A chance meeting with the legendary cast of the Carry On films of the 1960s and the early 1970s led Eddy Cassar on a life-long fascination with humour and live comedy.
Many years later, promoting the Smirnoff Grahamstown Jazz Festival at the National Arts Festival in the late 1980s gave him the idea of creating the country’s first stand-up comedy festival.
Years later he convinced Smirnoff to sponsor the country’s inaugural Smirnoff Comedy Festival, which showcased the top local and two international comics. The project won a BASA (Business and Arts South Africa) Award in that year for “best new sponsorship”.
This year sees Cassar producing his 20th comedy festival, the Jive Cape Town Funny Festival delivered by Turkish Airlines. The comedy festival was held annually till 2004, when Smirnoff moved on, and the project changed its name to the Cape Town Funny Festival in 2005 and embraced variety and speciality acts.
The month-long festival, which consists of 30 gala performances, has become a favourite with Capetonians and runs at capacity.
In 2016, the City of Cape Town’s Economic Development and Tourism Department elevated the Cape Town Funny Festival to “jewel” status, as the project addresses some of its key strategic goals, such as seasonality and development of local talent.
Today the Jive Cape Town Funny Festival is well respected by local and international performers as a blue chip festival on the international comedy circuit. The fact that the festival is held in the northern hemisphere summer assists in attracting top-class acts.
The project is supported by local charities, sport and social clubs as their winter fund-raiser. It annually raises funds for the Zip Zap Circus and the Mayor’s Fund.
International artists who have performed at the festival over the years include Lee Mack, Jimmy Carr, Ross Noble, Steven K Amos, Adam Hill, Simon Evans, Stewart Lee, Tina C, Stephen Grant, Earl Okin, Madame Galina, Lucy Porter, Rebecca Carrington, Andrew Maxwell, Julia Morris, Dave Fulton, Junior Simpson, Tony Gerrard, Men in Coats, Les Bubb, Jackie Loeb, The Raymond and Mr Timpkins Revue, Gamarjobat, John Lenahan, Craig Hill, Clarke MacFarlane - Mario Queen of the Circus, Paul Zerdin, Paul Morocco, Kev Orkian, Boy with Tape on his Face, Kalki the hula girl, Duo - Full House, Korean magician Miss Ro, Imran Yusuf, Jon Hicks, Faulty Towers the dining experience, Wilfredo, Prince Abdi, Steve Rawlings, Mooky, Christian Lindemann, Yosuke Ikeda, Felicity Ward, Bruce Airhead, Bacala Clowns and Ennio Marchetto.
The Funny Festival has showcased scores of local comics including Trevor Noah, Marc Lottering, Riaad Moosa, Alan Committie, Nik Rabinowitz, Tumi Morake, Cokey Falkow, Dylan Skews, Shimmy Isaacs, Eugene Khoza, Ndumiso Lindi, Al Prodgers, Siv Ngesi, Carl Wastie, Kurt Schoonraad, Schalk Bezuidenhout, Shaleen Surtie-Richards, Alistair Izobell, Dalin Oliver, Carl Weber, Yaaseen Barnes, Gino Fabbri, Glen Biderman-Pam, Justin-Ray Stoffels, The Big Boys, Tracy Klass and Kagiso Mokgadi.
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu participated in the Cape Town Funny Festival for three consecutive years.
Four years ago, the Cape Town Funny Festival opened in London’s New Wimbledon Theatre as the Cape Town Funny Festival in London, as a marketing initiative for the City of Cape Town and the region. It was repeated in November 2015 and then moved to the Leicester Theatre in the West End in 2016. It will be repeated at the Leicester Square Theatre in late September 2017.
* The Jive Cape Town Funny Festival delivered by Turkish Airlines runs at the Baxter Theatre from July 10 to August 6. Generous discounts are available for group bookings of more than 10 per show. Bookings can be made through Computicket.