The sec­ond edi­tion of Splen­did Com­e­dy Fes­ti­val got off to an in­ter­est­ing start at the Na­tion­al Li­brary Am­phithe­atre in Port-of-Spain on Car­ni­val Fri­day. It con­tin­ues on March 19, at the same venue. De­spite tech­ni­cal dif­fi­cul­ties that led to a late start, pa­trons were well en­ter­tained with a clean

com­e­dy show.

In keep­ing with the spir­it of Car­ni­val, the show start­ed with per­for­mances from ju­nior ca­lyp­so­ni­ans Don­tai St Hillaire and Timel Fla­ment Ri­vas. Don­tai sang a so­cial com­men­tary en­ti­tled Po­lice Jam and was well re­ceived. Timel de­light­ed the au­di­ence with his two se­lec­tions–They Are Silent and No Change. His mas­ter­ful pre­sen­ta­tion and stage an­tics made it dif­fi­cult for him to leave the stage. He kept the au­di­ence laugh­ing and call­ing for more.

Beu­lah (Shirley King) was next with a mono­logue about mod­ern day gos­sip that evoked scan­dalous laugh­ter. Learie Joseph and The Saint kept up the pace and the laugh­ter con­tin­ued. Beu­lah re­turned to the stage with an­oth­er mono­logue, singing and danc­ing, much to the de­light of the au­di­ence. Lly­lo per­formed two hu­mor­ous ca­lyp­soes which went over well. KMK did a won­der­ful job as mas­ter of cer­e­mo­ny. The Saint had the ap­pre­cia­tive au­di­ence in a fit of laugh­ter, bring­ing the show to a close.

Splen­did Com­e­dy Fes­ti­val will con­tin­ue on March 19-20, Na­tion­al Li­brary Am­phithe­atre, Port-of-Spain; March 21, Rien­zi Com­plex, Cou­va; March 26, Palms Club, San Fer­nan­do; and in To­ba­go on March 28. The full cast con­sists of Learie Joseph, Tom­my Joseph, Spran­galang, Beu­lah, The Saint, KMK, An­drea Jack, Mr Mc Cleod, Nzin­ga Job, Sun­ny Moon The­atre, Maid­en Voy­age and Lly­lo.

Tick­ets, priced at $350, $200, $150, $100, are avail­able at Cros­by's North and South; Cleve's, Port-of-Spain; Sports and Games, To­ba­go; Ram­s­ingh's, Ch­agua­nas; and, Tight As­sets of Trinci­ty Mall. For fur­ther in­for­ma­tion call Splen­did En­ter­tain­ment at 469-8323.