Nando's Durban Comedy Festival

Presented by M-Net and East Coast Radio, The 1st annual Durban Comedy Festival brings more heat in October.

Hot on the back of the hugely popular Cape Town and Jozi Comedy Festivals, East Coast Radio and MNet are proud to announce the arrival of the first annual 2009 Nando’s Durban Comedy Festival; featuring the best local and international comedy acts at iZulu Theatre this October.

Hunta Live, together with headline sponsor Nando’s, will heat up the city of Durban for the week of the 6th October to the 11th of October, making this Festival part of the biggest annual Comedy Festival Trio namely the Nando’s Cape Town, Jozi and Durbs Comedy Festivals.

The Main Arena sees 6 leading comedians from all corners of the world sharing a bill with top South African stand-up comics and this year, much loved favourite and festival regular, Angelo Tsarouchas, will host the Durban event.

Larger than life, the Actor/Comedian known as “Big Ang” is without question, Canada’s next “big thing”. Dubbed “The Hitman of Hilarity”, Angelo definitely exudes star power. His trademark mobster resemblance, burly size and no hold back attitude, have put him in high demand on the global comedy stage as well as in television and film projects. With movies like Harold and Kumar Goes to White Castle under his belt, nothing but side splitting laughter will be expected from this celebrated comic.

The comedic genius with the Egyptian background and a name that doubles as a surname, Ahmed Ahmed is coming to Durban due to popular demand. A regular performer at The Comedy Store in Hollywood and winner of the first annual Richard Pryor Award for ethnic comedy, Ahmed recently bowled over Jozi crowds with his humorous takes on life as an Arab and Egyptian. Ahmed was featured on the cover of Wall Street Journal and has appeared in films such as “Iron Man” and “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan”.

After opening for Australia’s top comedian Carl Barron during his SA tour, David Kibuuka (Uganda) will take a turn on the Durban stage. “Dave” has a unique brand of humour that combines wit and intellect without losing touch with his audiences. He has also opened for the likes of Barry Hilton and John Vlismas on their national tours.

Kitty Flanagan one of the funniest traditional stand-ups of our time will be returning to South Africa with her keen sense of the ridiculous and her perky, offbeat anecdotes to captivate the audience. A wellknown face at Festivals like Edinburg, Kitty performed at Cape Town Comedy Festival in 2008 and Nando’s Jozi Comedy festival to glowing reviews.

Londoner Simon Clayton has been performing live comedy since the age of 19 and was a hit at the 2009 Cape Town Comedy Festival. His stand up comedy routine of tackling subjects that relates to him, including being male, fat mixed raced, married and balding, hits the funny bone time and time again.

South Africa’s favorite stand-up Trevor Noah will complete the 6-star line-up. Trevor Noah is fluent and funny in eight of the eleven official languages and has brought both Jozi & Cape Town crowds to their feet during the 2009 Nando’s Cape Town & Jozi Comedy Festivals. Although he has only been performing as a professional comedian for a few years, he is already recognized as one of the most talented comedians in South African comedy. Apart from setting the Comedy Circuit alight, he is no stranger to South Africans as an actor, dancer, presenter and more recently host, including the reality competition series The AXE Sweet life and numerous award ceremonies like the 3rd annual SAFTA Awards and the 15th annual South African Music Awards (SAMAs) at the Sun City Superbowl in May, 2009.