Have you always wanted to become a comedian? Not really, I knew that I wanted to become an entertainer. I joined an Arts and Culture Group called ' Thabang le Rena Cultural Group ',( ThaCuGro), when I was only 8 years, we did stage drama, poetry and music. Even though I have always been funny, kegotše ke rata gokaelana, I just didn ' t think stand-up comedy could be someone ' s career.
Which comedian or comedians made you want to get on stage? It was after I watched MashabelaGalane perform at SA State Theatre on 24 November 2012, I used to think in order for one to become a standup comedian one must be well spoken. I speak that“ Benny and Betty” type of English, I do not have the ' twang '. He was killing it ka Sepedi and that ' s when I got inspired.
What was your first time on stage like? My first time on stage was much easier than I expected. Prior to doing comedy, I had done a lot of public speaking, so I lost my stage fright a long time ago. I really enjoyed it. It was not bad at all
How many performances did it take before you realized, " I got this "? I got it with my first performance. I was ready. My brothers from Comedy Society in Pretoria helped me arrange my set properly before I go on stage. I also read a few standup comedy books, watched DVD ' s and studied about successful comedians, their style and what makes them different.
What types of crowds are the worst to perform for? Those who watch comedy for free, mostly in clubs. It is not always the case but in most instances they tend to not respect the artist and become rowdy, why? It ' s because they got nothing to lose. They didn ' t spend money to be there so they don ' t care, if people pay, even if it ' s as little as R10 at entrance, you know that they are there because they want to be there.
What happens if people don ‛ t laugh? I keep going and just pretend I was serious and it was not a Joke. LOL!
How do you deal with hecklers? It depends on the situation, I speak on stress and at times I might make a joke alluding to some stress in that person ' s day. The other way of dealing with it is that I would lose eye contact with that person. Pretend they don ' t exist. Others know he is being rude and by doing this, he is the one who looks bad, not you. Batho ba gana ke majwala..
Aren ‛ t hecklers helping the show? No, they are spoiling it. Sometimes they even mess up with your set if you entertain them.
What do you do to generate new ideas if you ' re struggling to come up with new material? I watch the news, I read newspapers. As long as we still have Mr Jacob as our President then there is no way most comedians will run out of material?
Photo Cred: Kgaugelo Mojapelo
www. megaartists. co. za Mar- Apr 2016 Page 9