What do you get when you take some good ole crude and even sexually abrasive West Indian humor and couple it with a conspicuous but charming feminist agenda? Pomme is French for Apple, the brainchild of Liza Paul and Bahia Watson, is a pum pum advocacy movement grounded in provocative, sometimes offensive, but always delightfully entertaining comedy sketches and monologues. And while female empowerment specifically within a sexual context is nothing new to West Indian culture and expression, this duo’s approach is less aggressive than humorous, and even exudes an air of sophistication while they ‘pat their drums,’ cat call men and address everything from masturbation to menstruation.
Having started on the stage, these Toronto natives have extended their antics onto the web via their Youtube channel PommeTV, giving audiences a sample of their live show. Here, the women conjured up memorable personalities like pineapple fruit spokeswoman Chiquita Pineapple; “Two Finger Taco Tango” flag bearer Dr Zelda Breedlove; rapper Lil Maxi and (a personal favorite), the playfully obnoxious Ms. Crystal Ballin. Pomme is French for Apple is a refreshing insight into what it’s like to be a woman, and, as they say, “Where better to start than pum?”
We spoke to the duo ahead of their performance this Saturday at Joe’s Pub in NYC.
LargeUp: What is your relationship?
We are friends and artistic collaborators… pum comrades, even. We met at a storytelling residency at Anitafrika! Dub Theatre in Toronto, run by award-winning storyteller and dub poet d’bi.young. We were both there working on solo pieces, and were taken with each other’s work, and the similarities our pieces shared: Feminist, West Indian-flavored, and a sense of humor that warranted deep belly laughs. Like proper ones that you buss with your fam. So, after the residency ended, we wanted to continue working together. From those sessions emerged Pomme is French For Apple. Pum pum powah fi true.
Where are you guys from, or where is your family from? I can’t figure out if you’re Trini, Jamaican or both. You guys are almost culturally ambiguous and I’ve had a hard time trying to figure it out. You represent so well.
Bahia: Representing GT—Guyanese mother.
Liza: Representing YAARD—Jamaican father. Both of our parents immigrated to Canada, where we were both born. We’ve been in Toronto a long time, and there is so much mix up mix up there — Trini, Bajan, Guyanese, Jamaican— that it is entirely possible that our accents are getting mix up mix up, too. Melting pot tings.
What was the inspiration/ motivation for PommeTV, and the content?
When we began writing, we knew we wanted to explore womanhood, and where better to start than pum – the gateway to life? Pomme is French for Apple is a live show, a play, designed for a live audience. We created PommeTV as a way to explore content that isn’t necessarily as well suited to live theatre, and also to promote the vibe of the play without giving it all away online. Pomme is French for Apple was conceived as a live medium, but we didn’t want our work to begin and end there. Once you get started with pum-themed everything, yuh cyaaaaan stop.
What’s with the name? Why ‘Pomme’ instead of ‘Pum’?
Liza: The title was born one drunken night out when I was running around the streets yelling out “Pomme is French for apple… and YAAAARD fi pussy!” Thanks to our very Canadian exposure to French classes, the phonetic similarities between pomme and pum are something we like to play with. It’s kind of undercover — we can be running around saying a word that could mean apple or punany. But if you have any exposure to Caribbean culture, as most people in Toronto do, it’s most likely that when we say “pomme,” you’ll hear “pum.” Hundacovah ting dat, yes?
Bahia: It’s kind of hilarious when people stumble into our show and are surprised to discover that it has nothing to do with apples. As with most things that we do, we prefer to hit it from a new angle, find our own way into a ting and wuk it.
What is each of your roles in PommeTV?
We are very DIY, very ‘make it happen by any means necessary.’ We have ideas and do whatever needs to be done to make them realized. Much with the live show, we both do a little bit of everything: Producing, writing, performing, directing, casting calls, craft services, location scouting… You ever see those “Hey Mon” sketches on In Living Color with the Hedley family? “I am the pilot, the steward, the co-pilot, and the wheel!” Yeah, we work 17 jobs. A so we run tings.
How has the reception been?
The reception has been really warm and so, so encouraging. People love pum pum! Whether you have a pum pum, wanna get up in the pum pum, or come from a pum pum, it’s something everyone can relate to. People catch nuff jokes, and they always want to share what we do with their people. Often people wonder if it’s a show just for women. But all the guys who come out love it. It’s a show for people who like to laugh. Most of what we do has caught on thanks to word of mouth.
We are known mostly for the live show, which has a loyal following. But since putting the live show up is not always possible, we like to keep it moving with the online content. We are interested in creating an alternate narrative [to] what’s being produced onstage and in mainstream media. We are dynamic women of Caribbean descent — not one-dimensional women we are accustomed to seeing in the stories we’re being told — and we want to see that represented. Luckily for us, our audiences want to see the same things. Everybody loves island vibes. and a show that features talking pum pum – that’s a pair of lips from which you don’t often hear.
You guys are doing a couple shows in New York. Where else have you taken your pum pum advocacy and monologues?
We are doing a one-night only performance at Joe’s Pub Saturday, October 4 at 7 pm. It’s a fresh, funny and irreverent look at womanhood in all its glory: its perils, its pleasures, and all kinda madness in between. Featuring a series of original vignettes and music, Pomme is French for Apple deals with sex, society, and dating from a distinctly West Indian perspective — complete with speechifying straight from the pum pum. The show has toured in various cities in Canada, and we’ve done a couple of shows here in NYC at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, which were some of our best yet: New York audiences are so. Much. Fun. We just returned from a run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the UK, which was a huge deal for our likkle pomme because it’s the largest arts festival in the world. Big tings for two gyals whose whole show centres around Caribbean pum pum. They didn’t even know that word out there! But they do now. Mmmhmm.
After New York, where are you taking your show?
Our run in Edinburgh started some conversations with producers in London, which if and when it comes through will be like a dream come true. Nuff yardies deh a London Town. Dem nevah really ready fi wi. And more New York City! Wherever people want to laugh, feel good and celebrate “pumlife,” that’s where we want to be. And more videos, of course. The Internet is the perfect place to spread di pum. True say we can think of a few other places we could spread it, but in the meantime you can get some pomme at Joe’s Pub on Saturday.
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