LANGSTE LAG

Header: LANGSTE LAG

Subhead: Month-long JiVE Cape Town Funny Festival opens next week 

The JiVE Cape Town Funny Festival is back to warm up with the Kaapse winter with a maand vol jokes and good times. 

The acclaimed lagbol celebration opens at the Baxter Theatre on 2 June and runs through to the 29 June 2025. 

Organisers of the event say this will be the biggest and best in its 26-year history of bringing top talent and laughs to the Mother City. 

The unique selling point of The Funny Festival is that it showcases top local talent alongside some of the world’s foremost variety acts.

Two such acts on this year’s bill are Sweden’s Got Talent winner, magician Charlie Caper, and multi-award winning, Cirque du Soleil clown sensation, Campagnia Baccala from Italy.

The international performers are joined by South African comics Robby Collins, Kagiso Mokgadi, Alan Committie, Tumi Morake, Dalin Oliver, Emo and Loukmaan Adams, The Big Boys and the winner of the Funny Festival’s talent search, The JiVE Funny Championship.

MC duties are shared by Dalin Oliver for the first two weeks and Alan Committie for the remainder.

Niyaaz Hendricks of JiVE: “It’s our favourite time of the year. It’s a time we come together to share a lag, to create special memorable moments and share our favourite JiVE flavours, with friends and family – ‘COS who wants to do these things alone Mos!?

“JiVE has partnered with the Cape Town Funny Festival for the last 15 years, and not only is it close to our hearts, but it has become an iconic highlight on our annual calendar.”

Cape Town Mayor Geordon Hill-Lewis is inviting almal to join the lekker lag. 

He says: “Cape Town’s biggest and best comedy event, the JiVE Cape Town Funny Festival, never fails to bring laughter and smiles to many, many Capetonians.

“And this year’s programme looks to be one of the best yet. I am grateful for the festival organisers for putting on such a wonderful, uplifting event, and for having done so for over a quarter of a century. 

“I urge all Capetonians who love comedy and the lighter side of life to book their tickets early, and to come and enjoy a wonderful night out in the company of our country’s funniest performers, along with some truly special international acts.”

Formed by publicist Eddy Cassar in 1997, as a celebration of freedom of speech after the formation of a democratic South Africa in 1994, the Festival has played to capacity houses since inception.

And in keeping with that spirit of freedom and democracy, The Funny Festival is committed to showcasing upcoming talent through its social entrepreneurial project, The JiVE Funny Championships which runs at Canal Walk Shopping Centre from April through to May. 

The winner is granted a nightly slot on the Funny Festival.

Cassar says: “In the early days, we used to import stand-up comics from the top clubs in the UK and US. 

“We phased that out a few years ago as the local stand-up industry is thriving and producing some world-class acts and it’s our duty to showcase our own performers. We intersperse them with great variety acts we source abroad. 

“I think it makes for a great show. Our audience view the Funny Festival as a great night out.”

As the Funny Festival gets Cape Town laughing nightly, there are many children who are denied the pleasure of laughter because of a palate defect which can be rectified through a simple operation.

Operation Smile, The JiVE Cape Town Funny Festival’s beneficiary, raises funds through its association with the project and organises field trips where they perform one operation after another giving children the treasured opportunity to smile again!

Held in the middle of Winter, the Funny Festival has become a “Celebration of Winter in Cape Town” along with its hospitality partners, The New Kings Boutique Hotel, Aquila Private Game Reserve, Table Mountain Aerial Cable Car, City Sightseeing Red Bus, KLM, Lift Airlines and Wild Horizon Waterfront Cruises and Abseiling, the Festival creatively celebrates its partners in each of its 28 performances.

Tickets are available through webtickets. Generous discounts are offered for groups from ten. Contact Carmen on 021-6857880 for more details. More information on www.funnyfestival.co.za