Glenn Wool is not a new face of comedy. He's a veteran. But his one-man-show at Café Cleopatre was a good way to start a Wednesday evening of laughter. The night ended at Place des Art's 5e Salle where 8 up-and-coming comedians got about 8 minutes each to show off their best material.

As a poutine-based website, I firmly believe we should have a rating system based on cheese curds and gravy. So when reviewers here really like a show they can measure it in the size, quality and type of poutine they believe that show was worth. Ratings should range from mini, unsqueaky, gelatinous goo to a large smoked meat and bacon affair that tastes like a healthy cow and squishes perfectly in a mouthful of golden, twice-fried frites.

Ranking system in place, here's how the comedians fared:

Glenn Wool: Satisfying, like Chez Claudette's straight-up cheese curds and gravy. Pro fries, and though there's not a lot of over-the-top hooligans involved in the meal/show, sometimes that's what you want. An hour of one comedian is very different from 5 minutes of 8 comedians, so Wool did a good job suitable of a pro. He brings the set together by leaving the audience hanging on the final punch line, and manages to tell racial stereotype jokes without being racist.

Where to see him

Will Weldon: Aged cheddar - a poutine that's mature for its age. He comes out on stage and looks like a college sophomore. Not a freshman, but young. But then it quickly becomes clear he's done this a million times before and you wonder how he can be so good.

Adam Cayton-Holland - medium-weight poutine with red wine sauce. Enough meat and heft joke-wise. Check it out.

Thomas Dale - happy drunk on homemade margaritas before heading to La Banquise for a stellar night of equally happy drunk loud people and poutine italienne. Like La Banquise, Dale is the party. He's very gay, very Italian, and very good at telling vagina jokes.

Mike Drucker - Smart, fake geeky, and confident. He plays the whole nerd thing up, but he's cool under pressure. The stage suits him like mushrooms and onions on steak. Check out his twitter feed for last-minute Montreal Just for Laughs shows.

Sean Flannery: A little bit of pepper sauce that sneaks up on you on a humble plate of carefully seasoned fries. He's going for quality laughs at his own expense.
Tonight at 9pm at Tentacool

Dominic Dierkes - Sliced pogo and steamé on fries. I just wanted someone to be the sliced pogo. Sorry, Dominic. You were good. So are pogos. Go to La Banquise and try one.

Calise Hawkins - the one woman of the night. She told some romance jokes, and she didn't swear like the guys, and she smiled a lot. But it was a nice change. I want to call her the 100% vegetarian, but she's better than that. Maybe the veggie sauce with some merguez sausage, eaten at any time, drunk or sober.

The Lucas Brothers - A perfectly sized surprise of pepperoni and bacon that arrives at your front door, steaming and squeaky. The best act of the night. Completely different from everyone else, because of the quiet and slow way they talk and play off each other. It worked because it slowed the pace of the show down a little without making the audience tired, and they told more stories than jokes, statements than smack-you-in-the-face punchlines. These are two sort of hipster identical twins to watch. Great delivery.

This was all intro-d by Lewis Black who got his own mini-set at the top. He did a stellar job pumping up the crowd and deserves a poutine from Decarie Hotdog as recompense. A little dirty, but with a lot of poutine experience.

This Up-and-coming showcase doesn't repeat itself, but some of these guys are sticking around. Check their websites for details. Or show up randomly at the best of the fest shows. There's another round-up of "New Faces" tonight, though, and it proves to be just as entertaining. There's even poutine in the souk outside in the quartier des spectacles. Win-win.

This will be the end of the poutine rating system.

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Photos from straight.com, the Lucas Brothers tumblr, and, of all places, Ticketmaster.