Get your laugh on at the Innercity Comedy Festival!

If you live in Gauteng and if you’re a fan of stand-up comedy brace yourself – the Innercity Comedy Festival is coming to Johannesburg soon. This festival is guaranteed to give your laughing muscles some exercise and will be held at the Joburg Theatre from the 27th to the 30th of June 2013.

The Innercity Comedy Festival will feature appearances by five of South Africa’s up and comedians: Tats Nkonzo, Robby Collins, Mojak Lehoko, Lazola Gola and Simmi Areff.

Tats Nkonzo is SA stand-up comedian, musician and television personality of note. He was in the top 24 for M-net’s Idols competition in 2005 and also a finalist in the ‘So You’re Think You’re Funny’ competition on SABC 1 in 2008. He is part of Loyiso Gola’s satirical Late Nite News team (on E-TV) and hosted SA’s Got Talent last year. Tats won the Blackberry Breakthrough Act Award at the 2nd Annual South African Comics Choice Awards in 2012.

Robby Collins was a theatrical actor in the Durban theatre scene before he became a stand-up comedian. He has played to the biggest comedy audiences in South Africa and has opened shows for Marc Lottering, Eugene Khoza and Trevor Noah (three of South Africa’s top comics). Collins was also nominated as the Breakthrough Act at the SA Comics Choice Awards in 2011 and 2012.

Mojak Lehoko started performing at  Cool Runnings in Melville in 2009 (later known as “The Underground”, it was the longest running comedy club in SA history). His comedy can be described as observational and spontaneous and he has a knack for identifying 
the humour in even the most appalling of circumstances.  Lehoko was nominated as the  Best Newcomer at the 2011 SA Comics Choice Awards.

Lazola Gola started doing stand-up comedy when he was still in high school and has been going strong ever since. He won the YFM Comedy Showdown in 2007 and he’s made appearances at the Ha Ha Wits Comedy Festival, Tshwane Comedy Festival and Men’s Day Comedy Festival (to name just a few). He’s also appeared on E-TV’s ‘Craze’ and ‘Late Nite News’ and SABC 1’s ‘Wild Room’. He’s definitely one of the most exciting comedy acts in South Africa.

Simmi Areff is a Wits Journalism student turned stand-up comedian. He can write, tweet and has perfected the art of taking photos of himself in the mirror. People have also described him as a younger version of Freddy Mercury. Simmi has opened for John Vlismas, Cokey Falkow and Riaad Moosa for their solo shows and he’s shared the stage with many of South Africa’s best comedians. His witty style will have you in stitches in no time.

Reading all these descriptions of the stand-up comedians at the Innercity Comedy Festival is probably getting you excited beyond belief. That level may not be at it’s peak though – tickets cost only R120 per person and can be bought on the Joburg Theatre website. Just a note that shows will start at 8 PM on the Thursday and the Friday, 6:30 PM and 8:30 PM on the Saturday and 5 PM on the Sunday and that shows are not open to persons under the age of 16 years. For more info, follow @InnerCityComedy on Twitter.

Which one of these comedians is your favorite? Your feedback about this will be appreciated! Make your way to one of these shows and support South African stand-up comedy. Another way to show your support is to share this article with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. Sharing is caring after all.

Watch this space for regular updates in the Events category on the Junk Mail Blog.