{"id":1345,"date":"2018-04-30T23:26:26","date_gmt":"2018-04-30T23:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=1345"},"modified":"2018-04-30T23:26:26","modified_gmt":"2018-04-30T23:26:26","slug":"52-and-hilarious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=1345","title":{"rendered":"52 AND HILARIOUS"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Nattoo<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Before Jerry Opener took on the unpredictable path of a comedian, he was a singer who went by the name \u2018Mikey Jerry\u2019 \u2013 believe it or not. Most avid music lovers from the rocksteady days of dancehall to the lovers\u2019 rock frenzy that overtook it, may remember the vibrant musical aspirant, who had high hopes of disrupting that scene and making a name for himself among the greats from that era. Even after some 12 years trying to make a breakthrough, with nothing coming up roses for him, he wasn\u2019t ready to give up on his dreams \u2013 dreams which had long been in the making from his days of attending the Albion All Age School in St. James.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved singing man, you know, but, it never really worked out. Mi still try though,\u201d Opener explains to the Western Mirror, with the slight rhythmic rocks of his body as he talks and a barely audible hum coming from him suggesting that even now at 52, he still made regular trips to that place in his mind where he was still very much involved with music, and perhaps, back then, had conquered it. But that wasn\u2019t the case.<\/p>\n

According to the Opener, things got hard, and his love for music became impractical. Whatever persistent hopes he clung to had to be hastily released as almost suddenly, Opener had to prepare to become a father.
\nOf his ambitions for music, he explained: \u201cYou know, when you\u2019re down on the Western side of the island, it\u2019s really hard fi mek a breakthrough in music because most of the big names deh up so, yuh nuh?\u201d He was, of course, referring to Kingston, where he felt his fortunes might have been a little different had he pursued music there. \u201cI think that a really one of di tings dem weh mek mi did affi just\u2026 divert.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where did that diversion lead him? To his trade, that of a builder. Even so, Opener couldn\u2019t ignore that there was something still tugging at his love for the stage and for seeing people react to his works. It was then that he realized his true calling, which had been shining all those years through his music and his personality. He realized then that even more than a singer, he was an entertainer \u2013 the kind that would bring people the gift of laughter, and that\u2019s when the man, who had been around for more than half-a-century, decided to reinvent himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a chance to go away to work on a ship to help my family and even when I was away, I still practiced comedy. Even though I wasn\u2019t hired as an entertainer, I took every chance I got to entertain the people I worked with,\u201d Opener says of his time on the vessels. When he realized he could easily cause people to crack up, it didn\u2019t take father of five to figure out what he wanted to be doing for the rest of his life, even as he pursues his trade. \u201cWhen I came back, I started practicing comedy fulltime,\u201d he said, and it was not in vain. Shortly after, by what Opener believes to be some divine act, he was called to be the opening act for a show for some prominent comedians at the Wexford Hotel and he didn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n

He recalls that after doing that show, and hearing people praising how gifted he was, that was all the fuel Opener needed to intensify an already raging flame.<\/p>\n

Now, Opener considers himself a budding comedian, and intends to reach the heights of household names such as Glen Campbell and Oliver Samuels. And even when he achieves those, which he confidently believes he will, his sights are set to go higher.<\/p>\n

From a community like Rose Heights, which is often rocked by violence and one which some people find to be void of reasons to laugh, Opener plans to change all that. \u201cIf you can really make people laugh, they will come to love comedy just as much as they love Reggae music,\u201d Opener expressed. Ultimately, this is just the beginning for a man who remains young at heart. And if there is anything to be taken away from Opener\u2019s story, who revealed that his real name is Kenneth Stewart, it\u2019s that life makes a way for those bold enough to follow their dreams. Need Jerry for a show? Give him a call at 510-9172.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Nattoo Before Jerry Opener took on the unpredictable path of a comedian, he was a singer who went by the name \u2018Mikey Jerry\u2019 \u2013 believe it or not. Most avid music lovers from the rocksteady days of dancehall to the lovers\u2019 rock frenzy that overtook it, may remember the vibrant musical aspirant, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[561,559,560,562],"class_list":["post-1345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-561","tag-comedian","tag-jerry-opener","tag-vyukder"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1345"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1347,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345\/revisions\/1347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}