Comedy meets Roodepoort

Comedians met their Roodepoort audience at the Roodepoort Theatre’s Sooffah Comedy Couch comedy night on Friday 28 June.

Soofah Comedy Couch is a Nadiem Solomon production and was held in conjunction with the Roodepoort Theatre and the production crew of Stand-up Guys, a prospective television reality series.

The wild surprise was the Cidade do Ouro capoeira group displaying their vast talent on stage as an opening act. Many in attending never had seen or heard of capoeira before, but were keen to find out more. Kevin Jackson laughed and told the Record that he sent the children that partake in capoeira home directly after their performance, because he “didn’t want to have parents complaining about what might be said in the stand-up acts”.

Host Nadiem Solomon reported that the comedy night not only was supposed to serve as entertainment for the community, but also was meant as a platform for true stand-up comedians. To this end, Erich Viedge, Graham Shirley, Colin Jackson and Ian Campbell performed for the first time ever in front of a crowd on Friday night.

The whole of the comedy show was presented in a way suitable for Stand-up Guys to record it. Soomon hopes to sell the recorded material to the SABC later in the year.

Professional comedians Lady-Ray Mothapo, Ryan Whittall, Zee Mahlanga and Barry Varkel broke the ice for the newcomers, and Solomon himself told many jokes about Eldorado Park and the mixed cultures he grew up with.

Solomon promised to update the Record about further developments.