876 Roommates opens doors
Unruly Squid takes on role as assistant producer
Over a year in the making, 876
Roommates launched officially last week with 15 of Jamaica’s extremely talented comedians adjusting to living with each other in one house.
The first episode was filled with lots of emotions, floating-jokes, drama, happiness and sadness as the various personalities kick-started their journey to Montego Bay and immediately stepped into the first challenge to run through an obstacle course to catch an oily pig. According to assistant producer Annalecia ‘Unruly Squid’ Sutherland, the show got off to the right start with a “bellyful of laughter.”
“These comedians are very talented in their own right,” said Sutherland, who is also manager for Unruly Entertainment. Andre ‘Deno Crazy’ Dixon, Akeem ‘World Dog’ Dunbar, and Kimberly ‘Kimmy K Loud’ Forbes-Weeks are some of social media’s top personalities competing for $1 million in cash and prizes in 14 episodes.
“The goal was to highlight the vast amount of talents we have dormant here. Hence the motto ‘building a cultural empire showcasing Jamaican talents’,” said Sutherland. 876 Roommates was conceptualised at the height of the pandemic in 2020 by Kazrae Gray, CEO of Cashment Entertainment, who is the show’s executive producer.
“Kazrae, being a big fan of comedy and a comedian himself believed that comedians were not being highlighted enough. He also wanted to move them from social media into mainstream with the intention of finding the next superstar comedian from Jamaica like an Oliver Samuels, who could then cross over to international platforms to become the Kevin Hart or Dave Chapelle of comedy,” she said. “Out of poverty comes creativity and through the means of comedy, these up-and-coming acts have elevated themselves out of crime and violence that surround them in their communities to put a smile on the faces of people from all walks of life.”
The therapeutic power of comedy was also mentioned by Sutherland, who noted that,“especially after the past year, people want to get back to a state of being happy and entertained.”
The crew recently invaded Montego Bay and parts of Kingston, Spanish Town, Falmouth and Ocho Rios with their roadshow and launch party.