Instead of being upfront with customers about a festival their name was attached to, they have slowly and quietly distanced themselves from being associated with it, like that Homer Simpson slowly backing into the bush meme.

Here is the Just for Laughs website, courtesy of the wayback machine, on July 14th weeks after JFL Cancun was announced:

You can see Just for Laughs Cancun prominently displayed on the right.

Here is the Just for Laughs website, again courtesy of the wayback machine, on August 12th, two weeks before the event was cancelled:

There is no mention of JFL Cancun to be found anywhere. It looks like Just For Laughs was well aware the festival was going to be cancelled at least weeks in advance and didn’t warn anyone. I would expect better from the best comedy festival in the world.

As for me, I have disputed the charge Chase and we are going to pivot to a New York comedy trip where we will just go to the Comedy Cellar, the Stand, and the New York Comedy Club for days on end.

Update: On September 27, chase gave me a full credit and chargeback for the charge. I can’t speak highly enough about Chase Bank and if I hadn’t charged this to my Chase card, I don’t think I would ever see this money again. Pollen has still not contacted me for a refund. I contacted Just for Laughs, asking if they were going to help customers get a refund since their name was attached to the festival. They were useless:

JFL still hasn’t released a statement or even acknowledged that this festival was cancelled.

JFL is officially totally disinterested in helping customers for a festival it had its name attached to so for future new festivals they are putting on, I wouldn’t trust them. JFL Montreal and JFL Toronto are established so I wouldn’t worry about those but I would exercise caution with any new JFL festival. Pollen are drunk teenagers. JFL are the parents who gave them the car keys.

Oh, JFL Cancun, I hardly knew ye.