SA Comedy Awards relaunched

The partnership (with Canadian Comedy Awards) is to ensure that the SA Comedy Awards is on par with then world’s premium comedy awards, like the British Comedy Awards, the American Comedy Awards, the Australian Comedy Awards and other leading world comedy awards.

The representative for SACA, Joe Parker, recently returned from Canada after sharing information with the Canadian counterparts on their awards structure and on how best to improve the standard of South African comedy. The veteran comedian, who has been entertaining crowds for decades in Mzansi, was invited to Toronto for three days where he attended a series of workshops and meetings. Parker was consulting with the Canadian Comedy Network and producers of The Canadian Comedy Awards. The workshops and meetings were facilitated by Tim Progrosh, chief executive of the CCA, who will also be actively assisting the SACA. The South African Comedy Awards will use the same model that The Canadian Comedy Awards is using with its ceremony. To mention a few mechanics: each category will have its own judges and also comedy fans will be registered as SA Comedy Awards voters every year to avoid people who don’t follow comedy voting for comedians. The SA Comedy Awards team will go to comedy clubs and festivals and other comedy gatherings to register voters.

Still under development

Parker said that South African comedy is still under development stages, but it is up to speed in terms of progressing.

“I think that it is fair to say that we kind of mirror the ability of audiences to appreciate the work we do on stage. As we are still a little unsophisticated in terms of content, we lag behind the quality of content that is delivered on stages in the US and Canada. With some notable exceptions, we still rely quite a lot on stereotypes, colloquialisms and vulgarity to get laughter.”

SACA has invited comedians, comedy houses, promoters and fans to share thoughts on how they think the awards ceremony should be like when it comes to categories etc. According to a member of the SACA set-up team, Kedibone Mulaudzi, the one idea already suggested by comedians is to honour vernac comedians via 11 categories representing all our 11 official languages (Best isiZulu Comedian, seSotho, isiSwati, isiNdebele, tshiVenda, Afrikaans, xiTsonga, sePedi, isiXhosa, English, and seTswana). On top of that other ideas are to honour Best Female, Best Comedy TV show, Best Live Comedy show, Best Filmed Comedy/DVD, Best Comedy Venue and Best Rest-of-Africa Comedian. The awards launch will be held in SA’s main comedy hubs: Durban, Cape Town, and Joburg. The awards ceremony will rotate within all the three cities, the first one being in Gauteng.

The awards set-up team, made up of journalists, comedy fans, Joe Parker, Kedibone Mulaudzi, and Tim Progosh (Canada) have put together working categories that can be altered if need be, hence the invite to comedians, comedy houses, promoters and fans to share thoughts on how they think the awards ceremony should be like when it comes to categories.

The working categories are as follows:

Regional categories:

* Best Comedian Cape Town
* Best New Comedian Cape Town
* Best Comedy Venue Cape Town
* Best Vernac Comedian Cape Town
* Best Comedian Johannesburg/PTA
* Best New Comedian Johannesburg/PTA
* Best Comedy Venue Johannesburg/PTA
* Best Vernac Comedian Johannesburg/PTA
* Best Comedian Durban
* Best Vernac Comedian Durban
* Best New Comedian Durban
* Best Comedy Venue Durban

Main categories:

* Best Male Comedian National
* Best Female Comedian National
* Best New Comedian National
* Best Comedy Venue National
* Best Comedy DVD
* Best Comedy Series on TV
* Best Funny Advert
* Best Comedic Movie
* Best Comedy Venue
* Best Live Comedy Show
* Best African Comedian (All comedians residing outside South Africa)
* Best Religious Comedian (Faith-based comedians/ Muslim/ Gospel etc.)
* Best Comedian – isiZulu
* Best Comedian – isiXhosa
* Best Comedian – Afrikaans
* Best Comedian – English
* Best Comedian – seSotho
* Best Comedian – sePedi
* Best Comedian – tshiVenda
* Best Comedian – xiTsonga
* Best Comedian – isiSwati
* Best Comedian – isiNdebele
* Best Comedian – seTswana

These are just some of the ideas that have already been suggested. Post Toronto trip, the SA Comedy Awards team has been presenting the awards to comedians throughout the country to get their input and ideas.

What the industry has been waiting for

The first presentation was in Durban at the Bat Centre on 28 February, second in Joburg – 14 March at Parkers Comedy in Monte Casino, and the final leg in Cape Town earlier this week at the Cape Town Comedy Club where over 80 comedians and members of the media were in attendance. The SA Comedy Awards - Steering Committee members Kedibone Mulaudzi and Kurt Schoonraad presented the project, which was followed by a Q&A where categories like Best Comedy Vlogger, Best Underground Comedy Producer and Best Comedy in Radio were suggested on top of the existing categories. “This is what the industry has been waiting for,” comedian Gino Fernadez commented. Kedibone Mulaudzi - committee member said he is excited that the Cape Town leg was the most interactive presentation the team has had and is grateful that the Cape Town Comedy Club owner and Board Member of the SA Comedy Awards Kurt Schoonraad gave them the space to do the launch.

Kurt Schoonraad said: “The best thing to happen to the comedy industry in a long time.”

Stuart Taylor said: “I’m so excited about the prospect of what this will do for our industry.”.

Q & A comedians were encouraged to send more ideas and inputs via email to moc.sdrawaydemocnacirfahtuos@ofni

www.southafricancomedyawards.com