American actor, writer and comedian Joel Kim Booster returns to headline at Just For Laughs Montreal, the famed comedy festival where Booster got his big break a decade earlier, in the JFL New Faces showcase in 2016.
Best known for writing, producing, and starring in the Emmy-nominated Hulu film Fire Island, a rom-com inspired by Pride and Prejudice, Booster also co-stars in the SCRUBS reboot for ABC, and stars as Maya Rudolph’s trusted assistant Nicholas in the acclaimed Apple TV+ comedy Loot.
His acclaimed Netflix special Joel Kim Booster: Psychosexual explores experiences and observations as a gay Asian-American male with commentary on identity, sexuality, and cultural expectations.
The Chicago-raised Los Angeles-based stand-up comic – adopted as an infant by an evangelical white American family – also hosts the hit comedy podcast Bad Dates where he invites friends to share their biggest dating fiascos. Meanwhile, Booster, 38, married his long-time partner, video game producer John-Michael Sudsina, in December 2025.
Booster and I recently sat down for a candid Q&A to preview his triumphant return to Montreal.
What is it about comedy that makes you happy?
Joel Kim Booster: I will say a lot of people – whether it’s my acting, writing or producing work – love trying to denigrate my career by saying I’m a DEI hire and the only reason I’m successful is because of the diversity push in Hollywood. The thing about stand-up, though, is that it is a true meritocracy. When I’m onstage making the audience laugh and the audience is laughing at my jokes – stand-up just feels so visceral and real to me, and I want to continue to do it because it’s a reminder to myself that when I’m making the audience laugh, I am good at this.
Was it tough to be an out comic when you were up-and-coming?
Joel Kim Booster: Yes and no. The toughest parts were how lonely it was. I started within a couple weeks of (out comic) Matteo Lane in Chicago, and I was very lucky that happened the way it did because we were close friends when we were coming up – we still are – and we were sort of each other’s lifelines. There weren’t a lot of us (out comics) back then. I would get advice from older comics – whose hearts were in the right place – who told me never to talk about my love life because it would gross out audiences. But I still did these jokes about my life, and I’d get audiences on my side every single night.
Do you consider yourself a gay comedian or a comedian who happens to be gay?
Joel Kim Booster: I think the latter. It’s a tricky thing. Like I don’t actually know that the distinction matters that much to most people because people are going to label you how they’re going to label you, no matter what, whether it’s fair or whether it’s not. It’s a double standard. Straight comics never shut up about being straight every time they talk about their wives or girlfriends, or their boyfriends or husbands.
You co-star in Scrubs and Loot. Do you prefer working in front or behind a camera, or do you prefer performing live onstage in front of an audience?
Joel Kim Booster: My roots are in theatre. The immediacy of live entertainment is, I think, something that will never be able to be replicated. I love the electricity of being in front of a live audience. All the work I do in front of and behind the camera may someday be replaced by AI, but live performance never will.
You studied theatre in university where you wrote scripts about white heterosexual couples. Fast forward to your 2022 film Fire Island which co-starred Bowen Yang, Conrad Ricamora, James Scully and Margaret Cho. What a wonderful cast and film that was. And you were nominated for a couple of Emmys. The film not only challenged straight audiences, but also queer audiences. How did creating that film challenge you?
Joel Kim Booster: I will say that part of the reason why I wrote predominantly about white people in college was because I was one of two people of colour in my graduating class, so it was not by choice so much as I sort of didn’t have a lot of other options at the time. Whereas in Fire Island, balancing autobiographical moments while writing a fictional narrative was a really fine line to walk because you’re cannibalizing your own life for your art. How much do you give away and how much do you keep for yourself? I’m hugely grateful and honoured that Bowen agreed to do it because so much of that movie is about our shared experience, specifically Asian men in the gay community.
You invite friends to share their biggest dating fiascos on your podcast Bad Dates. What is your biggest dating fiasco?
Joel Kim Booster: You know, I was never a big dater, but in terms of hookups, my third night in New York when I moved there, for my very first online hookup I went over to a man’s house. He was in an open relationship, which I did know. He disclosed that when I got there. We were in the living room and he said, “We’re going to have to do this in here because my husband’s home and he’s really racist.” I stopped and was like, “What does that mean for me? What will happen if he comes out of the bedroom?” Sorry to say, that’s one of the only hookups I’ve ever fled in my entire life. There are plenty of others that I should have fled that I didn’t, but that one was pretty cut and dried.
Do you feel a duty as a gay Asian-American male to represent? Or is that an unfair expectation?
Joel Kim Booster: I will say that it is a duty that feels lighter and lighter every year for me as my work moves away from my identity, as more people enter the scene to pick up the slack. There are so many of us now! Which I think is great because when I was coming up I was one of the few. Some of my biggest detractors and critics were gay Asian men because when you only have me and Bowen to look at – and the media tells them “This is you” – it can generate frustration if they don’t see themselves in us. But there are others now, so I feel this less and less every year.
You were adopted as an infant by an evangelical white American family. Did your parents ever see you do standup?
Joel Kim Booster: My parents have never seen my stand up, and never will. My father passed away in 2021. My mother’s still alive and I love my mother very much. I think that we have closed the gap about as far as we can close it in terms of our relationship, because at the end of the day, she is very Christian, she’s very conservative, she’s very Trumpy. And I know she wouldn’t appreciate my work, no matter how much I know she wishes she would as a mother who would love to be proud of her son. She knows she wouldn’t appreciate my work, so why go through the motions of showing it to her, or for her to watch it? I stopped expecting – and certainly stopped needing – approval from my family a long time ago. I have plenty of people in my life to whom I show my newest thing, whom I do seek approval and absorb pride from. But it’s not my mom, and that’s okay. It’s okay that it’s not my mom. My mom is still my mom. I love her to death, and she is a lot of things for me. She’s just not that person for me.
Sounds like you’re in a healthy and happy place.
Joel Kim Booster: I hope so. From your lips to my therapist’s ears!
Are you excited to return to Montreal?
Joel Kim Booster: I am! Montreal was the genesis of my career in a lot of ways. I was a New Face at the festival in 2016, and Montrealers are still some of my favourite audiences to perform for! I’m really excited for people to see the new material.
INFOS | Joel Kim Booster headlines Studio TD on July 23 at 7 PM.
The Just For Laughs Montréal Festival runs from July 15 to 26 at various venues. For tickets, visit hahaha.com.
Queer comics at Just For Laughs 2026
Here are some queer shows at Just For laughs Montreal:
Sibling Rivalry Live
July 22, 9:30 PM | L’Olympia
Monét X Change, Miss Congeniality of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10 and winner of AS4, and Bob The Drag Queen, winner of Season 8 are not actually siblings but they are the intensely hilarious comedy duo with infectious chemistry behind the hit podcast Sibling Rivalry.
Ashley Gavin
July 24, 7 PM | Club Soda
Out NYC lesbian comic Ashley Gavin is best known for her viral crowd work videos on TikTok and top charting podcast We’re Having Gay Sex. She exploded on the Internet this year by showcasing her ability to authentically engage and improvise with guests on her podcast and audience members while onstage.
Montréal Series: The Queer Show
July 16, 9 PM | Comedy Nest
This OFF JFL show spotlights the city’s vibrant LGBTQ+ comedy community. Featuring an all-queer lineup, with host Tranna Wintour and featuring guest comics Kě, Ray Resvick, Eve Parker Finley, Maya Kanitkar, Tony McIntyre, Jesse Daniel, Becca Redden, and Raquel Maestre.
INFOS | The Just For Laughs Montréal Festival runs from July 15 to 26 at various venues. For tickets, visit hahaha.com.
