It’s comedy season in South Africa with shows like The Vodacom Comedy Festival, 46664 and Nando’s Comedy Festival drawing big crowds to see some of the country’s most famous stand-up comedians.

In June we saw American improv great, Wayne Brady, entertain sell-out arenas in Johannesburg and Cape Town, and in September we can expect ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, of Achmet the dead terrorist fame, to do the same. And of course, who can forget Eddie Izzard? 

South Africans like to laugh at themselves, which is why comedy shows do so well here. It’s complicated being a South African - the country has eleven official languages, a high crime rate, and a troubled history that still affects our daily lives.

Local comedians tap into this, transforming our everyday trials and tribulations into in-jokes  that only a South African can get.  Humour is the universal glue that ties us all together; it’s what we all have in common.

At no time was South African national unity more apparent than during the FIFA World Cup.

With the world’s eyes watching, the country was on its best behavior, with everyone holding a collective breath to see if we could pull it off.

Naturally, this made easy pickings for local comics to poke fun at. 

Hunta Live, who brought out both Brady and Dunham, produced Bafunny Bafuny, created by Sam Hendrikse.

The national tour comprised a team of eight local comedians: Barry Hilton, Mark Banks, Marc Lottering, Trevor Noah, Nic Rabinowitz, Loyiso Gola, John Vlismas and Kagiso Lediga.

They performed to sell out shows of an overall 30 000 people from 28 May – 5 June 2010, making it the most successful comedy tour in South Africa.

The show is like nothing you’ve ever seen before and a far cry from the run-of-the-mill comedy show we’re all familiar with.

Instead of a comedian standing on stage under a spotlight, the Bafunny Bafunny team performed in front of a massive screen that showed pre-recorded skits featuring the artists wearing their Bafunny Bafunny uniform - a green sports blazer emblazoned with a golden chicken.

The show is well choreographed, with Hilton acting as master of ceremonies for the other performers. 

Naturally, each artist was armed with an array of sport-related jokes, ranging from FIFA to Caster Semenya, but no topic was safe.

Each performer poked gentle fun at South Africa, whether it was crime, our multiple cultures, or our politicians. John Vlismas was not so gentle as the reigning  king of the f-bomb.

The first show of the tour took place at The Royal Albert Hall in London. Executive producer Lauren McGregor from Hunta Live says the idea to take the show to London tied in with the World Cup.  “We thought that it would be a fun idea to take the ‘away game’ for the tour to the Twickenham of entertainment, The Royal Albert Hall.”

 And if you thought the distinctly South Africa humour might go over the British public’s heads, you’d be wrong.

The Jewish Zulu, Nik Rabinowitz, says the jokes were a hit among the 5 000-strong crowd. “At last census, Britain was roughly 93.7% South African. If anything, there are a lot of very confused British comedians in London who suddenly find themselves having to do South African sets. It’s awesome. You haven’t lived until you’ve heard Eddie Izzard say ‘Ah, smaak it stukkend,’” says Rabinowitz.

All artists describe the show as a career highlight. According to McGregor, Hunta Live is looking at taking similar shows to London in the future. 

To celebrate the sell-out tour, organisers put together a second run of five additional shows, called The Victory Tour, for those who had yet to see the show.

This took place from 30 June-9  July 2010 in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. Like the first run, it completely sold out with 20 000 tickets being sold for the five additional shows. Hunta Live have confirmed they will be bringing the show back in 2011.

McGregor attributes the popularity of the show to South Africans love of sport. “Nobody has ever created a national comedy team. With comedy as a sport being the theme, and considering that South Africans are sport crazy, it is a winning combination.”

Rabinowitz agrees, although he adds that the low ticket prices might have had something to do with it.
Sally Fink