I went to the opening night of the 10th Cape Town International Comedy Festival last night. I need to give you a little background about myself and stand-up comedy before I do this review. One of my house-mates when I first moved to Cape Town was an agent for comedians and also one of the organisers of the Smirnoff Comedy Festival (which is now the CT International Comedy Fstival). So, as you can imagine, I watched a lot of stand-up comedy for about a year and a half. So much comedy in fact that I ceased to find it funny. I could sit through a whole festival without cracking a smile. Since then I have avoided stand-up comedy to a large degree and attended last night’s show with no little trepidation.
I’m pleased to report that I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Some of the acts were not that great, but others were very good. There were about 6 acts, 3 of which I would say were average, 2 good and 1 absolutely brilliant. The brilliant act was the last act, a ventriloquist. I have seen ventriloquist acts on numerous occasions but this guy was a cut above the rest. Not only was he a good ventriloquist but his material was hilarious. The host for the evening who kept us entertained between acts didn’t do a bad job either.
So all in all, I have to say it’s worth a visit. There are many aspects to the Comedy Festival, I went to the Main Arena but they also have the Danger Zone, QueerCom, The Very Late Night Show and some other stuff. Check out the website www.comedyfestival.co.za for more info. Tickets are R100 for the Main Arena and the Danger Zone but vary slightly for the other shows. Book on www.computicket.com