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| South Africa's new comedians find a nation eager for laughs | South Africa's new comedians find a nation eager for laughs |
| (8 days later) | |
| "Contrary to popular belief we are in a working democracy – I know this because I'm still alive," comedian Trevor Noah tells an exuberant full house in Johannesburg. "You laugh, but it's true. Try and go do these things in Africa somewhere. They will shoot you in your first week. You can't be making jokes about the president, drawing pictures of him with showers coming out of his head. You'd have been dead a long time ago." | "Contrary to popular belief we are in a working democracy – I know this because I'm still alive," comedian Trevor Noah tells an exuberant full house in Johannesburg. "You laugh, but it's true. Try and go do these things in Africa somewhere. They will shoot you in your first week. You can't be making jokes about the president, drawing pictures of him with showers coming out of his head. You'd have been dead a long time ago." |
| Noah, 29, spearheads a generation of South African standups who have become wildly popular, providing not only escapism but a different perspective on the nation's problems. They tackle race, class, crime, corruption and the political elite. As court jesters tweaking the nose of the powerful, they are quite possibly helping to keep the nation sane. | Noah, 29, spearheads a generation of South African standups who have become wildly popular, providing not only escapism but a different perspective on the nation's problems. They tackle race, class, crime, corruption and the political elite. As court jesters tweaking the nose of the powerful, they are quite possibly helping to keep the nation sane. |
| Noah's latest show, That's Racist, runs the gamut from road tolls and shark attacks to the Marikana mine massacre and the bedroom antics of the president. Back from a successful spell in the US, he is scathing about foreigners' ignorance of Africa: "Many people think it's a dark continent covered with dust and flies, they don't think we have technology, roads or airports, just aeroplanes landing in the bush, 1,000 black men catching the planes." | Noah's latest show, That's Racist, runs the gamut from road tolls and shark attacks to the Marikana mine massacre and the bedroom antics of the president. Back from a successful spell in the US, he is scathing about foreigners' ignorance of Africa: "Many people think it's a dark continent covered with dust and flies, they don't think we have technology, roads or airports, just aeroplanes landing in the bush, 1,000 black men catching the planes." |
| There is a need for light relief. South Africans have undergone sombre introspection of late with the economy slowing, unemployment sky highand, worst of all, violent unrest that included the killing of workers at the Lonmin platinum mine in August. | There is a need for light relief. South Africans have undergone sombre introspection of late with the economy slowing, unemployment sky highand, worst of all, violent unrest that included the killing of workers at the Lonmin platinum mine in August. |
| Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the public appears to be looking for reasons to laugh rather than cry. | Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the public appears to be looking for reasons to laugh rather than cry. |
| Noah's tour sold out in nine cities in southern Africa, including a run with minimal pre-publicity at the 1,100-seat Lyric Theatre in Johannesburg, and was well received at this year's Edinburgh Festival. | Noah's tour sold out in nine cities in southern Africa, including a run with minimal pre-publicity at the 1,100-seat Lyric Theatre in Johannesburg, and was well received at this year's Edinburgh Festival. |
| The Comedy Central TV channel launched here just over a year ago. Ticket sales at Parker's Comedy and Jive at Montecasino, Johannesburg, are up roughly 35% on last year. "It's still in the early stages but there is a bit of a boom," said Joe Parker, who opened the club four years ago. "There's a lot of new talent around." | The Comedy Central TV channel launched here just over a year ago. Ticket sales at Parker's Comedy and Jive at Montecasino, Johannesburg, are up roughly 35% on last year. "It's still in the early stages but there is a bit of a boom," said Joe Parker, who opened the club four years ago. "There's a lot of new talent around." |
| Eighteen years after the end of apartheid, race still percolates almost every aspect of life, and comedy is a prime example. "Race is an easy target," said Parker, 62. "It's a bit of a cop-out because it's too easy: a black guy goes on stage and tells jokes about whites. Maybe we need to get outside and look beyond the stereotypes." | Eighteen years after the end of apartheid, race still percolates almost every aspect of life, and comedy is a prime example. "Race is an easy target," said Parker, 62. "It's a bit of a cop-out because it's too easy: a black guy goes on stage and tells jokes about whites. Maybe we need to get outside and look beyond the stereotypes." |
| Comedians in South Africa enjoy a constitutionally protected right to free speech that artists in many other parts of Africa can only dream about. But there are some taboos. "Comedians here don't talk too much about paedophilia and religion," said Parker, who has been in the business for 40 years. "I've noticed US comedians talk about rape. I imagine using that word on stage in South Africa would create a silence." | Comedians in South Africa enjoy a constitutionally protected right to free speech that artists in many other parts of Africa can only dream about. But there are some taboos. "Comedians here don't talk too much about paedophilia and religion," said Parker, who has been in the business for 40 years. "I've noticed US comedians talk about rape. I imagine using that word on stage in South Africa would create a silence." |
| On a Monday morning in Linden, Johannesburg, the team behind Late Nite News, a satirical TV show that attracts around 1 million viewers a week, are polishing this week's script. Seven contributors – five black, one white and one of Indian descent – sit around a kitchen table with three laptops, two iPhones and an iPad, BlackBerry and box of cigarettes. | On a Monday morning in Linden, Johannesburg, the team behind Late Nite News, a satirical TV show that attracts around 1 million viewers a week, are polishing this week's script. Seven contributors – five black, one white and one of Indian descent – sit around a kitchen table with three laptops, two iPhones and an iPad, BlackBerry and box of cigarettes. |
| The script is read through by South Africa's answer to Jon Stewart: 6ft 5in tall presenter Loyiso Gola, who grew up in Gugulethu township outside Cape Town. "Sometimes it was very evident my parents were trying to make ends meet," he recalled. | The script is read through by South Africa's answer to Jon Stewart: 6ft 5in tall presenter Loyiso Gola, who grew up in Gugulethu township outside Cape Town. "Sometimes it was very evident my parents were trying to make ends meet," he recalled. |
| "Who was having a good time in 1994? | "Who was having a good time in 1994? |
| "I was a quiet, skinny child that people picked on a lot. My friends still don't find me funny; my mum still says, 'This guy's not funny.' | "I was a quiet, skinny child that people picked on a lot. My friends still don't find me funny; my mum still says, 'This guy's not funny.' |
| My confidence grew when I started doing drama." | My confidence grew when I started doing drama." |
| Gola, who gave his first stand-up turn in 2001, has watched comedy in South Africa go mainstream. "In 11 years I've seen the changes. In Durban I did 10 people, I went back and did 80, then went back and did 1,000. I don't think it's a passing fad." | Gola, who gave his first stand-up turn in 2001, has watched comedy in South Africa go mainstream. "In 11 years I've seen the changes. In Durban I did 10 people, I went back and did 80, then went back and did 1,000. I don't think it's a passing fad." |
| The audience demographic is changing too. "When we started it was mainly white audiences; now 20% white would be surprising. There's a growing black middle class so it makes sense." | The audience demographic is changing too. "When we started it was mainly white audiences; now 20% white would be surprising. There's a growing black middle class so it makes sense." |
| Gola, 29, has toured with a show entitled "Professional Black". He added: "We're talking about these things on stage and at dinner tables, whereas if I go to the UK, race is barely touched on. It stops a lot of dialogue. Culturally, we're dealing with race much better." | Gola, 29, has toured with a show entitled "Professional Black". He added: "We're talking about these things on stage and at dinner tables, whereas if I go to the UK, race is barely touched on. It stops a lot of dialogue. Culturally, we're dealing with race much better." |
| Conversely, he noted, South African comedians are far less comfortable tackling religion than their British counterparts. In politics, however, there are no sacred cows and lampooning the president is a formality. | Conversely, he noted, South African comedians are far less comfortable tackling religion than their British counterparts. In politics, however, there are no sacred cows and lampooning the president is a formality. |
| "South Africa is one of the few places where we can," Gola said. "If we and the press keep doing it, it will be normal. Satire has to become a normal thing. Then we'll going in the right nation." | "South Africa is one of the few places where we can," Gola said. "If we and the press keep doing it, it will be normal. Satire has to become a normal thing. Then we'll going in the right nation." |
| Sitting in the director's chair in the Late Nite News studio is Kagiso Lediga, 34, who helped create the show in September 2010. "Being a young democracy, this is a new entertainment," he said. "South Africans have a need to laugh at themselves. It's been very reliable: you go to a Trevor Noah show and you know you're going to laugh your arse off and maybe get laid." | Sitting in the director's chair in the Late Nite News studio is Kagiso Lediga, 34, who helped create the show in September 2010. "Being a young democracy, this is a new entertainment," he said. "South Africans have a need to laugh at themselves. It's been very reliable: you go to a Trevor Noah show and you know you're going to laugh your arse off and maybe get laid." |
| Race is inevitably a rich source of material, Lediga said. "It's our therapy coming out of our history. I don't know if it's entrenching or breaking the stereotypes. But black people are getting into historically white spaces so there is always something to say. In a comedy club, making fun of the ANC, it was assumed those are white laughs. But it's general: it's also a middle-class exercise. The middle class bitch about the same things." | Race is inevitably a rich source of material, Lediga said. "It's our therapy coming out of our history. I don't know if it's entrenching or breaking the stereotypes. But black people are getting into historically white spaces so there is always something to say. In a comedy club, making fun of the ANC, it was assumed those are white laughs. But it's general: it's also a middle-class exercise. The middle class bitch about the same things." |
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