DOMINICA (CU)_“Doors have been opened for me,” says recent Champion of Comedy as he gets ready to perform in Trinidad later this year.
The first-ever comedy champion of Dominica described his recent victory as a “door opener” because it led to an invitation to take part in a Trinidadian comedy competition later this year.
On August 27, Cornelius “Saltman” Marie won the “Laugh Out Loud, Dominica” Comedy Competition after having the crowd rolling with laughter the entire time (LOL Dominica).
The radio personality, fitness guru, motivational speaker, skilled journalist, and comedian highlighted during an exclusive interview with Dominica News Online (DNO) that he is prepared to take advantage of any new opportunities his recent triumph is providing him with.
“I love to make people laugh. But this was an eye-opener for me. Because now it actually tells me I can make people laugh because I had the entire crowd laughing for almost 10 minutes steadily. So this was just an opportunity for me to showcase that.” the Woodford Hill native who resides in Morne Daniel said.
He continued, “It has already started opening doors for me and I am going to walk right through them. And moving forward, I’m definitely going to create my TikTok, my Instagram, my Snapchat, all social outlets I can use to enhance and showcase my skills.”
Marie, who brought the show to a close as the winner out of fourteen competitors, reflected on the experience and quipped that it was both “torturing” and exhilarating.
“I was last on the list so I had to wait until the end of the show to bring my presentation forward, so that was kind of torturing because I had to wait and see everybody perform before me,” he revealed. “But it was also an opportunity for me to see what was before me and to try my utmost to up it and bring forth the best. And I think it worked in my favour. I was prepared for the presentation and when I saw the others presented, I told myself, you can beat this, you can do it.”
The comic champion claims that he is “unbothered” by criticism of the novelty of his content while labelling his performance as an homage to Franklyn Moses, a comedic legend.
“Anybody who’s rising has to expect criticism. And our culture is one that I’ve seen people criticize sometimes things that are working in their favour,” he told DNO.
“So I expect criticism, but what I do, I don’t pay attention to criticism. At the end of the day, I was the one who won the grand prize, so for me to be worrying about what people say based on my presentation, I saw the response of the crowd, everybody was laughing and I am satisfied with that,” he added.
The most recent champion continued by expressing his gratitude to the event’s organizers and announcing that he is available for bookings to play at neighbourhood activities.
The 2013 Golden Drum winner for Literary Arts, Ian Jackson, served as the event’s coordinator. Other organizers included the National Joint Action Movement (NJAM), DNO, and ComeSeeTv, with support from Q95 Radio, EmoNews, songwriter extraordinaire Pat Aaron, and seasoned theatre enthusiast Delia Cuffy-Weekes.
At the opening ceremony, tributes were given to the late Michael Bruney, Felix Henderson, and Lawrence Brumant, three of Dominica’s most celebrated comedic contributors, as well as to Alwin Bully for his contribution to the growth of Dominican theatre and Franklyn Moses for his enormous impact on stand-up comedy in this nation.
The comedy competition is anticipated to be an annual event, but the organizers also hope to advance the comic art form as an addition to the night-time entertainment sector and give locals and visitors access to yet another form of family-friendly entertainment.
