Stellar cast for Funny Festival’s silver jubilee

• Published date: 24 April 2024
• Author: Staff Reporter
• Publication title: Southern Mail

A Cape Town institution which has consistently played to capacity houses in its month-long run, the festival takes place at the Baxter Theatre from Monday June 10 to Sunday July 7

Producer Eddy Cassar, who founded the festival in 1997, says audiences can once again look forward to an evening of high-quality entertainment at what Capetonians have fondly come to call “Jive”.

This year’s quarter-century celebratory show sees hugely popular international entertainers, American circus artist/comedian Mario Queen of the Circus and British-Armenian comedic pianist Kev Orkian, return to Cape Town to join the likes of award-winning local performers Emo and Loukmaan Adams and comedy supremo Alan Committie for the full run of the festival.

Completing the line-up will be some of South Africa’s great comedic talents, including Dalin Oliver, Khanyisa Bunu, Dillan Oliphant, Sifiso Nene, Kagiso KG Mokgadi and Yaseen Barnes.

Says Cassar: “We’ve got an excellent line-up this year as we turn 25, which is a very special milestone.”

The annual Jive Funny Championship – the city’s biggest stand-up comedy talent search which gives the winner a covetable slot on the festival stage – is also in the celebratory mix and open-mic sessions have already begun.

Alan Committie, who has been the show’s Master of Ceremonies for 16 years, describes the festival in the heart of the wet Cape winter as “a month of joyous crowds meeting high-quality comedy entertainment”.

Integral to the show’s success is not only Cassar’s passion for and commitment to the project since its inception but the involvement of Jive Cooldrinks as title sponsor for 13 years.

“It takes a lot of work to put on a sell-out show that is a financial success … It’s important to have a sponsor and a business strategy,” says Cassar.

Sharief Parker, Jive Cooldrinks CEO and founder, says the festival has “brought a lot to the Jive brand” and vice versa; the relationship is one of “camaraderie, negotiation, and give-and-take, which is very rare”.

Says Parker: “The common denominator between Eddy and Jive Cooldrinks is that the festival is engineered to speak to our community, which resonated with us and our company culture. Jive is entrenched in the community and has an emotional link to it.”

The successful partnership is set to continue for at least four more years, with Jive recently contracting Cassar to produce four more funny festivals.

Renowned singer, songwriter, and producer David Kramer, who first worked with Cassar in...