The newly-formed Grand Bahama Performing Arts Society pledged it would encourage a wide-range of art forms on the island and its latest production shows it living up to its word.

From the ?sublime? of well-know international concert pianist Tannis Gibson it goes to the ?gorblimey? of stand-up comics from the celebrated comedy clubs of New York City.

The venue changes to match ? from the acoustically superb Church of the Ascension in West Beach Drive to the night club Joker?s Wild in Midshipman Road. Saturday, February 7, at 8pm sees a trio of them performing the art which keeps them rolling in the aisles in Manhattan.

They are Mexican-American Ricardo Aleman, New Jersey-born former TV backroom boy Kyle Grooms, and Andy Pitz, who was a student at NY State University before turning to the club circuit at age 19.

Just last Sunday, January 25, Pitz was on stage at the world famous The Comic Strip Live in New York?s exclusive Upper East Side. This nightspot, voted by AOL?s City Guide as ?Best Comedy Club? and the longest running such place in the US, has been home to some of the best known of comics, including Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Ray Romano and Ellen Degeneres. Pitz names Seinfeld as his inspiration and draws his accessible, ?clean? style of humour from the absurdities of everyday life.

None of the three are strangers to stages outside New York City. Aleman for instance has appeared at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland as well as being a regular on the Sirius Radio show ?Four Quotas? and a performer in NBC TV?s ?America?s Got Talent.?

Grooms actually left a career in TV ? he was an art director with Univision, the US?s leading Spanish TV company ? to become a full-time stand-up comic. He found he was earning enough money working the clubs in the evenings to give up the day job.

But he was soon back to TV appearing on the Comedy Central channel, where he had his own special, and also HBO?s Def Comedy Jam. ?He?s one of the funniest comedians in the country,? according to D. L. Hughley, the funny man who made history in the fall by hosting the Larry King Live show on CNN and then having his own Saturday night show on the same channel.

The avowed mission of the hosts, the Grand Bahama Performing Arts Society, is to encourage the arts by bringing professional performers from a wide range of disciplines to the island. The next few months will see further evidence of their intentions. In the meantime proceeds from this show will go to support the society?s benefit programme for local performers.

Tickets for the comedy show are available at Butlers Speciality Store on Yellow Pine Street; the Seventeen Shop, Downtown; Island Java in Port Lucaya; and the Emerald Isle Caf?, Seahorse Plaza, for $30, or $35 at the door on the night, with the price including one drink.

Photo: Andy Pitz?with friend