Cape Town-based comedian and actor Carl Weber is gearing up to serve pure honesty and experience in his latest stand-up comedy show called “The Raw Truth”.
The 46-year-old media personality says his truth is the very core of his comedy.
Weber, who relocated from Bloemfontein in 2009, said he learnt to cope with his pain through laughing about various circumstances and hurdles faced along his life’s journey.
The pandemic took away stages and with that his income.
So he went from pro comic, to car salesman, to HR, to actor and all the way back to comedy again.
This is his account of surviving the Covid-19 lockdown, load shedding and everything in between.
Weber told Independent Media Lifestyle: “William Shakespeare said ‘out of tragedy comedy is born’, this show is exactly that, my comeback story. The good the bad and the funny.
“Especially the funny, no sugar-coating it’s my tragedy turned into comedy turned in ‘The Raw Truth’.”
Weber explained: “It’s the things we keep to ourselves. Those times when you feel you just can’t anymore, as most of us did during Covid.”
Weber recalled losing his in-laws to the dreaded virus.
“We lost my in-laws four days apart with the first wave and (it) seemed like a bad dream. Then when I lost all source of income as a comedian. Stages shut down, gigs dried up, I had to abandon my dream and all I achieved.”
He continued: “I had to start from scratch. I didn’t have it in me anymore and the next year when I lost my dad, that comedy spark in me died. As a man I felt my integrity and respect and all my hard work was wiped out by this virus.
“We went from having it all to at the worst of times wondering what we would have for supper, friends slowly disappeared.
“I felt like my comedy career was over. I had nothing left to give. Now it was simply survival; It’s not common for men to show and share their fears and I was scared!
“My dad taught me to be a man… figure it out. My favourite word to my wife in our darkest times when the cupboards were empty was, ‘Babe don’t worry you know I make magic’, all the while I was in such a dark space.”
Weber added: “This show is more to prove to myself I was born to do comedy, through the fire and survived.”
“The Raw Truth” plays at Kalk Bay Theatre at 8pm on Wednesday, September 13. Tickets are R155 via Quicket.