Comedy Show Delivers World Class Laughs
[Written by Vejay Steede]
Image Entertainment’s latest offering of stand-up comedy insanity, dubbed simply, ‘Comedy Show,’ was explicit, heartwarming, visceral, and absolutely hilarious in varying degrees throughout.
The show started sharply at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday night. Host and promoter Nadanja Bailey delivered a highly ‘punctuated’ warm up as several just-about-on-time arrivals found their seats inside the Ruth Seaton James Auditorium. Nadanja’s material was fresh, hard-hitting, and, as always, quite hysterical. This was an auspicious warm up indeed.
Now, before we go any further, let me confirm that my use of the word ‘punctuated’ above is a hint that this was a show aimed squarely at adults. So there was profuse profanity, and lewd humor, and thoroughly adult content, and quite a bit of political incorrectness; basically, it was an awesome, refreshingly mature show!
The first stand-up comedian to deliver a full set was local luminary Eddie G. Eddie was deliciously self-deprecating, channeling a shorter, more Bermudian Richard Lewis throughout his 15 minute set. The wily, battle-hardened comedian was warmly received by the appreciative crowd, and ultimately delivered one of the top punchlines of the evening when he uttered the masterful “Are my test results back?”
Unfortunately the set up to Eddie’s crowning line can’t be discussed here, suffice it to say that the joke, in its entirety, is an unadulterated work of genius!
King Somner was the next comedian to grace the stage. King delivered a wonderfully nonchalant set filled to the brim with razor sharp observational humor, bad language, biting sarcasm, and slow-burning social disobedience.
King exuded the confidence and nous of a veteran stand-up comedian throughout his set. He was always charming, handling the audience like they had come to see him and giving them exactly what they came for. His performance was mature, controlled, and balanced on Saturday night. Oh, and there were laughs-a-plenty as well.
I was especially impressed with King as I have vivid memories of him developing his craft at Chewstick many moons ago. He’s grown into a very strong Comedian and we should all support his on stage journey as much as we possibly can.
The first of the international acts came to the stage next. Del Harris was instantly familiar; storming the scene like an old friend. She sang the praises of the effect Bermudian men have on her self-esteem, explained why she became a service racist when she worked as a waitress, espoused her theory on project fertility, and shared her awesome singing voice with us.
Del was warm, charismatic, and gleefully loud throughout her 25 minute set. Her vocal power was impressive and her capacity to speak words clearly and rapidly made it quite evident that getting into an argument with her would just be dumb. What a lady!
Before closing her memorable set, Del asked us all to follow her on Instagram @iamdelharrison and sang a rendition of an original song called ‘Boom Boom.’ The song was catchy, but the sound mixing was a bit off on the evening, which was no fault of Del’s, and represented the only blemish on an otherwise wonderful set.
Sinck was up next. Sinck was funny. Smooth and defiantly old school, Sinck delivered a laugh-tastic set that leaned heavily on the shortcomings of technology and the benefits of having grown up when rap music was still in English.
Sinck effortlessly evoked laughter from the near-capacity crowd with jokes about fidget spinners, cyber bullying, his abysmal fight record against his tiny Bajan mother [Zero wins versus 300 losses!], Lazy inventions, Jamal the victim, and how his brother almost gave himself a brain aneurism trying to make a circle on an etch-a-sketch,
Laugh-for-laugh, Sinck was the best act of the show. He was irreverent, cool, and silly all at once, delivering the kind of professional stand-up comedy that only top quality practitioners can. This was a world-class comedy set, and we were grateful to experience it in Bermuda.
If Sinck was the most hilarious act of the show, then Jammin’ Jay Lamont was easily the most amazing! Saturday night’s closing act was simply phenomenal. Combining silly physical comedy with a ridiculously impressive vocal range, Jay Lamont entertained the socks off the crowd at Ruth Seaton James Auditorium on Saturday night.
Relying almost exclusively on his jaw-dropping talent for vocal gymnastics, Jay Lamont sang pitch perfect impressions of Barry White, Whitney Houston, Al Green, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Prince, Anita Baker, Patti Labelle, and Michael McDonald. The guy even did the music … with his mouth! Eat your heart our Biz Markie!
With all due respect to Billie Holiday, ‘Lady Sings the Blues’ ain’t got nothing on ‘Whitney Sings the News.’ I mean, there’s really no better description of Jay Lamont than ‘The Human iPod,’ which is his actual moniker.
Impressive doesn’t begin to describe what Jay Lamont did on Saturday night; it was the perfect embodiment of a “You had to be there” experience. Seriously, look Jammin’ Jay Lamont up online; just extraordinary.
Before leaving the stage Jay delivered a rendition of an original song called ‘Celebrate.’ The song was very good, and the crowd appreciated the cool vibe it induced. It was a great way to end an often uproarious evening, and every patron left the auditorium smiling.
Jay Lamont expressed an instant love for Bermuda when I spoke to him after the show, suggesting that he’s looking for a house to buy [in jest … probably]. His song, ‘Celebrate’ is available on Spotify and Napster so go get it! And if Jay comes back to Bermuda to perform, don’t even think about missing him!
Top quality comedy is a highly valuable commodity, and Image Entertainment must be encouraged to keep these shows coming. Thank you for making us laugh guys. Now let’s keep laughing.
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