Lebohang Thulo finds out that trying to interview a trio of comedians can be a daunting task and that comics Joey Rasdien, David Kau and Loyiso Gola will say what other celebrities dare not  

It’s hard to see how anyone could enjoy ‘celebrity’ interviews. It can be a soul numbing exercise with the subject either staring at you blankly or too busy on their cellphones to bother putting any thought into their answers.

Or if they are Joey Rasdien, they tell you your questions are obvious and boring, and complain that they would rather be asked about the situation in Libya or the current financial crisis. David Kau, too, warned that questions on how he started out would end with him walking out of the interview. Clearly interviews are not for everyone.
Joey Rasdien, David Kau and Loyiso Gola like each other. The cover shoot seems like just another opportunity for the three comedians to catch up. They were all once part of the genuinely funny Pure Monate Show, the comedy sketch show with South Africa specific content which was co-created by David Kau in 2003.
The most fascinating part of having all three comedians on hand is watching them crack each other up. Joey, who has not stopped talking since he arrived (mostly about his 8-year-old son Hakeem) hands out invitations to his upcoming wedding to fiancée only a couple of days away.
They fill each other in what they each are up to, everything from David’s upcoming trip to Spain to watch the Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix, to why it’s not a good idea to buy a Louis Vuitton or Guess watch. The jokes are funny and the tone is jovial, but the underlying sense of success is hard to miss.
In a 2008 Wall Street Journal article, journalist Rian Malan wrote an interesting piece on the growth of the South African comedy scene, forecasting the continued rise of the comedian. “In fact, some are making a great deal of money,” he wrote, “wearing sharp suits and driving cars with TV sets on the back seats”. It’s been three years and while a TV set in the car may no longer be a great indicator of success, it remains that there is still plenty of money and fame to be had on the comedy circuit.
But is this a question of a few enjoying success or is the comedy pie big enough for everyone to have a slice? “There is enough but only if you have talent; you have to be funny,” says Loyiso Gola, the youngest of the three comedians. His talent is recognising the absurd in local politics (not such a difficult task in South Africa). He is currently enjoying great success with his show, Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola on e-TV. The show is a satirical take on news and is made up of unconfirmed rumours and at times complete fiction.
Loyiso became a household name after his one-man show Loyiso Gola for President in 2008. He is a regular feature in all the local festivals that matter and with some performances overseas. Most of his money, he tells me, is from corporate gigs.
And corporations have been good to comedians. Between the three of them their corporate clients are some of the biggest companies in the country.
“There is more than enough of the comedy pie to go around, if you don’t become big-headed and are original,” is David’s answer. He has also done his fair share of corporate gigs throughout his career.
Kau is one of the busiest comedians around and a definite game changer. To some black people, he will always be the guy who introduced them to stand-up comedy in the late nineties. Since then he has moved on to co-create the Blacks Only Comedy Show, one of the biggest events in the local comedy calendar, which he continues to co-produce. He also co-produced and was judge of the reality TV show So You Think You Are Funny!. Right now he is the host of BBC Entertainment’s Tuesday Night Comedy Show.
This is the same guy who Joey credits with influencing popular culture, as Joey explains many of the political and social issues he jokes about, are being heard by some people for the first time. This is a responsibility he believes a lot of the new guys don’t take seriously enough.
And that’s just the sort of thing Joey would say. He is proof that it takes intelligence to be a comedian. During our interview he manages to talk about a range of topics, from how European air conditioners are set to match Johannesburg’s temperate weather to the latest book he’s reading; it’s called The Reluctant Fundamentalist if you are interested.
His face (which he is able to contort into some of the most hilarious expressions) is recognizable to many from advertising campaigns in which he has been involved, including Cell C, Standard Bank, the ICC World Cup campaign and most recently, Kalahari.net. He also stars in his own sitcom, Rasdien, which he created, co-wrote and stars in. All of which he says are a bonus, his core business still being gigs.
It’s no surprise then, that you can hardly change the channel or flip through a magazine without seeing a comedian peering at you. And in a country where most people still believe that if you appear on television then you must be rich, it’s easy to get fooled into thinking this translates into the big time. Which prompts the question; when did comedians get so big?
Joey is quick to correct me, saying comedians have always made money – only it was undercover. He gives examples of Barry Hilton and the local favourite Savannah ‘Its dry but you can drink it’ ads, Mark Lottering 2001 Nando’s Slice of Life campaign and David’s hilarious Toyota Tazz ads.
“The only difference,” Joey says, “is now comedians think they are rock stars.” Rock stars may be a bit of an exaggeration but many comics and corporations are starting to recognise their value as a brand, with people hired to protect and maximise the brand. When organizing the shoot, we had to deal with the managers, each one more protective than the next.
Gola’s manager, Takunda Bimha, is one of the founders of Podium, a comedy management company, and has been in the business for six years. He also manages Kagiso Lediga, Eugene Khoza and David Kibuuka. For him, the goal is maximising his clients’ visibility and worth.
He believes comedians are getting nothing more than what they deserve. “The comedy industry has long been the poorer cousin of other genres in the entertainment industry. But the growth in the past three years has been meteoric,” says Takunda.
And it’s the comedians themselves who are largely responsible for the growth he says. “The demand has become so great, audiences just can’t get enough and that is leading to the emergence of more and more talent as comedy becomes a viable career option.”
It seems there is really is no way of
getting away from the funny guys now.