As the winter season settles in and indoor events are in full swing, the Jive Cape Town Funny Festival has taken over the Baxter Theatre for a month-long comedic variety show from Monday (5 June) until Sunday 2 July.
In its 24th season, the festival has taken the Mother City by storm and grown into the country’s oldest and largest comedy festival presenting top local and international acts.
As one of Cape Town’s premier events constantly evolving the comedic scene it has once again held a Funny Championship in search of the next rising star.
Twenty-four comedians competed in four heats every Wednesday during May at the Canal Walk Auditorium. Each heat produced a winner and on occasion an extra wild card entrant made it through to the finals.
Making it through as the third wild-card finalist in the Funny Championships, young screenwriter and director Mzonke Maloney has claimed the winning title of this year’s funny man.
With a passion for compelling and thought-provoking storytelling, Maloney takes centre stage and joins the Funny Festival’s headline acts such as Africa’s best mentalist Larry Soffer, musical guru Emo Adams, and a renowned street-performing duo out of San Francisco, Daredevil Chicken, who are making their first Cape Town Funny Festival appearance.
Resident comic and master of ceremonies, Alan Committie, will also introduce a riot of local comedians such as Dalin Oliver, Schalk Bezuidenhout, Riaad Moosa and the return of the legendary Marc Lottering.
“We are very happy to continue our partnership with the Jive Cape Town Funny Festival that sees a talented local line-up of young and veteran comedians taking centre stage once again this year,” said Alderman JP Smith, the City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security. “It is also impressive to see how many aspiring comedians there are in our city and that the Festival presents opportunities to nurture young talent and continues to build a legacy of this premier event.”
Besides entertaining audiences, the Cape Town Funny Festival supports “Operation Smile”, an organisation creating solutions to deliver safe treatment and surgery to children with a cleft lip and cleft palate.
With all the serious and concerning issues facing South Africa right now laughter really is the best medicine.
Those eager to get their dose should remember to only purchase tickets from authorised event organisers. For bookings, visit https://www.webtickets.co.za/v2/Event.aspx?itemid=1522244163.
