It is said that laughter is good for your health.
A hearty laugh can change the outlook of a bad day, even if only for the few moments a chuckle might last.
Keeping things relatively clean, funny and very Caribbean all at once is Ginger Candy Comedy spear headed by Shelley Davis and comedian Robert “Sinck” Sinckler.
Running off and on for 15 years and climbing, Ginger Candy Comedy happened organically through conversations between a group of friends. “There was no moment where we were like ‘let’s think about putting this together.’ We just kind’ve like, ‘let’s put this together,’ and everything pretty much rolled into this great sequence,” Davis said.
“We said, you know what, we have this unique category that we’re in that is a huge category. There’s a lot of us that experience humorous situations with our individual families and then when we get together we find ‘wow we have a huge commonality’ with this Caribbean upbringing, why not bring it to the stage and let’s do it clean so that every one can be apart of it.,” Sinckler added.
Keeping it clean is by far the first and most important detail Sinckler, Davis and their other partners stressed. Their show features great comedy suitable for anyone.
“That was the part that we were very adamant about,” Sinckler said. “That it was going to be comedians with Caribbean or African backgrounds and that it was going to be clean as an alternative to what is already out there. Hearing people curse is no big deal. As a matter of fact, people are tired of it.”
Sinckler wears various hats in the company handling duties as the host, primary comedian, talent consultant and gatherer of that talent while Davis handles majority of the back office duties including social media and photos.
The lack of foul language included to the show has not equated to a lack or loss of talent. “That’s the beautiful thing about us being here in New York. I call Brooklyn the largest Caribbean island in the world,” Sinckler said. “For them, it’s refreshing to be able to do it clean because they’re able to write numbers for their family that they never told about coming to shows before because they were a little reluctant not only about what they themselves might say but of what somebody from the show might say.”
Reuniting after a few brief hiatuses, the Ginger Candy Comedy family has big goals set for their year. In addition to the monthly shows featuring three to four comedians, the group hopes to travel on tour and continue doing corporate events.
The absence of foul language allows for them to participate in big corporate events that were once scared of comedy due to its unexpected nature.
“Ginger Candy comedians went down to Black Enterprise the last year and a half or so. The idea is to have a show that is clean, professional and hilarious. I don’t think an event like that with some raw comedians would have really flown too well,” Davis said.
Before Ginger Candy comedians graced the stage for the Black Enterprise Gold and Tennis Challenge, the annual weekend event banned comedy from the entertaiment options for six years due to a previous mishap. “They got Eddie Griffin, like Shelley said this Black Enterprise event is a bunch of affluent people. These are CEOs and presidents of major corporatioms and the sponsors are large companies. Eddie Griffin got on stage and did what Eddie Griffin does. Three minutes later they turned the sound system off,” Sinckler said.
After some careful insisting, a collaborator with Ginger Candy Comedy got the collective green lighted to participate and have since participated in the event for three years straight as well as the Women in Power Summit.
Currently, Ginger Candy Comedy hosts monthly shows set intimately at Amarachi Lounge located at Bridge Street between Nassau and Concord Streets. The audience and comedian on stage are nearly eye-level, setting up the most desirable situation for audience members to be involved in the set or the butt of a joke.
Though the comedians do not use explicit foul language, there are some instances where “Caribbean” curse words slip into their bit. Kept to a minimum, comedians joke on themselves, their personal upbringings, other cultures and current events.
With Sinckler handling hosting duties and plenty of engagement throughout the show, audience members are kept interested. Charlene Modeste came out to the show in support of the Caribbean focus of the show.
“I thought the show was really great, I came out specifically because it was a Caribbean show and I love Caribbean comics,” Modeste, a Trinidadian descendent, said.
Keep up with Ginger Candy Comedy keeping it “spicy, hot, sweet and clean” with their Facebook page for updates on shows and more.
