Social Distancing and work-from-home are part of the new COVID-19 norm, and 2 Belizean entertainment companies are hoping that you'll be willing to explore a 6-month Belizean comedy show called Comic Relief, which will be aired online.
It is being created by Belizean production teams, and it will showcase young Belizean comedians who think that they can get you laughing, especially in these hard economic times, when the general public has a lot of daily worries.
Flavaz Entertainment, which is already exploring ways to monetize the virtual world as the new entertainment venue, has teamed up with the company Comedy Belize to create this show. This evening, representatives from both companies granted us an interview via zoom to discuss why they think you'll enjoy this new online video series:
Andazi Panton - PR Director, Flavaz Entertainment
"Comic Relief is actually a series of comedy shows that Flavaz Entertainment and Comedy Belize came together to produce."
"Basically, the way the show is set up is that we have divided Belize into 4 areas, Belize South, Belize North, Belize Central, and Belize Islands. Each of these areas will have 3 comedians who will compete to become the king or queen of their specific areas. And later on, they will go on to face off against the other areas in Belize. Someone will be crowned the Comedy King or Queen of Belize. Our show starts down south with the Comedians from Belize South. And they will be performing this Wednesday at 8 p.m."
"Each comedian will do 4 shows, and we've given them 4 different themes that they'll be writing to. What's really exciting as well is that we have judges who are professionals in their fields, who will be giving them commentary and feedback. And we'll also be encouraging the audience to vote for their favorite comedian. So, after 4 shows, the judges will tell you who they feel is the best comedian overall, and then, the audience's vote will count as well to decide who will go on to compete in the final show."
Delroy Fairweather - Promoter, Comedy Belize
"We sourced the talents from off Facebook. Basically, the 3 participants from the south, you have David Morey. He's from Independence, or Mango Creek, or 'Bush Creek', as he calls it. You have Dennis "Desho" Sutherland. He's from Dangriga. And then, you have Jerome "Bussa B" Noralez. These guys have their stage names, and so forth."
"We approached these guys, and just asked them, 'Are you interested in doing this comedy show?' And they were like, 'Yeah, we are ready for it.' I can tell you, as Andazi has previously said when you look at these guys performing, these guys will have you rolling in your seat. They're just natural. Now, we're hoping that people will see this. They will buy into it, enjoy what we have to offer, and then, we will have additional persons."
"We have a pool of talent here. It's just for us to get them out, and get them performing."
Now, in order to buy a virtual ticket for this online show, it's a vendor-to-consumer interaction that might be a bit unfamiliar to you. You'll have to pay for it online, and then, you'll send Comedy Belize proof of purchase via WhatsApp. After verifying the online purchase, they'll send you a unique customer code, which you can then use to log into the Sec-9 broadcasting platform to see the show.
The organizers told us today that it is designed in this manner to minimize the face-to-face meetings and the potential COVID-19 exposure that comes with those:
Andazi Panton - PR Director, Flavaz Entertainment
"We are broadcasting the show over SEC 9 streaming, which is available via an app download, whether it's from the Play Store, the Apple Store, or Firestick. And, if you're not into apps, you can also watch it on the website, www.sec9live.com."
Delroy Fairweather - Promoter, Comedy Belize
"We understand with this whole pandemic, we're trying to minimize the exposure of people, meeting new people face-to-face, and purchasing. I know a lot of people are still not too comfortable doing the banking system. For most cases, we have an account set up at Atlantic Bank."
"We have a Zelle, which yarielalopez@gmail.com, and we also have the CashApp, YDFL Belize. So basically, we're trying to cover all grounds, but make it easy to cover all grounds, if people are not comfortable with the banking, they can contact anyone from Comedy Belize, Flavaz Entertainment, the participants, and they will get that information off to us, and we'll send them a code through WhatsApp for them to access the show."
The first episode of this Comic Relief Series airs tomorrow night at 8 p.m. Belizean time.
If you are uncomfortable with online purchases, you can contact representatives of Comedy Belize and Flavaz Entertainment to pay your 12 dollars for tomorrow night's show.
