Loyiso Gola’s unique sense of humour and observational comedy began when he was a boy in high school.
He used to job-shadow comedians such as Riaad Moosa, Kurt Schoonraad and Stuart Taylor, hoping for a big break one day. And that day may finally have come.
Gola has gone global - and not just with his two previous Emmy nominations, but he's even bigger now thanks to a stint on international online video site Vimeo, heading up a comedy special titled Loyiso Gola: Live in New York.
Gola has done stand-up comedy internationally before, but this one has certainly got him excited. He's the first South African comedian to debut on a not-so-traditional online space.
“It’s an introduction to the international comedy realm because there are a lot of comedians that are not from America or Britain who are good, so for me that means more people will hear what I would have to say,” he said.
The show was recorded in front of a live audience at Bushwick, Brooklyn’s House of Yes. He sees it as an opportunity to launch his career on other platforms.
“Every person wants their work released somehow, so Vimeo's not a traditional comedy space. I was the first stand-up comedy on their platform level.
“They saw me do a show in New York, asked me if I wanted to try some stuff on their platform and I thought it was a no-brainer. I was like, 'they actually let me try do some stand-up on their platform'.’’
Gola sees this as an opportunity to take his craft further and to become a permanent feature on American and British platforms. He shrugged off the notion that audiences are different across borders.
It wasn’t until Gola’s political satire show, Late Night News (LNN) with Loyiso, took off on e.tv that many people got to know him better.
LNN was the first of
its kind for South African
television and it laid a foundation for his career as a comedian. Although the show
was a significant step in his career, Gola wants to be remembered more as a stand-up comedian.