Comedian Tony 'Paleface' Hendricks (centre) talks with Marcel Allen (left) and Andre Gordon, marketing managers of Pitbull Energy Drink, following his performance at Margaritaville, Montego Bay. - Photos by Noel Thompson

WESTERN BUREAU:

Popular Jamaican comedian Tony 'Paleface' Hendricks created a stir in Montego Bay on Sunday night as he left many smiles on the faces of his audience.

Now living in England, Hendricks was visiting his homeland and kept his promise to perform for charity on behalf of the Committee for the Upliftment of the Mentally Ill.

The event was originally scheduled to be staged on the patio of the Blue Beat Martini Bar along Gloucester Avenue at 8 p.m., Sunday, but the rain forced organisers to shift it next door to the Margaritaville complex.

Billed 'Comedy for Charity', Hendricks exhibited his comic prowess to the amusement of the audience who braved the downpour to see him in action. And he did.

"You know, I don't see anything wrong with Jamaican bad words," asserted the comic, inferring that if we listen distinctively to the sounds the hen makes, it goes: "puck, puck, puck mi lay", while the parrot rambles the 'R' sound so plainly it is synonymous with that very colourful popular word. "The hens and parrots say it in their own way. It's just left to one's interpretation," he said to everyone's delight.

'Flashing' the police

Hendricks touched various topics, but one that many are likely to recall for sometime yet, was about his experience while driving along a certain road in Jamaica and seeing a police patrol. He said he played the Devil's advocate and 'flashed' them, signalling that police were doing a spot check around the corner.

"Man, yu should a see how di police dem straighten up and cut dem speed. When dem remember say dem is the police, dem look around with surprise. I just laughed and drive leave dem," he recalled.

"Whenever the police stop me now and ask why was I travelling at such a speed, I tell them is because I didn't see anyone flash me," he jibed.

Tony Hendricks poses with friends Karen Edmond (left), nurse Joy Crooks (second right), administrator of the Committee for the Upliftment of the Mentally Ill, and Dr Pearnell Bell, psychologist and author.