A new comedy show, ‘Laffy Laffy Baby’, featuring a number of talented Guyanese comedians, is scheduled to premiere in four different regions of the country within the next two months.
‘Laffy Laffy Baby’ will debut on November 12 in Bartica, then play on November 19 in Berbice, November 26 in Linden and finally on December 4 in Georgetown.
Organiser, Writer and Producer of the show Odessa Primus, who is a comedian amongst other things, described to The Scene what she hopes and expects to bring to the stage.
“It was a concept that I had wanted to do for years and when I decided I was going to do it the pandemic came so it couldn’t have happened,” Odessa related. “So, now that everything has simmered down a little, I decided that now is the best time to do it.”
She went on to explain that because of the challenges people have been going through in their daily lives, it’s necessary to create an environment where humour is paramount and as a result, she seeks to build such.
“Outside of comedy, I am an activist and in terms of what I’m involved in and because of people sending me messages about what’s going on in their life, I’m conscious about the fact that people need an opportunity to have relief and to really laugh and relax their minds… They say that laughter is the best medicine and as cliche as it sounds it’s true and so I want to create those opportunities in peoples’ busy lives,” she said
The show draws on past experiences and the knowledge which she has gained over the years in the Arts and Drama industry. “I had written a play called ‘Crack Jokes’ which is really a play on words. I also write for a number of different people and for a number of shows, so I started off there and then moved on to writing one-off plays and then full length plays, so that for me was a reinforcement of the fact that I wanted to do things different and to be different,” she added.
She said that what makes ‘Laffy Laffy Baby’ different from basic comedy shows, is the fact that it won’t just be about acting, but with the help of many other talented Guyanese, it will be a combination of dancing and singing, all formulated into comedy. Some of the actors include Calvin Burnett, Marlon Jacobs, Nathaya Whaul, Colleen Humphrey, and Leon Cummings among others.
Odessa, who plans to give her audience “uncontrollable laughter”, said it is not only about travelling to the regions to perform, but to also find hidden talents there and to help those persons showcase what they have to offer.
“I’ve also given some groups in these regions the opportunity to perform on stage for at least ten minutes where I’ll be assisting them in terms of how to make their production better and what to do and so on and give some degree of directions when I see what it is they intend to do,” she said.
She added that it’s an opportunity to meet and familiarise herself with them. “It’s not just about going into their community and doing a show and leaving, but rather we want to be involved with them and learn some things from them,” she said.
Moreover, Odessa hopes that her show will be an annual event and eyes the movement to other regions. She stressed on the fact that her team will be producing a show that’s built on “excellent quality” and as such, she’s urging both the government and private sector to invest in the talent of Guyanese comedians.
“These shows are extremely expensive as well. Creating a quality production is expensive. Anybody could have sound on a show but to get quality sound that people are able to hear, to get proper lighting and so on it’s all important. As we move forward as a country in terms of infrastructure and those sorts of things, we also want the arts industry to move forward because we want to have quality plays,” she said “All of time we say Guyana is an oil producing nation and so on and that has just become a thing that we say but if we are to truly move forward as a people we have to move forward in every aspect. We can’t continue to do things the way we used to. As such we have to be able to move with the times and we have got to be able to grow from where we started in the Arts to where we need to be going as people within the performing arts industry… and I want to be part of that and I intend to do so in these productions.”Furthermore, the producer said that she’s hoping to bring awareness to the importance of quality work. “I want people to be able to see that if you give a quality production and bring something that makes an impactful difference, then you will get the support that you need,” she said. “I’m really hoping to change this Guyanese saying that ‘we only support foreigners’ to ‘we support quality’ based on the amount of work put out and the turnout that we get at each of these shows.”
Odessa is calling on Guyanese to go out and support the show since her team has been working extremely hard on its execution.
