By Mel Cooke, Freelance WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
IN ITS second monthly staging, RE Backyaad Crack Up's growth was obvious on Wednesday night.
It was shown not only in the extra chairs which were put out as people continued to come in well after the near 10:00 p.m. start, but also in the new funny voices, Lemon and Rumhead, which were presented.
A fire dancer was added to the line-up, complementing the dancers and a show-ending performance from Ce'Cile, both done to tracks courtesy of deejay Smoke.
The heart of the matter, though, was humour, with Christopher 'Johnny' Daley and Donald 'Ice Man' Anderson being hilarious hosts of a programme which saw extended performances from the duo Apache Chief and Sammy Question and Pretty Boy Floyd.
There was growth, too, for All Purpose, whose sporadic 'jeh!' hit the funny bone on last month's Crack Up. This time around he not only got real talk time, but also his own home.
"All Purpose cut him owna door inna de set. Like him live ya!" Christopher 'Johnny' Daley said as he and Donald 'Ice Man' Anderson got the show going, as he observed a door marked 'All Purpose Only', with a nail for a lock. Johnny proceeded to bang on the door, observing that "him sey him a go buil' one pit toilet roun' a back". The two called for All Purpose as they would summon a puppy, much to the audience's delight, All Purpose finally appearing with a yawn, stretch, chamber pot - and stench.
"Me a go bathe," he said, eventually. "Leave no stone unturned," Ice Man advised.
Rumhead was first up, a flask in hand, white make-up above his top lip and on eyebrows and a comment on his lips: "From mi step pon stage mi cyan understan' how oonu cyaan keep still".
Rumhead tossed a bit of singing into the brew, advising a girl that "If my teet was so yellow/I would never smile at all".
ADAMS
Johnny took the role of
interviewer and Ice Man Renato Adams and Elephant Man,
moving from the low, slow drawl ("The first thing I would do is to isolate myself from the entire prison population. I do not have a lot of friends over there") to
the fast lisp ("dem love jump
up an' me love jump up, so we jus' link up") with a quick switch in positions.
Lemon said he was there to talk serious business, not give jokes, but his pitch for people who stammer to get extra credit on their cell phones tickled the audience pink. He went on to speak of a man who stammers, who asked a woman for "fu- fu- fu- four stick a matches". When he gets them and lights his cigarette, he asks "Yu tink me woulda look pon a big woman like yu an' beg yu a fu- fu- fu- full box a matches?".
The fire dancer literally stood up in the fire, showing the soles of his feet as they blazed momentarily. All Purpose emerged from his quarters to observe what was happening, but fled when the fire dancer blew gouts of flame into the air. "Watch de skirting!" Johnny squealed from backstage, to some chuckles from the audience. The dancer showed superb balance as he spun a blazing bicycle rim on his forehead and then on the sole of one foot while he stood on his hands.
Johnny did the demonstrations and Ice Man gave the pre-flight Air Jamaica instructions, the audience cracking up twice as Johnny's fingers, hair, legs, teeth, clothes - in fact, everything - flew in a flurry as he indicated the exits.
Apache Chief and Sammy Question were brought on with great respect, Sammy Question saying "A de firs' time yu see a policeman look like Michael Jackson. Cause one a look fi him".
Apache Chief approached and Sammy put the questions, including which school he attended. "St. Catherine Primary High School" was the reply. The explanation of the combination was it was a primary school was "me go a de upstairs part". Apache's singing skills were put to good use as he did Percy Sledge, under threat of the combination of "prison, GP and Kid Ralph" if he failed. Gregory Isaacs, Buju Banton and Zebra were well done, but it was Tony Curtis who brought down the house and Lady Saw that sealed the issue.
"Which artiste yu want?" Sammy demanded. "Bounty Killer!" a man shouted from the back. "Bounty Killer tell yu sey him want man?" Sammy roared back and there were gales of laughter. "If di big man did hear yu!" Sammy reinforced.
PRETTY BOY FLOYD
Comments on cricket ("Yu hear sey Lara inna de dressing room a put on him pad") wrapped up their set, All-Purpose taking a touch of the 'Dirali' before Johnny and Ice Man returned, dressed in Carlton Brown creations and prepared for a Pretty Boy Floyd who had commented disdainfully last month about Johnny's clothes. An Ice Man impersonation of P.J. Patterson answering questions on the budget ("we can all buy Armani Xchange suits. The country will not suffer. Wha more oonu waan?") preceding the final stand-up comedian of the night, which by then had slipped over into the next day.
Pretty Boy Floyd came on with the dancers, then taking over to combine his presentation with insulting a member or two of the audience, sipping champagne intermittently. "If beauty was measured by electricity you would be a total blackout," he told one woman, but wooing another and saying "I am aware that you are not single, but we will not leave him out. We will invite him to our wedding".
A tale of a date on $500 preceded a 'big-up' of ghetto girls, the only exchange of 'scoobay!' and 'guway!' of the night coming in his set.
The dancers and a performance by Ce'Cile finished off the night, All Purpose emerging from his room with a blue basin to hand her a Backyaad T-shirt, DJ Smoke taking over for party time as RE Backyaad Crack Up moved from joke to jam in the early hours of Thursday morning.
