The mother of all comedy festivals returns to Cape Town.
The collaborative brainchild of Stuart Taylor and Siv Ngesi, the Mother City Comedy Festival launched in 2019 to much interest from the greater comedy industry. Four years later, it is fast becoming an annual institution in the Mother City.
The Mother City Comedy Festival showcases a diverse range of young and seasoned stand-up comedians with various comedy styles. This year is no exception. With five different shows every day, comedy lovers will be spoilt for choice during this festival of funnies.
Founders Taylor and Ngesi said they were thrilled to have a fresh line-up to present this year.
Taylor said he was excited to take the opportunity to give back to the industry that he loves so much, while Ngesi craved bigger and better with prospects of running a month-long festival.
IOL Entertainment caught up with the duo ahead of the festival kicking off on January 31 at The Wave Theatre.
Taylor said: “I think of the Mother City Comedy Festival as my labour of love and very much my opportunity to give back to this industry that I love.
“There aren’t any sponsors attached to it, so it’s our time, monies and effort that go into it.
“We are not doing it for financial gain, but this helps us create a platform for young and experienced artists who don’t have the cash or time to set up a stage to do their own solo shows. So this creates a cool opportunity for the industry.
“I would love it if Cape Town could come out and support this.
“Go watch your favourites and even someone you never heard of, buy a ticket and support these guys. We hope that our audience will stumble upon acts they wouldn’t ordinarily see and go wow, this comedic talent is world class.”
The festival is rooted in creating access to theatre spaces for a broad swathe of performers in the comedy industry.
Taylor said: “In 2020 the festival grew to include more than 45 comics performing in 40 different shows. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic meant that this annual festival could not take place in 2021.
“We returned in 2022, albeit to socially distanced shows at the Artscape Theatre.”
Ngesi said: “I’ve been doing comedy for years, and in entertainment for many years, but in my early days, I always needed someone who was more famous than me and more successful than me to put his name on the line and believe in me and put money on the line to say he will be able to show up and produce the goods.
“Every performer in their early days of their career need someone to put their hand up and invest in these people and teach them the ropes.
“Some comedians don’t like to do the admin side of it all and this is a perfect stage because we have Stuart Taylor, the master of admin. I’m not the best in that, so that’s why I teamed up with Stuart.
“In the past we had comics from different parts of the country, and we want to get international acts in future.”
The line-up includes some of Mzansi’s top acts Dalin Oliver, Yaaseen Barnes, Carl Weber, Altaaf Sayed, Schalk Bezuidenhout, Nkosinathi Maki, Barry Hilton, Kenwyn Davids and more.
The festival kicks off on January 31 and will feature 38 productions with more than 40 comedians scheduled to perform.
The Mother City Comedy Festival runs until Sunday, February 5.
Tickets are R150 and can be purchased from Quicket.