ENTERTAINMENT
DO YOU START WITH PERSONAL EXPERIENCES, CURRENT EVENTS, OR RANDOM OBSERVATIONS? A lot of my material comes from observations, personal experiences, conversations, and things I notice about people and everyday life. Once I have an idea or story I want to share, I shape it through performance, testing it, feeling the audience’ s reaction and allowing it to evolve over time. For me, comedy is about connecting and being present with people, not just delivering a perfectly written joke.
HOW DO YOU TEST NEW JOKES, AND DO YOU PREFER SMALL, INTIMATE ROOMS OR LARGER CROWDS? I enjoy both. Smaller rooms are great because you can really hear what works and what doesn’ t. Larger audiences bring a different energy, and sometimes a joke takes on a life of its own. Every performance teaches me something new.
WHICH COMEDIANS OR ARTISTS HAVE INFLUENCED YOUR STYLE? I draw a lot of inspiration from African-American comedians, particularly Steve Harvey, who has an incredible ability to connect with audiences through storytelling and humour. Locally, I think we have an amazing pool of talented comedians and creative minds.
WHAT’ S THE MOST UNEXPECTED LESSON YOU’ VE LEARNED FROM PERFORMING STAND-UP? The biggest lesson has been that the more personal you are, the more people connect with you. When I started comedy, I thought the goal was just to make people laugh, but I’ ve realised that the stories behind the jokes are what truly draw people in.
People relate to honesty. Whether you’ re talking about identity, family, culture, language, or everyday experiences, everyone wants to feel seen. Comedy has taught me that our differences are often the things that bring us together.
IF YOU COULD DESIGN YOUR IDEAL COMEDY SPECIAL, WHAT WOULD ITS THEME, SETTING, AND AUDIENCE BE? My ideal special would capture the complexity of being South African, which is essentially what my tour does: the contradictions, beauty, frustrations, and things that unite us.
I’ d love to perform it in an arena filled with a diverse audience, because the best moments in comedy happen when different people sit together, laugh at themselves, and realise how much they have in common.
The theme would continue exploring identity, belonging, culture, and the funny moments that come from navigating life in a country as diverse as South Africa.
WHAT’ S A DREAM VENUE OR FESTIVAL AT WHICH YOU’ D LOVE TO PERFORM? A dream would be performing at a globally recognised comedy platform like the Apollo Theater or Edinburgh Festival Fringe, but ultimately, the dream is bigger than any single venue.
I’ d love to take South African stories to audiences around the world and show people that our experiences are unique, but also incredibly relatable. Comedy can cross borders, languages, and cultures, and that’ s something I’ d love to continue exploring.
“ The more personal you are, the more people connect with you.”
ARE YOU WORKING ON ANY NEW PROJECTS RIGHT NOW? Right now, my main focus is Becoming South African, my most personal stand-up show to date. It’ s a journey through identity, culture, and belonging, and I’ m incredibly excited to be taking it around the country for the second time this year and sharing it with audiences in more than 24 cities.
IF YOU WEREN’ T A COMEDIAN, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING? I’ d probably still be an engineer. That was the field I studied for and the career I was building before comedy became my fulltime journey. Engineering taught me problem-solving, discipline, and how to look at things from different angles, all skills that translate into comedy more than people might realise. Even as an engineer, however, I would have found a way to be creative and connect with people. IB
SEPTEMBER 2026 / INBOUND SA 95