By Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer

To laugh or not to laugh, that was indeed a complicated question at the taping of the first episode in the second bus stop of the reality stand-up comedy series Cashpot Comedy Buss. As the 16 finalists performed, some of the most perplexing jokes ricocheted from the walls and left the audience stunned in their wake.

The show was taped at the Jonkunnu Lounge at the Hilton Kingston hotel last Wednesday night. The lounge will become the comedy club for the duration of the series. 'Comedy Buss' is a production of SIWIYAH Enter-tainment, created by Christopher Daley and Coleen Lewis.

The 16 contestants who performed last Wednesday had been culled by judges and audience votes, after a six-parish tour of the comedy buss which included stops in Negril, Savannah-la-Mar, Montego Bay, Kingston, and Portmore.

The show is co-hosted by Daley (the driver) and Everaldo Creary (the conductor). Winston Bell and Audrey Reid are regular judges, and each week will have a guest judge. Elva, herself a rising comedian, was last week's guest judge. The contestants will be vying for $1 million in cash and prizes as well as a contract with SIWIYAH Entertainment.

Some of the 'jokes', to use that term very liberally, and without ample attention to its real meaning, were so bad, it was hilarious. With some contestants, it was unclear whether one was to laugh at the joke or laugh at them.

Disclaimer

When Nugent Hewitt, the third contestant, left the stage, Daley felt he had to make a disclaimer: "Yeah man, dah one deh slip awn pon di bus," he told the bemused audience. Hewitt's attempt at a joke had slammed into the wall of a silent and perplexed audience and refused to crack. It did not even dent. It would not be the last time Daley had to make a disclaimer because it seemed that too many of the contestants had hopped on to the bus without having a clue as to its destination. Fortunately, performers like Rohan Gunther and Ken Ramsay showed that the bus did have some gas and it could reach a hilarious destination.

Either way, whether they manage to amuse or bemuse, the contestants on Comedy Buss make for hilarious television. If the jokes don't work, at least the attempt remains laughable. The show airs on CVM television on Tuesdays at 9 p.m.