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Funny Festival celebrates a decade
The Jive Cape Town Funny Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary at the Baxter Theatre this year, with a run that includes both local heavy weights and top international performers. The festival enjoys the support of the City of Cape Town, as the project has grown into a blue-chip event on the Mother City's winter event calendar.
Marc Lottering, Nik Rabinowitz and Riaad Moosa, who have all performed on the Funny Festival in past years, make a celebratory appearance for a week each, as does the UK's foremost piano comedian, Kev Orkian.
Kev Orkian
The festival also showcases the evergreen actress and soap star Shaleen Surtie-Richards, as the Mistress of Ceremonies, in her first introduction to stand-up comedy. The four-week festival runs at the Baxter Theatre from the 26 May to 22 June.
The Executive Mayor of Cape Town, Patricia de Lille, said: "The city of Cape Town is once again proud to be a partner of the Jive Cape Town Funny Festival. The city is a proactive supporter of initiatives that create opportunities for prosperity for local talent.
"Over the last 10 years, the Jive Cape Town Funny Festival has been the springboard for local emerging comedians to launch their careers. The 10th anniversary of the festival coincides with our second decade of democracy, which I am confident has given all comedians lots of material to thrill the audience with."
A strong group of international comedians
Festival director Eddy Cassar has assembled a strong group of international comedians, which include performers from Japan, the UK, Germany, Australia and the US. Cassar's fondness for speciality acts is evident, as the international group includes artists from Cirque du Soleil and the popular international travelling cabaret show, La Soiree.
German artist, and Cirque du Soleil headliner, Christian Lindemann travels the globe as "the world's best pick-pocket" while Freddie Mercury's alter ego and master juggler, Mario Queen of the Circus, joins the Funny Festival after a long stint in his home town of New York, with the cabaret hit show, La Soiree.
Christian Lindemann
Japanese multimedia performer Yosuke Ikeda combines graphic art, mime and music in an interesting piece, which opens the show.
The international contingent is completed with Australia's top comedienne and multi-award winner, Felicity Ward. Christian Lindemann, Mario, Queen of the Circus, Yosuke Ikeda and Felicity Ward perform for the full festival.
The Funny Festival supports young local talent. To this end, University of Cape Town third year theatre and performance student Schalk Bezuidenhout, whose rise in the industry has been nothing short of meteoric, makes his debut on the Funny Festival stage.
The winner of the Good Hope FM Laugh Master Competition also gets a spot on the show. Past winners include Oliver Booth and Irshaad Mohamed, both of whom have become very industrious performers on the local comedy scene.
The 2014 winner will be chosen from a record entry of 57 hopefuls. The Laugh Master initiative has fast become an important developmental stage for aspirant comedians.
The Funny Festival would not be the same if it were not for the hilarious antics of Good Hope FM breakfast co-presenter Carl Wastie, whose embarrassment threshold knows no bounds.
Fundraising discounts
The Funny Festival is popular with local clubs and charities, which use its generous discount pricing to raise funds.
Eddy Cassar said: "The Funny Festival was a natural progression in my association with the comedy industry. As the founder of the country's first comedy festival, the Smirnoff Comedy Festival in 1997, the project ran its course and allowed me to introduce strategic changes, which created the concept we know today as the Funny Festival."
The changes included removing profanities from the subject matter, introducing speciality acts to the bill and involving the audience in the show.
Tickets are available through Computicket, with substantial discounts for groups of more than 10.
The discount structure is as follows:
• 1 to 9 tickets: R150 (no discount)
• 10 to 29 tickets to the same performance: R135 each
• 30 to 49 tickets to the same performance: R130 each
• 50 to 99 tickets to the same performance: R125 each
• 100 or more to the same performance: R120 each
• 650 seats (entire theatre): R105 each
• 650 seats (Mon/Tues only): R95 each
