South African Comedy Allstars @ State Theatre Centre of WA
Saturday, May 11, 2019
With short sets by three South African comedians, the South African Comedy Allstars at the State Theatre Centre was a funny, quick little boost into Saturday evening. The South African references were plenty, but not so many that Aussies in the audience couldn’t also enjoy the show.
MC for the show was Alfred Adriaan who, in my opinion, was the funniest act of the night. Adriaan took a poll early on to see whether the crowd were mostly South African expats but surprisingly, it seemed that the audience was about 50/50 South Africans and Australians. With his glittering smile, Adriaan complimented the Aussie blokes, talking about how beautiful men are in this country and how, even as a straight man, he appreciates the tightness of their pants. He even imparted some expert dating advice: “you can’t fart on date number one”. Cheers Adriaan! He had the crowd in stitches right from the get-go, which is what you want from your MC.
First of the comedians was Mark Banks, who opened by calling himself the ‘token white guy’ of the show. In his shabby suit Banks made quite the odd spectacle, and his style of comedy pretty much followed a pattern of not funny/not funny/not funny/not funny/funny, as he dragged out his jokes long enough for the very situation to gradually become humorous, while he laughed appreciatively at his own jokes until the audience joined in.
Next came Thenjiwe Mosely, who realises that her name is difficult to pronounce and hard to get right the first time, so insisted that we may call her ‘Mandela’, and referred to herself as such for the duration of her set. Mosely’s brand of humour was a bit confrontational, her deadpan delivery serving to highlight this very effectively.
Closing out this short and sweet show was Eugene Khoza, with the longest set and arguably the most enjoyed by the crowd. Khoza covered every topic from Oscar Pistorius to his hatred of hipsters (who he described as someone who thinks they’re cool for wearing old clothes that don’t fit them). He had a particular bee in his bonnet about weddings, which he claimed are mere ‘funerals for the living’, and he couldn’t understand why men would get married in a country with such beautiful women. Ranting and raving about quinoa, smashed avo, onesies and men who drink chardonnay, Khoza was a solid finish to a pleasurable enough gig.
MELISSA KRUGER
