Oliver Samuels reflects on late mother after receiving honorary degree
Published:Thursday | November 11, 2021 | 12:09 AMSade Gardner/Staff Reporter
Last Thursday not only marked the 73rd birthday of Jamaica’s king of comedy Oliver Samuels, but also the day he received a doctor of letters degree from The University of the West Indies, Mona, for his outstanding contribution to regional and international development.
Thoughts of his mother came to mind as he reflected on the day when he accepted the honour adorned in his gown and an ear-to-ear smile.
“Receiving that honour made me feel as though I have made not just the university community but the entire Jamaica proud,” Samuels told The Gleaner. “I remember my mother on her deathbed in 1970. She said to me, ‘You’re going to be a great person’, and it (the honour) conjured up all of the emotions in my life, spending my time with her while she was ill and when I started in theatre. She, in her simple way, just said to me, ‘My son, whatever you do, give it your best’, and I have always been aspiring to be the best performer that I can be, and God has blessed me to have worked with some of the most creative people in the industry, not just in Jamaica but abroad also. I would just like to thank the university and also my faithful followers over these 50 years because it has been a pleasurable journey, and it is all because of my Jamaican fan base.”
Samuels belted out his signature laugh when asked if he had acclimatised to the ‘Dr’ title.
“No, I am still gloating,” he said. “People from all over have been calling me Dr Samuels, making fun and coming with these complaints in a joking way, asking what I can do, but mi tell all of them don’t come to me with that cause me will poison them.”
Samuels is no stranger to accolades. He was conferred with the Order of Distinction in the rank of Officer class in 1978, which was upgraded to the rank of Commander class last year. He recently received the lifetime achievement award from the Consulate General of Jamaica in Miami. Despite his legendary status, he says he’s a simple man.
“I take it in strides; all that I have been given was nothing expected,” he said. “I went into the business of performing because it’s a passion. My whole interpretation of it is all I want to do is make people laugh, and this comes out of the fact that from a small child, my mother had been ailing. What I would do is to go to the library and get books and read to her in the evenings with my Home Sweet Home lamp, and she always encouraged my brother and myself to go to school no matter what the condition was. I would always have stories to make her laugh, and I think that was unconsciously a way of trying to ease her pain. This was always my mission: wanting to make people laugh and to make people happy.”
He was on the receiving end of this on Saturday, thanks to a friend who organised a roast to celebrate his birthday and university honour. The affair unfolded in Florida.
“The roast went extremely well,” he said. “We had Audrey Reid, Christopher Daley, Blakka Ellis and the Consul General (Oliver Mair) roasting me, and it was well received.”
As for the future, Samuels is “working on a very epic production that Jamaicans and the wide world will be grateful for. It is going to be something to talk about for centuries to come.”
Though he was tight-lipped about the details, he could be hinting at the reboot of his hit television series Oliver at Large based on a teaser video he shared to his new Instagram page, @theofficialoliversamuels.
“I started the page on Friday, and it has over 700 followers now, and I just want people to join because they will be getting so many little exciting stories to laugh about while the pandemic is going on.”
Samuels has appeared in 13 pantomimes and more than 30 other productions, including Music Boy, Queenie’s Daughter, Dickance for Fippance, Hail Columbus, The Witch, Johnny Reggae, The Pirate Princess, Trash, and The Dancing Princess. He has also appeared in The Fight Against Slavery, the British Broadcasting Corporation’s television series aired in 1974. The television series Oliver, Oliver at Large and Large and in Charge cemented Samuels’ role as Jamaica’s king of comedy.