Good friend, maybe, but don't let him touch your car anymore for starters.
Sounds like the choke is stuck shut or sticking. Use a clothspin to clamp it open to temporarily get it running, except now your "friend" probably has the timing all out of whack. Also check the points. They may have went shut if they were just worked on, the screw maybe wasn't tightened down and if they didn't lube them the rubbing block goes away real fast. I would change them out for a petronix. Very simple to install.
Also this is pretty remote and would only apply if it had the original exhaust but that vintage of GM cars came with a double wall pipe and there were known for the inner pipe to collapse shut. You couldn't see it from the outside. A vacuum gauge will show it right away and usually they will start spitting gas back out the carb just before it dies.

I'm afraid your simple choke problem has now turned into trying to fix the stuff that other people muddled up.
BTW, the ground strap is supposed to be under the screw, not jammed under the frame of the points.