…Takes first place at ‘Uncensored 9’

THE voluptuous Odessa Primus truly repped the sisterhood last Friday night at the National Cultural Centre (NCC) where, as the only female competitor in this year’s Uncensored 9, she stood above the men and grandly took first place in the annual Standup Comedy Competition.

Standing before a brutal audience that earlier relentlessly booed another competitor into a premature exit off the stage, Primus had the crowd in fits from the moment she entered the stage decked out in a Mashramani-ready ensemble.
The penultimate act of the night, the crowd was prepared for nothing but the best as their night winded down, and Primus delivered.
It was definitely a step up from her performance at the show last year during the rained-filled programme at the Giftland parking lot.

The judges thought her ten minute performance on stage was the best among the 12 acts of the night, and saw see her landing the first place position, which included a $300,000 cash prize, along with a $200,000 gift voucher from Giftland’s Giftronics, and a gold chain and gold ring from Elegance Jewelry and Pawn Shop.
A performance that included some stunning split-in-the-middle gyrating action from Michael Ignatius landed him the second place. Ignatius produced big laughs when he solicited the assistance of Stage Manager Sonia Yarde to deliver a thrilling wine down that left many females in the audience wanting more.

Mark “Lo li” Kazim and his “Chiney Man” impressions, returned to the winner’s circle. After finishing fourth last year, he found himself bumped up to third, proving that his consistent Chinese impersonation is not getting old anytime soon. He threw in several of his now signatory “Lo li” jokes for good measures and also proved that Guyanese won’t stop rolling over with laughter for phallic puns, or raunchy jokes anytime soon either.
Opening by poking fun at the government’s recent employment of elderly citizens, Mark Luke-Edwards also featured among the top four for yet another consecutive year. Dressed in tight skinny jeans tucked into his socks, Luke-Edwards tickled the funny bone even before his first words came out.

And as per norm, not even the judges were spared. Among the night’s judges line up were news anchor Travis Chase, radio personality Nigel Worrell, and Al Creighton, all of whom came under fire by varying comedians, and of course when the jokes were good everyone had a good laugh about it.

But it was not all laughs for everyone who stepped out on stage last Friday night. Some painfully miscalculated vagina jokes from second timer Randolph Critchlow drew the ire of the audience, and what would start out as intermittent antagonistic disagreement from a few in the crowd evolved into a full-fledged unified call for his removal from the stage before he could even get a full three minutes in the limelight.

Within seconds the booing drowned out Critchlow’s mic and he could do nothing but retire from the stage, not at all enjoying the resounding applause that followed his exit. Another comedian that confounded the audience during the night was Kirt “Chubby” Williams, who also had a premature exit.

Though not altogether clear, it appeared that the veteran jokester started to forget his lines and as his jokes began to falter, Chubby, in a convict’s prison uniform costume, made an abrupt exit.

The night’s MC, Lyndon Jones, explained it away. The fact that Chubby preceded Critchlow may have been what left the crowd so sour to Critchlow.
Though he did not space, another classic act of the night was delivered by Kwasi “Ace” Edmondson, who apparently can joke as well as he can sing. Laying down some foul-mouthed jokes from the minute he touched down on the stage, Edmondson landed some big hits as he regaled the audience with a tale of a date when he took a young lady to Palm Court. A few politicians also came under fire from him including Minister of Infrastructure, David Patterson, Opposition leader, Bharrat Jagdeo and former president Donald Ramotar.
This year’s show also saw two new comers, in Paul Burnette and famed promoter Marlon Jacobs.