The man of medicine and laughter

Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

A man of science by nature, Dr Michael Abrahams has more than a little touch of comedy and poetry in his soul.

An obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Ruthven Medical Centre, Abrahams is also a regular on the comedy and poetry scene. Many may recognise Abrahams from his stint on seasons two and three of The Ity and Fancy Cat Show where his parody of Prime Minister Bruce Golding is almost known from household to household. His ‘interview’, alongside

Ity with Vybz Kartel and Portia Simpson Miller, among other sketches, has also come in for much acclaim.

Not having had much interest in the creative arts growing up, Abrahams has now discovered hidden talents and is more than willing to explore them.

He said: “Blakka Ellis asked me to give a speech at the launch of a summer comedy show called ‘International Comedy Fest’ in July of 2006. The speech was about the benefits of laughter to your health. I gave the talk from a medical perspective. I’ve always wanted to try stand-up comedy and I had this monologue and I did it. I’ve thought stand-up comedy was the most difficult of the creative arts because as a singer you have a backing band, etc. Stand-up is just you alone.”

First taste

Abrahams got his first taste of comedy at the end of that year at Blakka Ellis’ Christmas comedy show which, he said, went very well. His second show at Backyard in April, however, was not as successful. He said, “The show was a bomb, and I wrote a poem about the whole thing and did it in July and it went well.”

Soon Abrahams branched out into poetry, performing monthly at the ‘Seh Sumpm’ poetry show as well as Pomedy. From poetry it was on to music, with his humorous song, 2009,

A Year in Review, which he performed in January at the ‘Shaggy and Friends’ concert.

It has been all uphill for the doctor who cites comedians such as Richard Pryor, Jay Leno and Bill Mather as influences. Blakka Ellis and Ity, he also describes, as influential.

Other influences include fellow comedians Elva and Christopher ‘Johnny’ Daley.

Abrahams also does poetry, and cites Joan Andrea Hutchinson as a good friend who always pushes him to develop his writing.

Abrahams develops his will to provide social commentary in his poems as well as in his quick-witted stand-up work and one day hopes to be a published poet.

While his creative arts career is growing, Abrahams will always love his job as a doctor, and plans to keep balancing both.

“It’s the weirdest thing. People see me on TV and might not know it’s me, and when they come into the office and see me, is like they’re confused or they just start to laugh.

Everybody tek me for poppyshow now. But you know, I always tell people you have to have a balance between your job, family, and the stuff that interests you. I have my job, my family and this is what interests me, and it’s working out comfortably,” he said.