Why is "FUNNY" so funny?

Caribbean people are very funny. We're funny as in humorous, amusing, comical and witty. We are also funny in another kind of way. And here I mean funny as in odd, weird or peculiar. There's also a third kind of 'funny'.

Gay men, especially in Jamaica are often euphemistically referred to as 'funny', and I find our attitude to that kind of 'funny' to be sometimes funny on one hand, while being confusing and contradictory on the other hand. In Jamaica, a man who acts 'funny' onstage is a guaranteed commercial hit every time. But a man who's genuinely gay off-stage lives with the risk of being literally and physically hit at anytime. And that's not so funny.

Comedy shows

But funny also sells. In Jamaica, there's an increase in the number of comedy promoters. There were eight major comedy shows in Trinidad & Tobago over the last two weeks. I performed on three and I saw the ads for the other five. As a Jamaican, one of the interesting features of Trinidadian comedy shows for me is the number of acts that employ cross-dressing men or men playing gay characters. I find especially funny how the audiences find them funny. A man comes on-stage in neon coloured wig, skimpy bikini and bra, and the crowd goes wild. Chairs turn over, people run up and down and 'buss blanks' and di place nuh good again.

Two such acts appeared on the same events I did. One was a man playing a woman giving tips and sharing recipes for women who want to learn to fix foods to keep a man tied. The other was a drag-queen-comic protesting the promoter's decision to shorten his act when his motto, philosophy and mantra can be summed up in four words, "want it long!" People loved it. The thousands of people at Jean Pierre Complex, and Guaracara Park in Trinidad, as well as an unbelievably massive throng at Dwight Yorke Stadium in Tobago threw big cheers, applause and adoration at those performers. I couldn't help thinking that if they were in Jamaica the audiences would probably respond with not cheers, but chairs, tables, stones and other missiles. But that's not necessarily true.


Selective

You see homophobia's very funny- and selective. Gay men are tolerated if they have the right connections, or they work in stereotypical spheres like cosmetology or choreography, and they are adored and celebrated if they consent implicitly to be perpetually framed as comic relief. In fact, based on current official logic, it's OK to be gay and acceptable for gay people to form groups as long as they don't try screechie into Mr Golding's cabinet, insert themselves into the police force or own guns.

But I wonder if we realise that technically there is no law in Jamaica that says it is illegal to be a homosexual. What's illegal is buggery. And buggery means anal sex (whether it's with man or woman!) Funny eeh?

Funniest part of the scenario for me is Ernest Smith the MP. He righteously condemns buggery in Parliament, but as a lawyer he has to earn his money yu see. So, based on what I read in the papers, here's how it look to me. A noble lawyer, who's a Smith, stands before an honourable judge, who's a Pusey, and makes a plea in mitigation on behalf of a man who pleads guilty to buggery! Funny eeh? Well at least it's funny to me.

Imagine if the government made JFLAG illegal. They could then become his clients and earn him some real funny money. Trust me, he might not be anywhere near as hilarious as 'Bashment Granny', but I think the South West, St Ann Member of Parliament is very, very funny.

What you think? box-mi-back@hotmail.com