Movie Review: You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (in a Canadian Kind of Way) (CCFF 2026)

In 1971, John Michael Tebelak’s off-Broadway musical Godspell took New York by storm, becoming the buzziest play in the city. A year later, Godspell went on a National Tour, with shows popping up all over North America, including Toronto, a city whose theater scene was on the rise with talent and popularity. But what came out of the Toronto production of Godspell is the stuff of legend and subject of Nick Davis’s delightful documentary You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (in a Canadian Kind of Way).

You Had to Be There… looks at the actors who made the Toronto production of Godspell come to life. Actors like Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Victor Garber, Andrea Martin, Paul Shaffer, and Gilda Radner were cast in this play, and at the time, we were nobodies. They were fresh out of college or struggling actors looking for a break, and they got that break, beating out over 1,000 people who tried out for the play. The play turned out to be a success, in large part because of the cast, who became a giant family and eventually became comedy icons, helping revolutionize the Canadian comedy scene.

Davis uses personal interviews, archival photos, tape recordings, and animation to bring this story to life. The personal interviews come directly from cast members such as Short, Levy, Garber, and Martin, who give first-hand accounts of the play’s production, the after-parties, the personalities, and the relationships that were built and still exist today. Davis also talks to Canadian comedy royalty like Mike Myers and Janeane Garofalo, and actors like Heidi Gardner and James Austin Johnson, who discuss the importance of the play for Canadian comedy and its influence and importance to sketch comedy.

The interviews are light and fun. It felt like sitting in on a reunion with all these immensely talented people and listening to them tell these wild stories and jokes about not just the production of Godspell, but their lives before the play and their careers after the play. There was a lot of talk and love rightfully thrown to the late Gilda Radner, a radiant presence who touched everyone she encountered. I most enjoyed hearing the various audio recordings, which caught moments of rehearsal, backstage conversations, and after-party improv games and laughter. It was like listening to a time capsule of early brilliance from some of the most renowned comedy talents of the last fifty years.

You Had to Be There… is a funny and heartfelt showbiz documentary. It is a love note to Canada and Canadian artists, and about how one play changed the comedy and improv game forever.  

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