Cape Town - Relatable comedic relief is on its way to Mitchells Plain as one of the country’s stand-up heavyweights, Kurt Schoonraad, is returning to his former neighbourhood for two shows next week.
Schoonraad will be performing at Westridge High School on March 10–11, with four readers standing a chance of winning double tickets.
The 49-year-old has been performing stand-up for about 25 years and shared his excitement about finally being able to bring his show “home”.
Schoonraad was brought up in Mitchells Plain, where he attended Rocklands High School.
“What’s great about this particular show is I grew up in the area, so I’m going to do gags that most probably won’t be understood anywhere else in the world because I’ll speak about my neighbours, the school, the field I ran over all the time.
“I’ll speak about things only people in that particular space would know about, and I look forward to that. Because I can never do that anywhere else in the world. No one else outside of the Flats will understand what a natlappak is,” he said.
In addition to producing and performing across the country, Schoonraad hosts Kurt Loves Cars, with clips shared on Instagram and YouTube.
“We go around and meet people and their strange, unusual, beautiful vintage cars. Some are new cars, some old, but we go to automotive fans and we meet them and we drive their cars and we chat about it, chat about them, and we find out that the people that built those cars are generally as interesting as the cars themselves,” he said.
Schoonraad owned the Cape Town Comedy Club at the Pumphouse, V&A Waterfront, which for a long time was a base for Cape Town and South African comedy.
The club, voted “one of the top 10 comedy clubs in the world”, was closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and has moved to sporadic pop-up venues across the city.
The shows in Mitchells Plain are to establish relationships within the community, with plans to return for more shows joined by acclaimed South African comedians, and to provide workshops to would-be comics over the next few months under the Cape Town Comedy Club banner.
“There’s a load of comedy talent in Mitchells Plain and people know of comedic timing, 99% of it is about timing. So with any luck, I’ll find a couple of young potential comics in Mitchells Plain, and then guide them into a stand-up space.”
Opening for Schoonraad is artist and singer from Mitchells Plain Deen Louw, with Gino Fernandez as MC.
“For way too long you have to drive out to the Waterfront or Baxter or Artscape to see comedy. This way we are literally bringing the comedy back to where it comes from, and I come from across the field. And it’s weird almost that I’ve travelled so far doing this, over 25 years, only to come back to my neighbourhood where I grew up.”
Tickets can be bought at the door or preferably through Quicket, with prices from R100 to R150 for the 7.30pm shows - https://qkt.io/KurtLive.