Krista Henry and Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writers

To say the last weekend in March was a barrel of laughs would be an understatement. With three major stand-up comedy shows in three days (including two on one night), there was no shortage of jokes between Kingston and Portmore.

On Sunday, March 28, Portmore Crack-Up was held in its regular last-Sunday slot at Klub Klymaxx on the roof of the Portmore Pines Plaza, while Rohan Gunter's annual Mi Nah Laugh was held at the Courtleigh Auditorium. There was Comedy Fest, also at the Courtleigh Auditorium, the previous Friday evening, and the monthly LOL stand-up comedy show was held at Heather's Garden Restaurant, New Kingston, in its customary last-Wednesday slot.

Add to that Ragashanti's Sunday night Mix Up an' Blenda at Backyaad, and it is clear that audiences are really standing up and taking notice of stand-up comedy in Jamaica. In fact, Backyaad has proven to be a stand-up comedy hub, with Backyaad Crack-Up taking place there monthly before Mix Up an' Blenda started.

New talent

Stand-up comedy in Jamaica has come a long way since the initial shows at the now defunct Cactus Nightclub in Portmore and Half-Time Crack-Up. Christopher 'Johnny' Daley, who, like many stand-up comedians, doubles as promoter and performer, credits the surge to a number of factors.

"The two most important are the work done by Ellis International and Si Wi Yah Entertainment (the company he runs with Coleen Lewis). We have continued to perform and produce comedy and unearth new talent in the business," Daley told The Sunday Gleaner. He emphasised that "the new talent has been most important. Outside of keeping shows, if you don't have new talent you won't have any continuity."

Mi Nah Laugh has been staged since 2008 with two shows per year, in Kingston and Mandeville. With a more mature and corporate focus for his event, Gunter has had three stagings with an estimated 500 patrons in Kingston and more than 700 in Mandeville at each show.

Ellis International stages three annual comedy events - Portmore Crack-Up, which was staged for the first time in January of this year, Christmas Comedy Cook Up, which will have its sixth staging on Boxing Day and the International Comedy Festival, which will be staged for the fifth time this summer. According to Ellis International director and comedian Ian 'Ity' Ellis of the duo Ity and Fancy Cat, the first staging of Portmore Crack-Up was better than expected. International Comedy Festival has the largest crowd of up to 3,000 people.

"Though people are down in these hard times, it's like they just want to laugh more and that's what we're offering and people are very supportive," Ellis told The Sunday Gleaner. With entry fees ranging from $1,000 - $2,000 for a stand-up comedy show put on by Ellis International, Ellis believes comedy is more than surviving, but hopes to one day see crowds in the many thousands like comedy shows in Trinidad and Tobago.

"Daley said the entry fee to a typical comedy show is anywhere between $700 and $1,000. "Different venues have different sizes. The comedy yard, which is Backyaad, averaged 750 people during Backyaad Crack-Up. The third anniversary of Backyaad Crack-Up pulled in 2,000 people," Daley said. He said that Ragashanti's Mix Up an' Blenda enjoys crowds of more than 2,000 people.

Further strengthening the local comedy scene, this year at the International Comedy Festival, Ellis International is planning a comedy clash between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago which will be staged in Jamaica, Trinidad and Canada.

Bigger crowds

Michael Small and his brother Clement have been staging comedy shows for a decade through their Rommonn Entertainment and Jamco Enterprise. At $1,000 per person, their most recent Comedy Fest had a 75 per cent capacity audience at the Courtleigh Auditorium to see Gunter, Leighton Smith, Pretty Boy Floyd, Prince Edwards, Sterling and Granny. "The crowds have gotten bigger," Small confirmed. But it is in Montego Bay that the audiences have been really impressive. Small said 1,400 persons were at Pier 1 for a December 2008 show and 1,350 at the same venue last March. "And we don't advertise on the TV. When we touch TV we are supposed to strike gold," he added.

Small pointed out that "the venues in Kingston are sort of small" while the large ones cost a lot, this in a situation where sponsorship is minimal, with Busta being one of the very few as a drink sponsor.

Small said that the night before the December show in Montego Bay, a major dancehall event at the Catherine Hall Entertainment Complex (Reggae Sumfest venue) with Beenie Man, Vybz Kartel and a number of top-flight dancehall entertainers struggled to gain the public's interest, despite heavy TV advertising. "So a comedy a do it, straight up. And everybody know," Small declared.

As Daley puts it, people are being more selective about how they spend their entertainment dollar and where they might have gone to three parties and a comedy show, they are now down to a party and a comedy show.

The laughter will not be cut from the budget.

It's obvious that with an entertainment plate full of parties and stage shows, patrons enjoy the option that comedy offers. Avid stand-up comedy fan Sashaexplained: "I really enjoy comedy. It's kinda like watching a play but not quite. You are entertained wid gimmicks, jokers, acting, music. It works. It's a stress reliever." Nelson said"Comedy is something different, which is what I like about it. It's like a novelty from the weekend-to-weekend partying scene. You get a little bit of everything - acting, food, music, drinks. It's fun and it makes you relax, 'cause you just sit back and laugh."

The sit-down element seems crucial to the comedy shows' boom, as Daley pointed out "our shows are mostly sit-down affairs. The ladies can dress in almost ballroom-type clothes. They know it's an atmosphere they wont' encounter any aggression".

If Small has his way, even more people will get to sit back and laugh, as they are planning a Comedy Fest tour across the island. "Anywhere that Bashment Granny 2 goes, we are going there," Small said. "Many people in the deep rural areas don't know stand-up comedy. It is just the major towns and the cities."

Names changed upon request