Mel Cooke, Portmore Star Writer

when the monthly staging of Portmore Crack-Up takes place at Klub Klymaxx in Portmore Pines Plaza tomorrow evening, it will mark the second time that the art of combining thought and laughter is being staged in the community where it all began in Jamaica.

Still, lots have changed since stand-up comedy debuted at the now defunct Cactus Nightclub. The crowds have grown and so have the comedians, as Ellis International, which stages Portmore Crack-Up, is well aware.

tremendous support

Owen 'Blakka' Ellis is happy with the turnout at the February staging of Portmore Crack-up at which Tony 'Paleface' Hendricks was among the performers.

"The support was tremendous. It was also a wonderful mix of all kinds of people," he said.

Ian 'Ity' Ellis said, "our feasibility study showed that there are really no event of its kind held in Portmore on a regular basis". Owen Ellis noted, "As a city, Portmore definitely lacks good regular sit-down entertainment. We need stuff that goes beyond the play that passes through after an extended run in Kingston. Why can't a place like this have a few jazz bars or other spaces for smaller-scale live music? More importantly, the city of Portmore needs to develop and own it's distinctly Portmore-identified live entertainment instead of just being a site for repeats and re-runs and that's why this series is important. Crack-up started in Portmore and should stay here no matter who or what is cracking up elsewhere."

Owen Ellis said the initial staging was like a homecoming "in more ways than one. The very first crack-up had Tony Hendriks, Blakka Ellis, Ity & Fancy Cat and PAC (Mark Danvers, Donald 'Iceman' Anderson and Christopher 'Johnny' Daley). Of course, it was very important to have entertainers on the show like Floyd and Elva who identify with the community as residents".

The open-air, rooftop venue had a lot to do with the ambience and Blakka Ellis says Klub Klymaxx "is splendid. It`s like the Priscilla`s of Portmore".

room for improvement

There is always room for improvement. "We`re always trying to raise the bar on the production standards with nice new backdrops, lights and set and so on and we also mix it and try innovative new stuff. But we`d rather not make too many public promises right now. We prefer to under-promise and over-deliver".

Ity gave a hint of what is to come. He told The PortmoreStar "we have many new ideas some of which includes the freestyling of comedians, having many acts on stage delivering line after line. Plus, we have an idea to introduce comedic selecting and selections. We will have selectors introduce songs with a comedic style/twist. Plus have funny music, like the kind Francois plays on his Trivial Pursuit radio show weekdays on FAME FM".

Among the performers for tomorrow's Crack-Up are Christopher 'Johnny' Daley and Leighton Smith.