After the Silent River of Judy Mowatt, the No No No of Dawn Penn, the Blazing Fire of Derrick Morgan and the flashing feet of Ken Boothe as he did a rousing medley which included Puppet on a String, co-emcee Paula-Ann Porter reminded the substantial audience at 'Get Ready to Rocksteady' that comedy was always a part of Jamaican entertainment.

She reminded those gathered at the National Indoor Sports Centre on Wednesday night of Bim and Bam, Slim and Sam, Mass Ran and Miss Lou, saying that Prince Edwards was the comic of the rocksteady era.

And a duo of the present, Ity and Fancy Cat, came out to provide laughs to go along with the music.

The two went largely retro to the extreme delight of the audience, two references to modern-day dancehall at either end of their presentation. Ity said that he had stepped on a man's foot backstage and, when he said sorry, the man said that was OK. "Dat no gwaan inna dancehall," he said, to laughter.

war

The two recreated the selectors preferred smooth, understated speech of 'sessions', than the screeching that currently rules the selecting roost. "Nowadays a like a war," they said.

There was a hearty laugh about bleaching, then rollicking reminiscing on black and white television (the little one on top of the four-legged monster being the one that actually worked), complete with a hilarious look back at weatherman Roy Forrester and news anchor Dennis Hall.

Bleeding knuckles were recalled from the days of the grater and howls of knowing laughter went up when Fancy Cat compared shopping for shoes with a child now and footwear selection then. "Mama put me foot pon piece a paper. She draw it. Any shoes come, a it yu a get. If it big, stuff it!" he said.

And there was dancehall to end, as Ity recalled his mother buying a pair of pants and letting out the hem as he grew taller. However, she did not realise that while the length was being taken care of it was getting rather close.