A decade of laughter

Event organiser and PR specialist EDDY CASSAR started the Jive Cape Town Funny Festival a decade ago, and still finds it fun to stage the event. He explains:

This is the 10th year of the Jive Cape Town Funny Festival(formerly the Vodacom Funny Festival). What inspired you to start this festival in the first place?

In the late 1980s, early 1990s I was promoting Smirnoff Jazz at the Grahamstown Arts Festival. In my mind’s eye, I could see a comedy festival, celebrating the best exponents of this “new industry”.

I suggested that Smirnoff sponsor the event and after a couple of years of hassling, they relented and gave me the funds to put on the country’s first comedy festival, the Smirnoff Comedy Festival in 1997 at the Baxter Theatre. It won a BASA (Business and Arts South Africa) award.

In 2004, Smirnoff decided to pursue other sponsorship properties and this presented me with the opportunity of creating something new.

I decided to take the learnings from the Smirnoff Comedy Festival and create the Funny Festival which incorporated speciality acts, audience participation and clean content.

Was there always the plan to make it a long-running event – or have you been pleasantly surprised by this 10th anniversary?

In the back of my mind, the intention was always to see the project grow into an annual event, but I never expected Cape Town audiences to embrace the project in the manner they have.

For many Capetonians it has become their annual winter comedy tonic. I am humbled by it and long may it last.

What is it that gets people laughing – why do you think this festival is such a success?

People love to laugh at themselves and as Cape Town has a hugely diverse DNA pool, we love laughing at and with one another. The Funny Festival presents safe entertainment. It does not challenge or belittle anyone. Its premise is to entertain and give the audience a good night out, not to scare or insult them.

Have there ever been any major blow-ups at a festival – you know, comedians just getting it wrong, or behaving badly?

Three incidents spring to mind, one many years ago and the other two more recently. One comic arrived in Cape Town from the US and immediately hooked up with his dealer. He arrived at the theatre “spaced” out. He was escorted straight to the airport and “woke” up at JFK. I never had that problem again.

I had a Johannesburg comic who decided to go home after a few performances. Cape Town just was not for him. It presented a bit of a wobbly, but he was quickly replaced and the show was better without him.

I have had one international “dud”, a magician from Korea, whose act seemed far better when I saw her overseas.

I cringed every night she worked on stage and her music still haunts me. Alan Committie and Kev Orkian don’t let me forget it either. Generally, the comedy fraternity encourages and supports one another. The show is always the champion, not individual artists.

And one or two of your personal highlights over the years? What gets you laughing?

As a boy I loved the circus, so comedic specialty acts which rely on another skill set other than pure stand-up, have always attracted me. I respect street performers who are able to attract an audience who had no intention of seeing a show, let alone paying for it. Street performers, who have adapted their show for the theatre stage, rate highly in my book.

Locally, I love how Alan Committie, Riaad Moosa, Nik Rabinowitz, Marc Lottering, Trevor Noah, Kurt Schoonraad, Conrad Koch, Stuart Taylor, Kagiso Mokgadi have used their talents to pursue interests in the creative industry. They all make me laugh.

On what basis do you choose the comedians – what criteria are used? It must be tricky …

I am a slow learner and it takes me a huge amount of time to formulate the show in my head. I go to the Edinburgh Festival every year to select acts, so before I go, there is plenty of planning required.

When I get there, I know exactly how I would like next year’s Funny Festival to look. It does not always work out that way, but after 10 years, the reputation the Jive Cape Town Funny Festival has built internationally is encouraging and most artists want to come to Cape Town. Locally I follow the comedy circuit keenly and know who I would like to incorporate in the future.

I try to include as many local acts as possible.

I will always check the artist’s credentials and habits. I do not take kindly to “excess baggage” or difficult characters. We are together for a month. When things go badly, a month is an eternity. When times are good, the month is over in no time at all.

Do you have comedians trying to bribe you with offers of unlimited laughs for life in exchange for a chance to be on this stage? And have you ever accepted cash?

Alan Committie promises the world every year … I have never been offered a bribe by a serious comic, though many make heavy hints. International artists are more blatant, but so would I be, if working in Cape Town for a month was at stake.

What was the last live show you saw?

I must see in excess of 80 productions a year, 60 percent of those at the Edinburgh Festival and the others with my family, here in Cape Town. I saw Joe Barber 6 last week. Oscar and David are great performers and I love their work.

What do you do to relax?

I love spending time with my wife Jane and daughter Julia, 21, and son Luke, 18. Otherwise I’m a gardener and a greenie.

l The Jive Cape Town Funny Festival will run from May 26 to June 22 at the Baxter. Call 021 680 3989.