ONE SET IN MONTRÉAL
About 20 years ago, a stand-up set at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montréal unexpectedly changed the course of my career.
That one performance led to meetings in Hollywood, the development of a CBS pilot based on my life and comedy, and the opportunity to work alongside an incredible cast including Rita Moreno, John Ratzenberger, Christa Miller, and more.
This page is a look back at the set, the pilot, and the unforgettable moments that came from it.
How it all Began
There are certain moments in life where everything quietly changes direction.
For me, that moment happened in Montréal.
At that point, I had been doing stand-up comedy for about seven years. I’d spent years grinding in clubs around New York City, trying to carve out a real place for myself in comedy.
Like almost every comic coming up at that time, I wanted to get into the Just for Laughs Festival in Montréal.
That was the dream.
It was where careers could suddenly change overnight.
And for years, I kept auditioning for their “New Faces” showcase.
And for years, I kept getting passed over.
By the time I auditioned again, I had already been working the comedy circuit long enough that I wasn’t really considered a “new face” anymore. But that year, the festival had created a brand-new showcase called Masters.
The idea behind it was simple: comics who may have been overlooked the first time around… but deserved another look.
That became my shot.
I had two performances that night: a 7:30 show and a 9:30 show.
Christopher Titus hosted the showcase that night, and we were both represented by Omnipop Talent Group at the time. Looking back now, it’s strange to realize how many pieces of that moment were quietly lining up before I had any idea my life was about to change.
The first set was okay.
Not terrible. Not great. Just… tight.
The audience felt stiff, and honestly, so did I.
There were network executives sitting in that crowd, and I remember walking offstage feeling like I had missed something important.
Between shows, I went into the bathroom alone and looked at myself in the mirror.
And I remember saying to myself:
“Come on, Andrew. Just let it go. Do it the way you’ve been doing it at the Cellar.”
Because by then, I had been performing regularly at some of the toughest clubs in New York City, including the Comedy Cellar. And night after night, I had learned something incredibly important:
When I stopped trying to “sell” myself and simply shared who I was, that’s when audiences connected.
So for the second show, I walked onstage differently.
Relaxed. Loose. Present.
And that set changed my life.
I hit it out of the park.
Suddenly, executives from multiple networks wanted to meet afterward. Within weeks, I was flying to Los Angeles and walking into meetings with studios and television executives I had only dreamed about before.
Eventually, development offers came in from both CBS and The WB.
And ultimately, we chose CBS.
At the time, CBS just felt like the right home for it.
That decision became the beginning of an entirely new chapter of my life.
Soon I was meeting with writers and producers, trying to figure out how to turn my life, my family, and my stand-up into a television series.
That process eventually led me to writers Andy Gordon and Eileen Conn.
They wrote a pilot called Related by Marriage, inspired by my life growing up in a multicultural family and the comedy that came from it.
I still remember reading the script for the first time and realizing:
“This could actually become a real television show.”
But before cameras ever rolled, there were weeks of work behind the scenes.
I flew to Los Angeles and spent close to two weeks working side by side with Andy and Eileen, rewriting and tightening the script line by line.
Then casting began.
And suddenly this thing that had started with one stand-up set in Montréal became very real.
Christa Miller signed on to play my wife.
John Ratzenberger played my father-in-law.
Julia Duffy played my mother-in-law.
Ann Guilbert played the grandmother.
Henry Goodman played my father.
And Rita Moreno… played my mother.
Even writing those names now still feels surreal.
One minute I was driving around New York trying to get stage time.
The next, I was standing on a fully built sitcom set at Sony Studios in Los Angeles surrounded by actors I had grown up watching my entire life.
For a brief moment, everything moved incredibly fast.
Table reads. Wardrobe fittings. Network notes. Camera blocking. Rehearsals. Production meetings.
It felt like stepping inside a different universe.
And through all of it, there were moments where I would quietly stop and think:
“How did this become my life?”
The pilot ultimately never became a series.
And for a long time, I looked back at that experience as something bittersweet.
But over the years, my perspective changed.
Because the truth is, very few people ever get to experience something like that at all.
Very few people get to see an idea go from a stand-up stage in Montréal… to a major network pilot at Sony Studios.
And even though the show never became a series, that experience changed my life and career.
It remains one of the most unforgettable chapters of my life.
And it all began… with one set in Montréal.